Maurice Gamelin - Early Years

Early Years

Gamelin's father, Zéphyrin, fought in the Battle of Solferino in 1859. From an early age Gamelin showed potential as a soldier, growing up in a generation seeking revenge on Germany for their annexation of Alsace Lorraine at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Gamelin entered the military academy at Saint-Cyr on 31 October 1891 and started officer training. In 1893, he graduated first of his promotion at Saint-Cyr.

He began in the French tirailleurs with the 3rd Regiment based in Tunisia. He then joined the topographic brigade. When Gamelin came back to Paris in 1897, he entered the prestigious Ecole Superieure de Guerre and finished second of his class of about eighty of the best future officers in the French Army. Charles Lanrezac, then the commander-in-second of the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre, and later general in the early days of the Great War, noted Gamelin as an intelligent, cultivated and industrious young officer, bound to earn higher functions in the future. Gamelin joined the staff of the 15e Corps d'Armée before commanding a company at the 15th battalion of the Chasseurs Alpins in 1904. He received the applause of his superiors for his diligence at maneouver.

He published Philosophical Study on the Art of War in 1906 which his critics praised as they anticipated him becoming one of the military thinkers in a near future and then became an attache to French general Joseph Joffre (future Marechal de France as he led the French forces during World War I. This position had been obtained with the help of Ferdinand Foch (also future Marechal de France as he led the Allied Forces to victory in 1918). These networks provided Gamelin with a solid knowledge in strategic and tactical warfare.

In 1911, Gamelin obtained the command of the 11th battalion of the Chasseurs Alpins in Annecy. However, in March 1914 he joined Joffre's general staff. At the start of the war, Gamelin helped draft the plans that led to the victory at the Battle of the Marne. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and fought in Alsace on the Linge and later on the Somme. He became colonel in April 1916 and with results on the battlefield was further promoted within eight months to the rank of General de brigade. He commanded the 11th division d'infanterie from April 1917 until the end of the war. In the region of Noyon, he manifested sophisticated tactical skills yet again by gaining ground without surrendering lives needlessly.

From 1919 to 1924, Gamelin was the head of the military mission in Brazil. He then commanded the French Army in the Levant, actual Syria and Lebanon. He was the commander of the 30th military region in Nancy from 1919 to 1931, as he was named head of the general staff of the French Armies. He prepared France's military until the war, although challenged by drastic budget cuts and the political inertia regarding the rearmament of Germany and later the Third Reich, which was intensifying since the end of the Allied occupation of Rhineland and its remilitarization. At the start of the conflict in September 1939, Gamelin was considered one of the best commanding generals in Europe, and was respected even among the Wehrmacht.