Maxime Weygand
Encyclopedia
Maxime Weygand was a French
military commander in World War I
and World War II
.
Weygand initially fought against the Germans during the invasion of France in 1940
, but then surrendered to and collaborated with the Germans as part of the Vichy France
regime.
of unknown parents. He was long suspected of being the illegitimate son of either Empress Carlota of Mexico
(by General Alfred van der Smissen); or of her brother Leopold II
, King of the Belgians, and Leopold's Polish mistress. Van der Smissen always seemed a likely candidate for Weygand's father because of the striking resemblance between the two men. In 2003, the French journalist Dominique Paoli claimed to have found evidence that Weygand's father was indeed van der Smissen, but the mother was Mélanie Zuchy-Metternich, lady-in-waiting to Carlota (and daughter of Prince Metternich, Austrian Chancellor). Paoli further claimed that Weygand had been born in mid-1865, not January 1867 as is generally claimed.
Regardless, throughout his life Weygand maintained he did not know his true parentage. While an infant he was sent to Marseille
to be raised by a widow named Virginie Saget, whom he originally took to be his mother. At age 6 he was transferred to the household of David Cohen de Léon, a financier of Sephardic origins who was a friend of Leopold II. Upon reaching adulthood, Weygand was legally acknowledged as a son by Francois-Joseph Weygand, an accountant in the employ of M. Cohen de Léon, thereby granting him French citizenship.
In his memoirs he says little about his youth, devoting to it only 4 pages out of 651. He mentions the gouvernante and the aumônier of his college, who instilled in him a strong Roman Catholic faith. His memoirs essentially begin with his entry into the preparatory class of Saint-Cyr
Military School in Paris
, as if he had wished to disregard his connection with Mme. Saget and M. Cohen de Leon.
He was admitted to the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr
, under the name of "Maxime de Nimal" as a foreign cadet (Belgian). Successfully graduating in 1887, he was posted to a cavalry
regiment. After changing his name to Weygand and receiving French nationality, he became an instructor at Saumur
.
During the Dreyfus affair
, he was one of the most antidreyfusard officers of his regiment, supporting the widow of Colonel Henry
, who had committed suicide after the discovery of the falsification of the charges against Captain Dreyfus.
Once promoted to Captain, Weygand chose not to attempt the difficult preparation to the Advanced War College ('Haute Ecole de Guerre') because of his desire, he said, to keep contact with the troops. This did not prevent him from later becoming an instructor at the aristocratic Cavalry School at Saumur.
as a Staff Officer. At the outbreak, he satisfied his taste for contact with the troops while spending 26 days with the 5ème Hussards. On 28 August, he became a Lieutenant-Colonel on the staff of General Ferdinand Foch
. He was promoted to Brigadier General
in 1916 and Général de Division (equivalent to the Anglophone rank of Major General
) in 1918, serving in the Supreme War Council
from 1917. He remained on Foch's staff when his patron was appointed Supreme Allied Commander
in the spring of 1918, and was Foch's right-hand man throughout his victory at the Second Marne (for which Foch was promoted Marshal of France) in the late summer and until the end of the war.
In 1918 Weygand served on the armistice
negotiations, and it was Weygand who read out the armistice conditions to the Germans
at Compiègne
, in the twice infamous railway carriage. He can be spotted in photographs of the armistice delegates, and also standing behind Foch's shoulder at Pétain's investiture as Marshal of France at the end of 1918.
as member of Interallied Mission to Poland
during July and August 1920. He was not the head of the French military mission which had arrived earlier (1919) and was headed by General Henrys
. The Interallied Mission to Poland also included French diplomat Jean Jules Jusserand
and the British diplomat Lord Edgar Vincent D'Abernon. It achieved little; indeed, the crucial Battle of Warsaw
was fought and won by the Poles before the mission could return and make its report. Subsequently, for many years, the myth
that the timely arrival of Allied forces saved Poland was begun, a myth in which Weygand occupies the central role.
Weygand travelled to Warsaw
in the expectation of assuming command of the Polish army, yet he met with a very disappointing reception. His first meeting with Piłsudski on 24 July started on the wrong foot, as he had no answer to Piłsudski's opening question, "How many divisions do you bring?" Weygand had no divisions to offer. On 27 July, he was installed as adviser to the Polish Chief of Staff, Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski
, but their cooperation was poor. He was surrounded by officers who regarded him as an interloper and who deliberately spoke in Polish, depriving him not only of a part in their discussions but even of the news from the front. His suggestions for the organization of Poland's defence were systematically rejected. At the end of July he proposed that the Poles hold the length of the Bug River
; a week later he proposed a purely defensive posture along the Vistula River
. Neither plan was accepted. One of his few contributions was to insist that a system of written staff orders should replace the existing haphazard system of orders passed by word of mouth. He was of special assistance to General Władysław Sikorski, to whom he expounded the advantages of the River Wkra. But on the whole he was quite out of his element, a man trained to give orders yet placed among people without the inclination to obey, a proponent of defence in the company of enthusiasts for the attack. On 18 August, when he met Piłsudski again he was told nothing of the great victory, but was "regaled instead with a Jewish tale". It offended his dignity as a "représentant de la France" and he threatened to leave. Indeed there was nothing to do but leave. The battle was won; armistice negotiations were beginning; the crisis had passed. He urged D'Abernon and Jusserand to pack their bags and make as decent an exit as possible. He was depressed by his failure and dismayed by Poland's disregard for the Entente
. At the station at Warsaw on 25 August he was consoled by the award of the Virtuti Militari
, 2nd class, Poland's highest military decoration for courage in the face of the enemy; at Kraków
on the 26th he was dined by the mayor and corporation; at Paris on the 28th he was cheered by crowds lining the platform of the Gare de l'Est, kissed on both cheeks by the Premier Alexandre Millerand
and presented with the grand-croix de la légion d'honneur
. He could not understand what had happened and has admitted in his memoirs what he said to a French journalist already on August 21, 1920: that "the victory was Polish, the plan was Polish, the army was Polish". He was the first uncomprehending victim, as well as the chief beneficiary, of a legend already in circulation that he, Weygand, was the victor of Warsaw. This legend persisted for more than forty years even in academic circles.
, but in 1923 he was made commander-in-chief Levant
, the French mandate in Lebanon
and Syria
. He was then appointed High Commissioner of Syria the next year, a position he also only kept for a year.
Weygand returned to France in 1925, when he became director of the Center for Higher Military Studies, a position he had for five years. In 1931 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the French Army
, Vice President of the Supreme War Council
and Inspector of the Army, and was elected a member of the Académie française
(seat #35). He remained in the positions, except Inspector of the Army, until his retirement in 1935 at 68.
He was recalled for active service in August 1939 by Prime Minister Édouard Daladier
and appointed commander-in-chief for the Orient Theatre of Operation.
, was dismissed, and Weygand - a figurehead of the right - recalled from Syria to replace him.
Weygand arrived on May 17 and started by cancelling the side counter-offensive ordered by Gamelin, to cut off the enemy armoured columns which had punched through the French front at the Ardennes. Thus he lost two crucial days before finally adopting the solution, however obvious, of his predecessor. But it was by then a failed manoeuvre, because during the 48 lost hours, the German infantry had caught up behind their tanks in the breakthrough and had consolidated their gains. The situation wasn't helped by Churchill's refusal to commit the Royal Air Force to the counter-attack, leaving ground forces vulnerable to the Luftwaffe.
Weygand then oversaw the creation of the Weygand line, an early application of the Hedgehog tactic; however, by this point the situation was untenable, with most of the Allied forces trapped in Belgium. Weygand complained that he had been summoned two weeks too late to halt the invasion. After some further vain attempts to contain the enemy offensive, he then joined in seeking an armistice and cooperation with the German occupiers.
cabinet as Minister for National Defence for three months (June to September 1940), and then Delegate-General to the North African colonies
.
While there:
Weygand acquired a reputation as an opponent of collaboration when he protested, in Vichy, against the Protocols of Paris of 28 May 1941 signed by Admiral Darlan
, agreements which granted bases to the Axis in Aleppo
(Syria
), Bizerte
(Tunisia
), and Dakar
(Senegal
) and envisaged an extensive military collaboration with Axis forces in the event of Allied countermeasures. As Simon Kitson
demonstrated in his book The Hunt for Nazi Spies, Weygand remained outspoken in his criticism of Germany.
Nevertheless, the Weygand General Delegation (4th Office) collaborated with Germany by delivering to Rommel
's Afrika Korps 1200 French trucks and other French army vehicles (Dankworth contract of 1941), as well as heavy artillery pieces accompanied with 1000 shells per gun.
Weygand was apparently favorable to collaboration with Germany, but with discretion. Additionally, when he opposed German bases in Africa, he did not intend to be neutral or to help the Allied camp, rather he only sought to prevent France from losing prestige with the natives and keep its colonial empire. Nevertheless, since Adolf Hitler demanded full unconditional collaboration, he pressured the Vichy government to obtain the dismissal and recall of Weygand in November 1941. One year later, in November 1942, following the Allied invasion of North Africa
, Weygand was arrested. He remained in confinement in Germany and then in the Itter Castle
in North Tyrol with General Gamelin and few other French Third Republic
personalities until May 1945, when he fell into the hands of the Americans.
at the Val-de-Grâce
but was released in May 1946 and cleared in 1948. He died in Paris at the age of 98. Beirut still holds his name on one of its major streets, Rue Weygand
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
military commander in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Weygand initially fought against the Germans during the invasion of France in 1940
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, but then surrendered to and collaborated with the Germans as part of the Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
regime.
Early years
Weygand was born in BrusselsBrussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
of unknown parents. He was long suspected of being the illegitimate son of either Empress Carlota of Mexico
Charlotte of Belgium
Charlotte of Belgium is remembered today as Carlota of Mexico as empress consort of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, ex-Archduke of Austria.-Princess of Belgium:The only daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians by his second wife,...
(by General Alfred van der Smissen); or of her brother Leopold II
Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels the second son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans, he succeeded his father to the throne on 17 December 1865 and remained king until his death.Leopold is chiefly remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free...
, King of the Belgians, and Leopold's Polish mistress. Van der Smissen always seemed a likely candidate for Weygand's father because of the striking resemblance between the two men. In 2003, the French journalist Dominique Paoli claimed to have found evidence that Weygand's father was indeed van der Smissen, but the mother was Mélanie Zuchy-Metternich, lady-in-waiting to Carlota (and daughter of Prince Metternich, Austrian Chancellor). Paoli further claimed that Weygand had been born in mid-1865, not January 1867 as is generally claimed.
Regardless, throughout his life Weygand maintained he did not know his true parentage. While an infant he was sent to Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
to be raised by a widow named Virginie Saget, whom he originally took to be his mother. At age 6 he was transferred to the household of David Cohen de Léon, a financier of Sephardic origins who was a friend of Leopold II. Upon reaching adulthood, Weygand was legally acknowledged as a son by Francois-Joseph Weygand, an accountant in the employ of M. Cohen de Léon, thereby granting him French citizenship.
In his memoirs he says little about his youth, devoting to it only 4 pages out of 651. He mentions the gouvernante and the aumônier of his college, who instilled in him a strong Roman Catholic faith. His memoirs essentially begin with his entry into the preparatory class of Saint-Cyr
École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr
The École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr is the foremost French military academy. Its official name is . It is often referred to as Saint-Cyr . Its motto is "Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre": literally "They study to vanquish" or "Training for victory"...
Military School in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, as if he had wished to disregard his connection with Mme. Saget and M. Cohen de Leon.
He was admitted to the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr
École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr
The École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr is the foremost French military academy. Its official name is . It is often referred to as Saint-Cyr . Its motto is "Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre": literally "They study to vanquish" or "Training for victory"...
, under the name of "Maxime de Nimal" as a foreign cadet (Belgian). Successfully graduating in 1887, he was posted to a cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
regiment. After changing his name to Weygand and receiving French nationality, he became an instructor at Saumur
Saumur
Saumur is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc...
.
During the Dreyfus affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...
, he was one of the most antidreyfusard officers of his regiment, supporting the widow of Colonel Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry
Hubert-Joseph Henry , French Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897 involved in the Dreyfus affair. Arrested for having forged evidence against Alfred Dreyfus, he was found dead in his prison cell...
, who had committed suicide after the discovery of the falsification of the charges against Captain Dreyfus.
Once promoted to Captain, Weygand chose not to attempt the difficult preparation to the Advanced War College ('Haute Ecole de Guerre') because of his desire, he said, to keep contact with the troops. This did not prevent him from later becoming an instructor at the aristocratic Cavalry School at Saumur.
Weygand during World War I
Weygand passed the war of 1914-18World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as a Staff Officer. At the outbreak, he satisfied his taste for contact with the troops while spending 26 days with the 5ème Hussards. On 28 August, he became a Lieutenant-Colonel on the staff of General Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
. He was promoted to Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
in 1916 and Général de Division (equivalent to the Anglophone rank of Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
) in 1918, serving in the Supreme War Council
Supreme War Council
The Supreme War Council was a central command created by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George to coordinate Allied military strategy during World War I. It was founded in 1917, and was based in Versailles...
from 1917. He remained on Foch's staff when his patron was appointed Supreme Allied Commander
Supreme Allied Commander
Supreme Allied Commander is the title held by the most senior commander within certain multinational military alliances. It originated as a term used by the Western Allies during World War II, and is currently used only within NATO. Dwight Eisenhower served as Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary...
in the spring of 1918, and was Foch's right-hand man throughout his victory at the Second Marne (for which Foch was promoted Marshal of France) in the late summer and until the end of the war.
In 1918 Weygand served on the armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
negotiations, and it was Weygand who read out the armistice conditions to the Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
at Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
, in the twice infamous railway carriage. He can be spotted in photographs of the armistice delegates, and also standing behind Foch's shoulder at Pétain's investiture as Marshal of France at the end of 1918.
Weygand in Poland
Weygand was briefly sent to PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
as member of Interallied Mission to Poland
Interallied Mission to Poland
Interallied Mission to Poland was a diplomatic mission launched by David Lloyd George on July 21, 1920, at the height of the Polish-Soviet War, weeks before the decisive Battle of Warsaw...
during July and August 1920. He was not the head of the French military mission which had arrived earlier (1919) and was headed by General Henrys
Paul Prosper Henrys
Paul Prosper Henrys was a French general.Commanded the French army on the Balkan front in the final year of the First World War...
. The Interallied Mission to Poland also included French diplomat Jean Jules Jusserand
Jean Jules Jusserand
Jean Adrien Antoine Jules Jusserand was a French author and diplomat. He was the French ambassador to the United States during World War I.-Career:...
and the British diplomat Lord Edgar Vincent D'Abernon. It achieved little; indeed, the crucial Battle of Warsaw
Battle of Warsaw (1920)
The Battle of Warsaw sometimes referred to as the Miracle at the Vistula, was the decisive battle of the Polish–Soviet War. That war began soon after the end of World War I in 1918 and lasted until the Treaty of Riga resulted in the end of the hostilities between Poland and Russia in 1921.The...
was fought and won by the Poles before the mission could return and make its report. Subsequently, for many years, the myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
that the timely arrival of Allied forces saved Poland was begun, a myth in which Weygand occupies the central role.
Weygand travelled to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
in the expectation of assuming command of the Polish army, yet he met with a very disappointing reception. His first meeting with Piłsudski on 24 July started on the wrong foot, as he had no answer to Piłsudski's opening question, "How many divisions do you bring?" Weygand had no divisions to offer. On 27 July, he was installed as adviser to the Polish Chief of Staff, Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski
Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski
Tadeusz Jordan-Rozwadowski was a Polish military commander, diplomat, and politician, a general of the Austro-Hungarian Army and then the Polish Army.- Youth :...
, but their cooperation was poor. He was surrounded by officers who regarded him as an interloper and who deliberately spoke in Polish, depriving him not only of a part in their discussions but even of the news from the front. His suggestions for the organization of Poland's defence were systematically rejected. At the end of July he proposed that the Poles hold the length of the Bug River
Bug River
The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...
; a week later he proposed a purely defensive posture along the Vistula River
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
. Neither plan was accepted. One of his few contributions was to insist that a system of written staff orders should replace the existing haphazard system of orders passed by word of mouth. He was of special assistance to General Władysław Sikorski, to whom he expounded the advantages of the River Wkra. But on the whole he was quite out of his element, a man trained to give orders yet placed among people without the inclination to obey, a proponent of defence in the company of enthusiasts for the attack. On 18 August, when he met Piłsudski again he was told nothing of the great victory, but was "regaled instead with a Jewish tale". It offended his dignity as a "représentant de la France" and he threatened to leave. Indeed there was nothing to do but leave. The battle was won; armistice negotiations were beginning; the crisis had passed. He urged D'Abernon and Jusserand to pack their bags and make as decent an exit as possible. He was depressed by his failure and dismayed by Poland's disregard for the Entente
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
. At the station at Warsaw on 25 August he was consoled by the award of the Virtuti Militari
Virtuti Militari
The Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war...
, 2nd class, Poland's highest military decoration for courage in the face of the enemy; at Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
on the 26th he was dined by the mayor and corporation; at Paris on the 28th he was cheered by crowds lining the platform of the Gare de l'Est, kissed on both cheeks by the Premier Alexandre Millerand
Alexandre Millerand
Alexandre Millerand was a French socialist politician. He was President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924 and Prime Minister of France 20 January to 23 September 1920...
and presented with the grand-croix de la légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. He could not understand what had happened and has admitted in his memoirs what he said to a French journalist already on August 21, 1920: that "the victory was Polish, the plan was Polish, the army was Polish". He was the first uncomprehending victim, as well as the chief beneficiary, of a legend already in circulation that he, Weygand, was the victor of Warsaw. This legend persisted for more than forty years even in academic circles.
Weygand in France and the Middle East
Weygand was unemployed for a time after the military mission to PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, but in 1923 he was made commander-in-chief Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, the French mandate in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
. He was then appointed High Commissioner of Syria the next year, a position he also only kept for a year.
Weygand returned to France in 1925, when he became director of the Center for Higher Military Studies, a position he had for five years. In 1931 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the French Army
Chief of Staff of the French Army
The Chief of the Staff of the French Army is the professional head of the French Army. The current Chief of Staff of the French Army has been General Elrick Irastorza since 2 July 2008.-French Army Chiefs of Staff:*Raoul Le Mouton De Boisdeffre...
, Vice President of the Supreme War Council
Supreme War Council
The Supreme War Council was a central command created by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George to coordinate Allied military strategy during World War I. It was founded in 1917, and was based in Versailles...
and Inspector of the Army, and was elected a member of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
(seat #35). He remained in the positions, except Inspector of the Army, until his retirement in 1935 at 68.
He was recalled for active service in August 1939 by Prime Minister Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier
Édouard Daladier was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined...
and appointed commander-in-chief for the Orient Theatre of Operation.
Weygand in World War II
By late May 1940 the military disaster in France after the German invasion was such that the Supreme Commander - and politically neutral - Maurice GamelinMaurice Gamelin
Maurice Gustave Gamelin was a French general. Gamelin is best remembered for his unsuccessful command of the French military in 1940 during the Battle of France and his steadfast defense of republican values....
, was dismissed, and Weygand - a figurehead of the right - recalled from Syria to replace him.
Weygand arrived on May 17 and started by cancelling the side counter-offensive ordered by Gamelin, to cut off the enemy armoured columns which had punched through the French front at the Ardennes. Thus he lost two crucial days before finally adopting the solution, however obvious, of his predecessor. But it was by then a failed manoeuvre, because during the 48 lost hours, the German infantry had caught up behind their tanks in the breakthrough and had consolidated their gains. The situation wasn't helped by Churchill's refusal to commit the Royal Air Force to the counter-attack, leaving ground forces vulnerable to the Luftwaffe.
Weygand then oversaw the creation of the Weygand line, an early application of the Hedgehog tactic; however, by this point the situation was untenable, with most of the Allied forces trapped in Belgium. Weygand complained that he had been summoned two weeks too late to halt the invasion. After some further vain attempts to contain the enemy offensive, he then joined in seeking an armistice and cooperation with the German occupiers.
Collaboration during the Vichy Regime
In June, Weygand was appointed by Pétain to the Bordeaux-VichyVichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
cabinet as Minister for National Defence for three months (June to September 1940), and then Delegate-General to the North African colonies
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
.
While there:
- He convinced the young officers, tempted to resistance, of the justice of the armistice, by letting them hope for a later resumption of combat.
- He deported opponents to concentration camps in Southern AlgeriaAlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
and MoroccoMoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
. There, he locked up, with the complicity of Admiral Abrial, adversaries of the Vichy regime (Gaullists, Freemasons, communists, etc.), the foreign volunteers of Légion Etrangère, foreign refugees without employment (but legally admitted into France), etc. - He applied Vichy's racist laws against Jews very harshly (see Vichy FranceVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
). With the complicity of the Recteur (University chancellor) G. Hardy, Weygand instituted, on his own authority, by a mere "note de service n°343QJ" of 30 September 1941, a school "numerus clausus" (quota), driving out from the colleges and from the primary schools most of the Jewish pupils, including small children aged 5 to 11. Weygand did this without any decree of Marshal Philippe PétainPhilippe PétainHenri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
's, "by analogy," he said, "to the law about Higher Education".
Weygand acquired a reputation as an opponent of collaboration when he protested, in Vichy, against the Protocols of Paris of 28 May 1941 signed by Admiral Darlan
François Darlan
Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French naval officer. His great-grandfather was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar...
, agreements which granted bases to the Axis in Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
(Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
), Bizerte
Bizerte
Bizerte or Benzert , is the capital city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia and the northernmost city in Africa. It has a population of 230,879 .-History:...
(Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
), and Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
(Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
) and envisaged an extensive military collaboration with Axis forces in the event of Allied countermeasures. As Simon Kitson
Simon Kitson
Simon Kitson is a British historian.Kitson did his undergraduate studies at the University of Ulster and his post-graduate studies at the University of Sussex, under the supervision of Professor Roderick Kedward...
demonstrated in his book The Hunt for Nazi Spies, Weygand remained outspoken in his criticism of Germany.
Nevertheless, the Weygand General Delegation (4th Office) collaborated with Germany by delivering to Rommel
Rommel
Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...
's Afrika Korps 1200 French trucks and other French army vehicles (Dankworth contract of 1941), as well as heavy artillery pieces accompanied with 1000 shells per gun.
Weygand was apparently favorable to collaboration with Germany, but with discretion. Additionally, when he opposed German bases in Africa, he did not intend to be neutral or to help the Allied camp, rather he only sought to prevent France from losing prestige with the natives and keep its colonial empire. Nevertheless, since Adolf Hitler demanded full unconditional collaboration, he pressured the Vichy government to obtain the dismissal and recall of Weygand in November 1941. One year later, in November 1942, following the Allied invasion of North Africa
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, Weygand was arrested. He remained in confinement in Germany and then in the Itter Castle
Itter Castle
Itter Castle is a small castle standing on a high knoll in Itter, a village in North Tyrol , 20 km west of Kitzbühel.The castle was used from 1943–45, during the Nazi occupation of France, to incarcerate prominent French prisoners...
in North Tyrol with General Gamelin and few other French Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
personalities until May 1945, when he fell into the hands of the Americans.
Last years
After returning to France, he was held as a collaboratorCollaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
at the Val-de-Grâce
Val-de-Grâce
This article describes the hospital and former abbey. For the main article on Mansart and Lemercier's central church, see Church of the Val-de-Grâce....
but was released in May 1946 and cleared in 1948. He died in Paris at the age of 98. Beirut still holds his name on one of its major streets, Rue Weygand
Rue Weygand
Rue Weygand is a street in Beirut's Central Business District. Originally, the street was named Rue Nouvelle as it was a new thoroughfare constructed as part of a modernization plan in 1915...
.
Decorations
- Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
- Knight (10 July 191?)
- Officer (10 December 1914)
- Commander (28 December 1918)
- Grand Officer (1 September 1920)
- Grand Cross (6 December 1924)
- Médaille militaireMédaille militaireThe Médaille militaire is a decoration of the French Republic which was first instituted in 1852.-History:The creator of the médaille was the emperor Napoléon III, who may have taken his inspiration in a medal issued by his father, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland...
(8 July 1930) - Croix de Guerre 1939-1945Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (France)The Croix de guerre 1939–1945 is a French military decoration created on September 26, 1939, to honour people who fought with the Allies against the Axis force at any time during World War II.-Recipients:...
with 2 palms - Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieuresCroix de guerre des Théatres d'Opérations ExterieuresThe Croix de guerre des théâtres d’opérations extérieures is a French medal rewarded for military service in foreign countries. It is granted to individuals who have received citations for their actions while engaged in military service overseas.-History:...
with 1 palm - Médaille Interalliée de la Victoire
- Médaille Commémorative de la Grande Guerre
- Commander of the Order of the CrownOrder of the Crown (Belgium)The Order of the Crown is an Order of Belgium which was created on 15 October 1897 by King Leopold II in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State. The order was first intended to recognize heroic deeds and distinguished service achieved from service in the Congo Free State - many of which acts...
(Belgium) - Croix de guerreCroix de guerreThe Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
(Belgium) - Distinguished Service MedalDistinguished Service Medal (Army)The Distinguished Service Medal is a military award of the United States Army that is presented to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the United States military, has distinguished himself or herself by exceptionally meritorious service to the Government in a duty of great...
(US) - Grand Cross of the Ouissam Alaouite Chérifien (Morocco)
- Companion of the Order of the BathOrder of the BathThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(UK) - Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St GeorgeThe Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(UK) - Order of LāčplēsisOrder of LacplesisThe Order of Lāčplēsis, the first and the highest Latvian military award, was established in 1919 on the initiative of the Commander of Latvian Army, during the Latvian War of Independence, Jānis Balodis. The Lāčplēsis Order is awarded in the first, second and third class. Initially, a holder of...
, 2nd class.
Polish period
- Edgar Vincent d'Abernon, The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World: Warsaw, 1920, Hyperion Press, 1977, ISBN 0-88355-429-1.
- Piotr Wandycz, General Weygand and the Battle of Warsaw, Journal of Central European Affairs, 1960
- Norman DaviesNorman DaviesProfessor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...
, White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20, Pimlico, 2003, ISBN 0-7126-0694-7.
Second world war
- Simon KitsonSimon KitsonSimon Kitson is a British historian.Kitson did his undergraduate studies at the University of Ulster and his post-graduate studies at the University of Sussex, under the supervision of Professor Roderick Kedward...
, Vichy et la Chasse aux Espions Nazis, Autrement, Paris, 2005. - Simon KitsonSimon KitsonSimon Kitson is a British historian.Kitson did his undergraduate studies at the University of Ulster and his post-graduate studies at the University of Sussex, under the supervision of Professor Roderick Kedward...
, The Hunt for Nazi Spies: Fighting Espionage in Vichy France, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2008. - Henri MichelHenri Michel-External links:...
, Vichy, année 40, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1967. - William LangerWilliam LangerWilliam "Wild Bill" Langer was a prominent US politician from North Dakota. Langer is one of the most colorful characters in North Dakota history, most famously bouncing back from a scandal that forced him out of the governor's office and into prison. He served as the 17th and 21st Governor of...
, Our Vichy gamble, Alfred Knopf, New York 1947. - Maxime Weygand, Recalled to Service, Heinemann, London, 1952.
- Yves Maxime Danan, La vie politique à Alger de 1940 à 1944, Librairie générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, Paris, 1963.
- Noel BarberNoel BarberNoel Barber was a British novelist and journalist. Many of his novels, considered exotic, are about his experiences as leading foreign correspondent for the Daily Mail. He had two brothers, Kenneth, a banker and Anthony Barber, Baron Barber.Most notably he reported from Morocco, where he was...
, The Week France Fell, MacMillan London Limited, London, 1976. - Albert Merglen, Novembre 1942: La grande honte, L'Harmattan, Paris 1993.