France
Louis Franchet d'Espèrey
1856–1942 Commander, Fifth Army, 1914; Allied Army of the Orient at Salonika, 1918
Born in Mostaganem in French Algeria, the son of a cavalry officer, Franchet d'Espèrey graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1876 and served in Indochina, China and Morocco. As commander of I Corps in 1914 he fought at Charleroi and Guise, and on 3 September Joffre gave him the Fifth Army, which became a key element of the victory on the Marne. In June 1918 he took command of the Allied Army of the Orient at Salonika. His offensive in Macedonia, begun on 15 September 1918 with Greek, French, Serb, British and Italian troops, led Bulgaria to sign an armistice on 29 September, the first Central Power to do so. Made a marshal of France in 1921, he was elected to the Académie française in 1934 and died in 1942.
In the chronicle
Sources
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Franchet_d'Espèrey
- www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/louis-franchet-desperey
- fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Franchet_d'Espèrey
- www.academie-francaise.fr/les-immortels/louis-franchet-desperey
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_the_Marne
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_Army_of_the_Orient
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vardar_offensive
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_Salonica