Aimé Doumenc

Life and early career

His full legal name was Joseph Édouard Aimé Doumenc; by Dauphiné tradition the usual forename is placed last, so he was called Aimé, not Joseph as written on administrative papers. He was born at Grenoble on 16 November 1880. His father Ovide Doumenc was an officer of Ariège origin risen from the ranks, who fought in 1870 and retired in Isère.

He was a scholarship pupil at the École polytechnique from 27 September 1898 to 6 September 1900, then studied at the École d'application de l'Artillerie et du Génie at Fontainebleau, joining the alpine batteries. Admitted among the youngest to the École Supérieure de Guerre in 1907, he was retained for an exceptional third year in 1909 as one of the first of his class, and at General Foch's request was among fifteen officers chosen for Commandant Mordacq's course in applied strategic thinking. As a captain on the 19th Army Corps staff he served in the Algerian-Moroccan marches before being posted to the new 60e régiment d'artillerie at Troyes.

First World War: the Voie sacrée and the first tanks

In early September 1914 he organized the Reims retreat with motor vehicles, which made him deputy to the director of the army Automobile Service and, in 1917, its director. He organized the road transport that sustained the supply and relief of Verdun in 1916, conceiving on the Voie sacrée the 'noria' logistics system. In March 1915 he accepted Abram Piatt Andrew's request for a trial, leading in April 1915 to the creation of the American Ambulance Field Service under French army command. Between November 1916 and March 1917 he worked beside General Estienne on the first tanks as technical deputy and favoured the creation of armored divisions. Named commandant in 1918, he was chosen by General Mordacq to command the new Directorate of Automobile at the War Ministry.

Interwar: armored-division doctrine

He campaigned in Morocco in 1925 in the Rif War, then commanded the 1re division d'infanterie and the 1re région militaire. According to President Daladier's statement at the Riom trial, Doumenc originated in 1928 the first plan for an armored division capable of autonomous action, a doctrine later amplified by the German army and de Gaulle. Long known only through that statement, his project was recently partly published from an original 1927-or-1928 note found in the archives of the Service historique de la Défense, which confirms its notably innovative character with mixed tank-infantry companies. Promoted général de brigade in 1932, divisionnaire in 1935 and four-star in 1937, he was named to the Conseil supérieur de la guerre in 1938.

Moscow 1939: political deadlock and the failure of the military talks

Promoted général d'armée in 1939, he was sent to Moscow as head of the French delegation to negotiate a military accord with the USSR. The negotiation belonged to three-party Soviet-French-British talks of April-August 1939 on a mutual-assistance treaty. The political talks deadlocked over defining 'indirect aggression' and were broken off on 7 August; the military talks that followed hit the sticking point of persuading Poland to admit the Red Army through its territory. Accounts differ on when and by whom the talks were stopped. The Russian account states that on 25 August the USSR told the Anglo-French military mission the military talks 'lose all meaning' and that the missions left Moscow in the night of 26 August, and attributes the break-off to a British and French decision. The English-language account states that on 21 August the Soviets suspended the tripartite military talks and cited other reasons, because the Western nations were unwilling to accede to Soviet demands. Neither story is adopted alone; each is attributed to its source. Assessments of responsibility also differ. Soviet and Russian historiography holds that Britain and France sought to avert the war threat from their own countries, prevent a Soviet-German rapprochement and direct German aggression eastward, and would not accept an equal alliance with the USSR. The British historian Alan Taylor counters that Soviet leaders who accused the British of planning to set Germany and Russia at each other flattered themselves.

1940 and the collapse in the Ardennes

On the declaration of war he took charge of territorial anti-aircraft defence, and from January 1940 was major général at the Grand quartier général of the French land forces, notably trying to stop the Germans in the Ardennes until the total destruction of the 9th Army. He was Commissaire général à la Reconstruction nationale from 26 June to 12 July 1940.

Retirement, writings and death

He left the service on 1 January 1942 following a request, granted exceptionally, to move from active status to disponibilité. Settled at Tullins in Isère, he wrote three important works on French military history and in 1944 a study of strategy. He died accidentally in the Alps in July 1948. A documented alternative exists for the death year: a reference list of 20th-century French generals gives (1880-1947), contradicting 1948, while the article on the novelist Philippe Doumenc (1934-2023), 1989 Prix Renaudot winner, describing him as the grandson of Aimé Doumenc (1880-1948), independently corroborates 1880-1948.

Honours and legacy

He was Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur and held the Croix de guerre 1914-1918 and the Médaille militaire. He won the Prix Halphen of the Académie française, and a French army military logistics planning software and the 24th class (2000-2001) of the EMCTA both bear his name.