A commander-in-chief caught between defensive doctrine and forward deployment
Maurice Gamelin was a French general who rose through the high command on the strength of his First World War staff experience and his reputation as a republican military coordinator. Expecting a long war against Germany, he built strategy around the Maginot Line, yet he limited the Saar Offensive and committed the main Allied movement toward the Dyle and the Belgian frontier when Germany invaded in 1940. After the German breakthrough at Sedan in May 1940, he was dismissed, later detained by Vichy and Germany, and became a central figure in the contested assignment of responsibility for France's defeat.
Career Timeline
- 1893Graduated first from Saint-Cyr
- 1906–1914Staff officer to General Joffre
- 1914–1918Served in the First World War; commanded the 9th Infantry Division
- 1919–1924Head of the French military mission in Brazil
- 1924–1929Commander of French forces in the Levant
- 1931–1939Chief of the Army General Staff; senior coordinator of the armed forces
- 1939–1940Commander-in-chief; directed the Saar Offensive and Dyle Plan
- 1940Dismissed and detained by the Vichy regime