Philippe Pétain: Difference between revisions

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{{Greatarticle}}{{short description|Anti-communist Leader of Vichy France}}
[[File:Philippe Pétain.png|thumb|280px|thumb|right|Philippe Pétain]]
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[[File:France Marshal Petain and Pierre Laval c1942.jpg|280px|thumb|right|Marshal Pétain and [[Pierre Laval]] (right) c.1942]]
'''Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain''' (April 24, 1856<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/LH/LH280/PG/FRDAFAN83_OC17V022.htm|title=Birth certificate of Pétain, Henri Philippe Benoni Omer|last=Government of the French empire|website=culture.gouv.fr|language=fr|access-date=13 April 2020}}</ref> – July 23, 1951), generally known as '''Philippe Pétain''', '''Marshal Pétain''', and sometimes '''The Old Marshal''', was a French general officer who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of [[The Great War]], during which he became known as '''The Lion of Verdun'''. He then served as Head of state of [[Vichy France]] (anti-communist France) from 1940 to 1944. Pétain, who was 84 years old in 1940, ranks as France's oldest head of state.
'''Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain''' (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), generally known as '''Marshall Pétain''', was a brilliant military commander during the [[First World War]], notably with the defence of [[Verdun]], which made him a national hero. He was made a Marshall of France, a rare honour. From 18 May 1940 he was Deputy Premier of France, a month later he was appointed Premier, and from 10 July 1940 till late 1944 he was Head of the [[French State]].  


During The Great War, Pétain led the French Army to victory at the nine-month-long Battle of Verdun. After the failed Nivelle Offensive and subsequent mutinies he was appointed Commander-in-Chief and succeeded in repairing the army's confidence. Pétain remained in command for the rest of the war and emerged as a national hero. During the interwar period he was head of the peacetime French Army, commanded joint Franco-Spanish operations during the Rif War and served twice as a government minister. During this time he was known as (The Old Marshal).
==Life==
Pétain served briefly as Army Chief of Staff (from the end of April 1917). He was then appointed Commander-in-Chief of the entire French army, replacing General Nivelle. Following [[The Great War]] Pétain was appointed Inspector-general of the Army (Feb 1922), and on 3 September 1925 became Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in [[Morocco]]. A keen proponent of a new air force hewas appointed Inspector-General of Air Defence on 9 February 1931, the same year he was elected a Fellow of the famous Académie francaise.  


Like the rest of Europe, France was under attack from communists attempting to subvert the country from within. With the Communism attempting to control France, French citizens desiring Germany's help, and the Cabinet wanting to ask for an armistice.  
On 8th February 1934 he was appointed Minister of War in the Doumergue 'National Government', which fell on November 8th.


Churchill's man in Paris, Edward Spears, urged the French not to sign an armistice, saying that if French ports were occupied by Germany, Britain bomb them, and 5he surrounding civilian cities. Spears reported that Pétain did not respond immediately but stood there "perfectly erect, with no sign of panic or emotion. He did not disguise the fact that he considered the situation catastrophic. I could not detect any sign in him of broken morale, of that mental wringing of hands and incipient hysteria noticeable in others." Pétain later remarked to Reynaud about this statement: "your ally now threatens us".
In February 1939, Marshal Pétain, aged 83, was appointed Ambassador to [[Spain]] by France's Prime Minister, [[Édouard Daladier]]. With France's [[Declarations of War during World War II|declaration of war]] on [[National Socialist Germany|Germany]] on 3 September that year [[Pierre Laval]] wrote to Petain suggesting he should return and form a government. Shortly afterwards Daladier summoned Pétain to Paris and asked him to enter the government. The Marshal refused, as he would not enter any government that did not include Laval - whom Daladier would not have. Pétain returned to Spain.<ref>Werth, Alexander, ''France 1940-1955'', London, 1957, p.25-6.</ref>


On June 17, 1940 Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned, recommending to President Albert Lebrun that he appoint Pétain in his place, which he did that day, while the government was at Bordeaux.<ref>Werth, Alexander, ''France 1940-1955'', London, 1957, p.30.</ref> The Cabinet then resolved to sign armistice agreements with Germany and Italy. The entire government subsequently moved briefly to Clermont-Ferrand, then to the town of [[Vichy]] in central France. The government voted to transform the [[French Third Republic]] into the French State or [[Vichy France]], a [[Fascism|Fascist]] state, and attempt to recover the remainder of France from the communists. 
==World War II==
===The defeat of France===
In February 1940 French embassy counsellor Lemarle told Pétain, still Ambassador in Spain, that he had found in Paris "a widespread defeatist mood".  After the Cabinet's failure to help [[Finland]] following its invasion by the [[Soviet Union]], Daladier resigned as Premier (Foreign Minister [[Georges Bonnet]] also left the Cabinet). He was replaced as Premier by 'England's man', [[Paul Reynaud]] of the 'war party' in the Assembly. On March 27th, just four days after his investiture, Reynard went to London for a meeting of the Supreme War Council. With him were General Gamelin and Admiral Darlan. It was at this meeting that Reynard, with '''''no Cabinet approval''''', proposed that there should be no separate armistices or peace without the approval of either [[great Britain]] or [[France]]. Churchill's personal envoy to France, General Spears, thought this was essential: "It was after all to our advantage to bind the French, ''as they had been uncertain starters and their hearts were certainly not in the war''."<ref>Benoist-Méchin, Jacques, ''Sixty Days That Shook The West'', Putnams, New York, 1963, p.21-2.</ref>


After German and Italian representatives were welcomed into France, in November 1942, Pétain's government worked very closely with the Germans to remove the communists, and defend France from "The Allies" and others empowering communism.
On 10 May 1940 the 'phoney war' ended and the [[Battle of France|Germans finally invaded]]. Efforts through diplomatic channels to persuade France to leave the war having failed<ref>Muggeridge, Malcolm, editor, ''Ciano's Diplomatic Papers'', Odhams Press Ltd., London, 1948, p.306-7.</ref>. Marshall Petain (in [[Madrid]]) stated that "France's greatest mistake had been to enter the war."<ref>''Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945'' by an editorial board, Series D, vol.viii, US Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1954, pps: 19, 24, 88, 197, 414.</ref> By May 15th things were going badly and Reynaud said "Oh, if only the Marshall were here!" He then recalled Marshal Pétain to Paris<ref>Benoist-Méchin. 1963, p.99.</ref> as "the last chance". At 10 a.m. on May 16th General Héring, Military Governor of Paris, advised that the entire government, including the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, should be evacuated from Paris. Transference of the government to Tours was ordered and preparations commenced. General [[Maxime Weygand]], who was in [[Beirut]], was ordered to return to France immediately. Meanwhile, on the same day, [[USA]] President Roosevelt told the USA Congress that "he would devote all his energies to warding off being dragged into the armed conflict in Europe".<ref>Benoist-Méchin. 1963, p.104 & 109.</ref>


After the war, Pétain was tried and convicted for [[treason]] by the victors in [[The World's War Against Communism]], who were continuing to barbaricly  slaughter their enemies via mock trials.  He was originally sentenced to death, but public outcry and outrage threatened an immediate civil war, and his sentence was commuted to life in prison.
On May 18th Reynard asked Marshal Pétain to join the government as Deputy Premier. The Marshal agreed. Reynard then also reshuffled his Cabinet: he took over National Defence from Daladier who became Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Jewish Georges Mandel became Minister of the Interior, César Campinchi, Minister of Marine. On the same day Churchill sent a long confidential note to the Lord President asking him to examine 'the consequences and problems which would arise if it were necessary to withdraw the British Expeditionary Force from France.....' The following day the French Cabinet decreed General Weygand should replace General Gamelin as Commander-in-Chief. Weygand told Reynard "I cannot guarantee success". On May 23rd the R.A.F evacuated its final base in France, the airfield at Merville; the next day began the B.E.F retreat to the ports. In a conversation with [[Paul Baudouin]], Premier Reynard asked: "If Germany were to make reasonable peace proposals, would public opinion allow us to reject them?" On the 25th Campinchi agreed with other Cabinet members, including Weygand, that peace talks must be started in the near future.<ref>Benoist-Méchin. 1963, pps:114-118, 136, 148, 156.</ref> On May 26th it was announced that the King of [[Belgium]] would prefer (like the King of Denmark) to remain in his country and share his people's trials than to seek sanctuary in London.


==Early life==
On May 30th the evacuation from Dunkirk to [[England]] was in full swing, including French soldiers whom Reynaud told England's General Spears "must be put straight into boats and returned to France". The next day at a Supreme War Council meeting in Paris the British delegation included Churchill. The humiliating evacuation from [[Norway]] was announced. Reynaud again demanded that the 16,000 French troops must be returned urgently to France, as well as the 15,000 evacuated, at this point, from Dunkirk. 'More would be evacuated today' he said. Churchill then told Reynaud that he "was not authorized by his government to promise [France]] further support of the [[Royal Air Force]]."<ref>Benoist-Méchin. 1963, pps: 193. 203-205, 215.</ref> It was felt nation-wide that "Britain had deserted France".<ref>Werth, 1942, p.359.</ref>
===Youth and family===
Pétain was born in Cauchy-à-la-Tour (in the Pas-de-Calais in Northern [[France]]) in 1856. His father, Omer-Venant, was a farmer. His great-uncle, a Catholic priest, Father Abbe Lefebvre (1771–1866), had served in ][Napoleon]]'s ''Grande Armée'' and told the young Philippe tales of war and adventure of his campaigns from the peninsulas of Italy to the Alps in Switzerland. Highly impressed by the tales told by his uncle, his destiny was from then on determined by the army.


===Personal life===
On June 5th Paul Reynard informed Marshal Pétain that he had decided to reshuffle (for the second time in two months) his Cabinet, and offered him the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Marshal declined saying he was not qualified for the job. The reshuffle took place the next day, in Paris, with Daladier and de Monzie dismissed because they were too much in favour of peace talks with [[Italy]]. The new Cabinet was ratified by President [[Albert Lebrun]].<ref>Benoist-Méchin. 1963, pps: 247-250.</ref>
Pétain was a bachelor until his 60s. After The Great War Pétain married his former girlfriend, Eugénie Hardon (1877–1962) on September 14, 1920; they remained married until the end of Pétain's life.<ref>Williams, Charles, ''Pétain'', London, 2005, p. 206, ISBN|978-0-316-86127-4.</ref> After rejecting Pétain's first marriage proposal, Hardon had married and divorced François de Hérain by 1914 when she was 35. At the opening of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, Pétain is said to have been fetched during the night from a Paris hotel by a staff officer who knew that he could be found with Eugénie Hardon.<ref>Verdun 1916, by Malcolm Brown, Tempus Publishing Ltd., Stroud, UK, p. 86.</ref> She had no children by Pétain but already had a son from her first marriage, Pierre de Hérain, whom Pétain strongly disliked.<ref name=williams523>Williams, 2005, p. 523.</ref>


==Early military career==
===Pétain as Premier===
Pétain joined the [French Army in 1876 and attended the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr Military Academy in 1887 and the École Supérieure de Guerre (army war college) in Paris. Between 1878 and 1899, he served in various garrisons with different battalions of the elite light infantry of the French Army. Thereafter, he alternated between staff and regimental assignments.
Twelve days later, on 17 June 1940, in the wake of France's disastrous defeat in the "useless, hopeless war"<ref>Werth, 1957, p.26, citing Lemarle.</ref>, Premier [[Paul Reynaud]], and several other cabinet ministers, resigned and recommended that Marshal Pétain be invited to form a new Cabinet. He was then asked by the President of France, [[Albert Lebrun]] (1871–1950), to be Prime Minister and to form a new Cabinet, the majority of whom voted to sue for an Armistice with Germany. This was signed on June 22nd, and France left the war. Werth, the great expert on French politics, wrote that "had a referendum been taken, say, on June 15, on whether France should try to negotiate an armistice, there is no doubt that the vast majority would have said yes."<ref>Werth, 1957, p.27.</ref> Pétain broadcasted to the nation:


Pétain's career progressed slowly, as he rejected the French Army philosophy of the furious infantry assault, arguing instead that "firepower kills". His views were later proved to be correct during the First World War. He was promoted to captain in 1890 and major (Chef de Bataillon) in 1900. In March 1904, by then serving in the 104th Infantry, he was appointed adjunct professor of applied infantry tactics at the ''École Supérieure de Guerre'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6249355k/f3.image.r|title=Ecoles militaires|date=1 April 1904|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> and following promotion to lieutenant-colonel was promoted to professor on 3 April 1908.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6276218v/f8.image.r|title=Service des ecoles militaires|date=5 April 1908|access-date=16 November 2020|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> He was brevetted to colonel on January 1st, 1910.
: ''The Terms of the armistice are hard; but at least honour has been saved. No-one will use our planes and our Navy.....The Government remains free; and France will [continue to] be administered by Frenchmen only. Now a new order begins.''<ref>Werth, 1957, p.30.</ref>


Unlike many French officers, Pétain served mainly in mainland France, never French Indochina or any of the African colonies, although he participated in the Rif War. As [[colonel]], he was given command of the 33rd Infantry Regiment at [[Arras]] on 25 June 1911;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6391632r/f24.image.r|title=Ministère de la guerre|date=28 June 1911|access-date=25 September 2021|website=gallica.bnf.fr|last=Government of the French Republic}}</ref> a young lieutenant, [[Charles de Gaulle]], who served under him, later wrote that his "first colonel, Pétain, taught (him) the Art of Command". In the spring of 1914, he was given command of a brigade (still with the rank of colonel). By then aged 58 and having been told he would never become a general, Pétain had bought a villa for retirement.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=YiZRC8bsOuoC&pg=PA461|title=The United States in the First World War: an encyclopedia |author=Anne Cipriano Venzon, Paul L. Miles|chapter=Pétain, Henri-Philippe|year=1999 |isbn=9780815333531.</ref>
On July 10th the National Assembly of France, by an overwhelming vote (569-80)<ref>Werth, 1957, p.31.</ref>, passed three Acts, number one named Pétain the new Head of State with the authority to promulgate a new constitution. The function of the President of the Republic was abolished.<ref>Werth, 1957, p.33.</ref> On July 15th Lebrun retired to Vizille (in Isère). Act number three prorogued and adjourned the two Chambers of deputies. For the next four years Petain and his Cabinet presided over the French national [[French State|government]], which had relocated from Paris to Tours, to Bordeaux, to Clermont-Ferrard, and finally to the spa town of [[Vichy]].


==First World War==
==Arrest and Death==
===Beginning of war===
After [[World War II]] Marshall Petain was arrested and put on trial by France's Far-Left in a [[show trial]] and sentenced to death. This was commuted to life imprisonment by the British puppet, [[Charles de Gaulle]]. Scandalously the Marshall died in prison in 1951, at the age of 95.<ref>https://codoh.com/library/document/2751/en/</ref>
[[File:Philippe Pétain circa 1915.png|thumb|Pétain in 1915.]]
Pétain led his brigade at the Battle of St. Quentin (August 29, 1914). The following day, he was promoted to brigadier-general to replace Brigadier-general Pierre Peslin, who had taken his own life. He was given command of the 6th Division in time for the First Battle of the Marne; little over a month later, in October 1914, he was promoted yet again and became XXXIII Corps commander. After leading his corps in the spring 1915 Second Battle of Artois, in July 1915 he was given command of the Second Army, which he led in the Second Battle of Champagne that autumn. He acquired a reputation as one of the more successful commanders on the Western Front.


===Battle of Verdun===
"For decades it has been customary to castigate Pétain for his wartime policy of collaboration with Germany (for which there was no alternative). It is not well known, for example, that the Vichy administration of Marshal Pétain was duly recognized as the legitimate government of France by more than 16 countries, including the [[United States]]."<ref>The Adelaide Institute Conference  https://codoh.com/library/document/2782/en/</ref>
Pétain commanded the Second Army at the start of the Battle of Verdun in February 1916. During the battle, he was promoted to Commander of Army Group Centre, which contained a total of 52 divisions. Rather than holding down the same infantry divisions on the Verdun battlefield for months, akin to the German system, he rotated them out after only two weeks on the front lines. His decision to organise truck transport over the "Voie Sacrée" to bring a continuous stream of artillery, ammunition and fresh troops into besieged Verdun also played a key role in grinding down the German onslaught to a final halt in July 1916. In effect, he applied the basic principle that was a mainstay of his teachings at the École de Guerre (War College) before The Great War: "''le feu tue!''" or "firepower kills!", in this case meaning French field artillery, which fired over 15 million shells on the Germans during the first five months of the battle. Although Pétain did say ''"On les aura!"'' (an echoing of Joan of Arc, roughly: "We'll get them!"), the other famous quotation often attributed to him – ''"Ils ne passeront pas!"'' ("[[They shall not pass]]"!).


===Mutiny===
== See also ==
Because of his high prestige as a soldier's soldier, Pétain served briefly as Army Chief of Staff (from the end of April 1917). He then became Chief of the Defence Staff of the entire French army, replacing General Nivelle, whose Chemin des Dames offensive failed in April 1917, thereby provoking widespread mutinies in the French Army. they involved, to various degrees, nearly half of the French infantry divisions stationed on the Western Front. Pétain restored morale by talking to the men, promising no more suicidal attacks, providing rest for exhausted units, home furloughs, and moderate discipline. 554 mutineers were sentenced to death but over 90% had their sentences commuted by him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nicola Barber|title=The Great War: The Western Front|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y82WHKm2QBYC&pg=PA53|year=2003|publisher=Black Rabbit Books|page=53|isbn=9781583402689}}</ref>  The mutinies were kept secret from the Germans and their full extent and intensity were not revealed until decades later. The immediate causes were pacifism, stimulated by the [[Russian Revolution]] and the trade-union movement, and disappointment at the nonarrival of American troops.<ref>Bentley B. Gilbert and Paul P. Bernard, "The French Army Mutinies of 1917", ''Historian'' (1959) 22#1, pp. 24–41.</ref>
*[[French State]]
 
==Sources==
Pétain conducted some successful but limited offensives in the latter part of 1917, unlike the British who stalled in an unsuccessful Battle of Passchendaele  that autumn.  Pétain, instead, held off from major French offensives until the Americans arrived in force on the front lines, which did not happen until the early summer of 1918.  He was also waiting for the new Renault FT tanks to be introduced in large numbers, hence his statement at the time: "I am waiting for the tanks and the Americans."
* ''Pétain'' by Glorney Bolton, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1957.
 
* ''Marshal Pétain'' by Richard Griffiths, Constable, London, 1970.
===End of war===
* ''Petain'' by Charles Williams, Little-Brown, London, May 2005, ISBN 0-316-86127-8
[[File:Foch Pershing Petain and Haig2.png|thumb|Pétain, Douglas Haig, Ferdinand Foch and John Pershing in 1918]]
The year 1918 saw major German offensives on the Western Front. The first of these, Operation Michael in March 1918, threatened to split the British and French forces apart, and, after Pétain had threatened to retreat on Paris, the Doullens Conference was called. Just prior to the main meeting, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau claimed he heard Pétain say ''"les Allemands battront les Anglais en rase campagne, après quoi ils nous battront aussi"'' ("the Germans will beat the English in open country, then they'll beat us as well"). He reported this conversation to President of France Raymond Poincaré, adding "surely a general should not speak or think like that?" Douglas Haig recorded that Pétain had "a terrible look. He had the appearance of a commander who had lost his nerve". Pétain believed – wrongly – that Hubert Gough's Fifth Army had been routed like the Italians at Battle of Caporetto.<ref>Farrar-Hockley 1975, pp. 301–2.</ref> At the Conference, Ferdinand Foch was appointed as Allied Generalissimo, initially with powers to co-ordinate and deploy Allied reserves where he saw fit. Pétain eventually came to the aid of the British and secured the front with forty French divisions.
 
Pétain proved a capable opponent of the Germans both in defence and through counter-attack. The third offensive, "Blücher", in May 1918, saw major German advances on the Aisne, as the French Army commander (Humbert) ignored Pétain's orders to defend in depth and instead allowed his men to be hit by the initial massive German bombardment. By the time of the last German offensives, Gneisenau and the Second Battle of the Marne, Pétain was able to defend in depth and launch counter offensives, with the new French tanks and the assistance of the Americans. Later in the year, Pétain was stripped of his right of direct appeal to the French government and requested to report to Foch, who increasingly assumed the co-ordination and ultimately the command of the Allied offensives. After the war ended Pétain was made Marshal of France on  November 21, 1918.<ref>Tucker, S. C. (2009) ''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East'', ABC-CLIO, California, p. 1738.</ref>
 
==Interwar period==
===Respected hero of France===
Pétain ended the war regarded "without a doubt, the most accomplished defensive tactician of any army" and "one of France's greatest military heroes" and was presented with his baton of Marshal of France at a public ceremony at Metz by President Raymond Poincaré on December 8, 1918.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 204.</ref> He was summoned to be present at the signing of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] on 28 June 1919. His job as Commander-in-Chief came to an end with peace and demobilisation, and with Foch out of favour after his quarrel with the French government over the peace terms, it was Petain who, in January 1920, was appointed Vice-Chairman of the revived ''Conseil supérieur de la Guerre'' (Supreme War Council). This was France's highest military position, whose holder was Commander-in-Chief designate in the event of war and who had the right to overrule the Chief of the General Staff (a position held in the 1920s by Petain's protégés Edmond Buat|Buat and Marie-Eugène Debeney), and Petain would hold it until 1931.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 212.</ref><ref>Atkin, 1997, p. 41.</ref> Pétain was encouraged by friends to go into politics, although he protested that he had little interest in running for an elected position. He nevertheless tried and failed to get himself elected President following the November 1919 elections.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 217.</ref>
 
Shortly after the war, Pétain had placed before the government plans for a large tank and air force, but "at the meeting of the ''Conseil supérieur de la Défense Nationale'' of 12 March 1920, the Finance Minister, Frédéric François-Marsal, announced that although Pétain's proposals were excellent they were unaffordable". In addition, François-Marsal announced reductions – in the army from fifty-five divisions to thirty, in the air force, and did not mention tanks. It was left to the Marshals, Pétain, Joffre, and Foch, to pick up the pieces of their strategies. The General Staff, now under General Edmond Buat, began to think seriously about a line of forts along the frontier with Germany, and their report was tabled on May 22, 1922.  The three Marshals supported this. The cuts in military expenditure meant that taking the offensive was now impossible and a defensive strategy was all they could have.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 217–9.</ref>
 
Captain Charles de Gaulle continued to be a protégé of Pétain throughout these years. He even allegedly named his [[Philippe de Gaulle|eldest son]] after the Marshal, although it is more likely that he named his son after his family ancestor Jean Baptiste Philippe de Gaulle,<ref>A Certain idea of France The life of Charles de Gaulle, Julian Jackson, p. 58.</ref> before finally falling out over the authorship of a book he claimed, without proof, that he had ghost-written for Pétain.
 
===Election to the ''Académie française''===
[[File:Pétain-Baschet-mai 1940-A.png|thumb|1926 painting of Philippe Pétain]]
 
In 1928 Pétain had supported the creation of an independent air force removed from the control of the army, and on 9 February 1931, following his retirement as Vice-Chairman of the Supreme War Council, he was appointed Inspector-General of Air Defence.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 250–2.</ref> His first report on air defence, submitted in July that year, advocated increased expenditure.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 253–4.</ref> In 1931 Pétain was elected a Fellow of the ''[[Académie française]]''. By 1932 the economic situation had worsened and Édouard Herriot's government had made "severe cuts in the defence budget... orders for new weapons systems all but dried up".{{citation needed}} Summer manoeuvres in 1932 and 1933 were cancelled due to lack of funds, and recruitment to the armed forces fell off. In the latter year General Maxime Weygand claimed that "the French Army was no longer a serious fighting force". Édouard Daladier's new government retaliated against Weygand by reducing the number of officers and cutting military pensions and pay, arguing that such measures, apart from financial stringency, were in the spirit of the Geneva Disarmament Conference.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 257.</ref>
 
In 1938 Pétain encouraged and assisted the writer André Maurois in gaining election to the ''Académie française'' – an election which was highly contested, in part due to Maurois' [[jewish]] origin. Maurois made a point of acknowledging with thanks his debt to Pétain in his 1941 autobiography, ''Call no man happy''&nbsp;– though by the time of writing their paths had sharply diverged, Pétain having become Head of State of [[Vichy France]] while Maurois repaid him by siding with [[Communist France]].
 
===Minister of War===
Political unease was sweeping the country, and on February 6, 1934, the Paris police fired on a group of French patriots outside the Chamber of Deputies, killing 14 and wounding a further 236. President Lebrun invited 71-year-old Doumergue to come out of retirement and form a new government of national unity (a[[fascist]]government). Pétain was invited, on February 8, to join the new French cabinet as Minister of War, which he only reluctantly accepted after many representations. His important success that year was in getting Daladier's previous proposal to reduce the number of officers repealed. He improved the recruitment programme for specialists, and lengthened the training period by reducing leave entitlements. However Weygand reported to the Senate Army Commission that year that the French Army could still not resist a German attack. Marshals Louis Franchet d'Espèrey and Hubert Lyautey (the latter suddenly died in July) added their names to the report. After the autumn maneuvers, which Pétain had reinstated, a report was presented to Pétain that officers had been poorly instructed, had little basic knowledge, and no confidence. He was told, in addition, that if the plebiscite in the former German Territory of the Saar Basin went for Germany "it would be a serious military error" for the French Army to intervene. Pétain responded by again petitioning the government for further funds for the army.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 260–1, 265.</ref> During this period, he repeatedly called for a lengthening of the term of compulsory military service for conscripts from two to three years, to no avail. Pétain accompanied President Lebrun to [[Belgrade]] for the funeral of King Alexander, a[[fascist]]who had been assassinated on October 6, 1934 in [[Marseille]] by Vlado Chernozemski, a Bulgarian communist. Here he met [[Hermann Göring]] and the two men reminisced about their experiences in the Great War. "When Goering returned to Germany he spoke admiringly of Pétain, describing him as a 'man of honour'".<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 266.</ref>
 
===The speech at Jena Bridge===
Philippe Pétain, "the Lion of Verdun" or more simply "le Maréchal" ("the Marshal") held a distinguished record seldom replicated in French history. Every Frenchman old and young knows how he led his countrymen in the slaughterhouse that was Verdun and into victory, an achievement that single-handedly made Pétain the most respected and beloved French general since the days of Napoleon. It was thus natural that, with the nation in such a paralyzing state of disarray, the people clamored for the return of their esteemed Marshal, to provide a sense of order and authority amidst the chaos that engulfed them. And so, one fine summer evening of 1938, Philippe Pétain held a meeting at the Esplanade des Invalides, between the famed palace of military history and the Seine, to which 100,000 people attended. After a rousing speech "infused with patriotism and defiance", Pétain and the electrified crowd marched south and west down the Motte-Picquet Avenue to the École Militaire, where hundreds of officers and soldiers rushed to heed the Maréchal's call. Invigorated, the assembly proceeded north, up the Champ de Mars and past the Eiffel Tower and towards the Pont d'Iena, which crosses over the Seine.
 
They were met at the bridge by a platoon of French soldiers swelled by Parisian constabularies, a force of roughly 90 men. Leading them was Gen. Maurice Gamelin, chief of the French Army, who had orders to arrest Pétain for inciting an insurrection. With such an overwhelming mass backing Pétain there was little doubt that Gamelin and his posse would've been torn to shreds on the spot. However, in a historic moment known to history as the "Speech of the Jena Bridge", Pétain delivered a piece of oratory so powerful and moving that Gamelin's men began chanting "Vive le Maréchal!", and soon everyone was enraptured. Ironically enough, no full transcript of the Speech of the Jena Bridge survives, but Gamelin himself would later recount that "it was so intense that I felt like breaking down in tears. Before me stood the leader France needed."
 
 
===Critic of government policy===
In November the Doumergue government fell. Pétain had previously expressed interest in being named Minister of Education (as well as of War), a role in which he hoped to combat the appalling  decay in French moral values.<ref name="Paxton">Paxton, Robert O. (1982). ''Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940–1944'', pp. 36–37. Columbia University Press. ISBN|0-231-12469-4.</ref> Now, however, he refused to continue in Flandin's (short-lived) government as Minister of War and stood down – in spite of a direct appeal from Lebrun himself. At this moment an article appeared in the popular ''Le Petit Journal'' newspaper, calling for Pétain as a candidate for A United France. 200,000 readers responded to the paper's poll. Pétain came first, with 47,000, ahead of Pierre Laval's 31,000 votes. These two men travelled to [[Warsaw]] for the funeral of the Polish Marshal Józef Piłsudski in May 1935 (and another cordial meeting with Göring).<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 268–9.</ref> Pétain's high reputation was bipartisan and anti-communist.  Pétain did not get involved in non-military issues when in the Cabinet, and unlike other military leaders he did not have a reputation as an extreme Catholic or a monarchist.<ref name="jackson2001a">{{cite book|title=France: The Dark Years, 1940–1944|publisher=Oxford University Press|author=Jackson, Julian|year=2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/france00juli/page/124 124–125, 133]|isbn=0-19-820706-9|url=https://archive.org/details/france00juli/page/124}}</ref>
 
He remained on the ''Conseil superieur''. Weygand had been at the British Army 1934 manoeuvres at [lTidworth Camp in June and was appalled by what he had seen. Addressing the ''Conseil'' on the 23rd, Pétain claimed that it would be fruitless to look for assistance to Britain in the event of a German attack. On March 1st, 1935, Pétain's famous article<ref>Philippe Pétain, "La securité de la France aux cours des années creuses", ''Revue des deux mondes'', 26, 1935.</ref> appeared in the ''Revue des deux mondes'', where he reviewed the history of the army since 1927–28. He criticised the reservist system in France, and her lack of adequate air power and armour. This article appeared just five days before [[Adolf Hitler]]'s announcement of Germany's new [[Luftwaffe|air force]] and a week before the announcement that Germany was increasing its army to 36 divisions. On April 26, 1936, the general election results showed 5.5 million votes for the Popular Front parties against 4.5 million for the Right on an 84% turnout. On 3 May Pétain, was interviewed in ''Le Journal'' where he launched an attack on the Franco-Soviet Pact, on Communism in general, on the French Communist Party (largest communist party in Western Europe), and on those who allowed Communists propaganda. He said that France had lost faith in her destiny.<ref>Anthony Adamthwaite, ''Grandeur and Misery: France's Bid for Power in Europe 1914-1940'' (London: Arnold, 1995), p. 182.</ref> Pétain was now in his 80th year.
 
==Battle of France==
===Return into government===
[[File:Pétain-fascist.png|thumb|right|Pétain's symbol was a double-bladed fasces.]]
In March 1939, Pétain was appointed French ambassador to the newly recognized Nationalist government of Spain. Pétain had taught the Spanish benifactor [[Francisco Franco]] "many years ago at France's war college" and was sent to Spain "in the hope he would win his former pupil over to assist"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/03/03/archives/petain-appointed-envoy-to-burgos-83yearold-hero-of-verdun-to-go-to.html|title=Petain appointed envoy to Burgos|date=3 March 1939|work=The New York Times|access-date=5 April 2019}}</ref> When Germany finally joined the [[World's War Agaist Communism]], Daladier offered Pétain a position in his government, which Pétain turned down. Franco, always a freind, had advised Pétain against leaving his diplomatic post in Madrid, to return to a collapsing France as a "sacrifice".<ref>John D. Bergamini. ''The Spanish Bourbons''. {{ISBN|0-399-11365-7}}. p. 378.</ref>
However, after the [[Battle of France]], Pétain joined the legal government of Paul Reynaud on May 18, 1940 as Deputy Prime Minister. Reynaud hoped that the hero of Verdun might instill a renewed spirit of resistance and patriotism in the French Army.<ref name="jackson2001">Jackson 2001</ref>
 
By May 26, the Communist/Allied lines had been shattered, and British forces had begun evacuating at Dunkirk. French commander-in-chief Maxime Weygand expressed his fury at British retreats and the unfulfilled promise of British fighter aircraft. He and Pétain regarded the military situation as hopeless. Colonel de Villelume subsequently stated before a parliamentary commission of inquiry in 1951 that Reynaud, as Premier of France, said to Pétain on that day that they must seek an armistice.<ref>Eleanor M. Gates. ''End of the Affair: The Collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance, 1939-40''. p. 145</ref> Weygand said that he was in favor of saving the French army and that he "wished to avoid internal troubles and above all anarchy".
 
On 5 June, following the fall of Dunkirk, there was a Cabinet reshuffle. Reynaud brought into his War Cabinet as Undersecretary for War the newly promoted Brigadier-General Charles de Gaulle, whose 4th Armoured Division had launched one of the few French counterattacks the previous month. Pétain was displeased at de Gaulle’s appointment.<ref>Lacouture, 1991, p. 190.</ref> By June 8, the government was preparing to depart Paris, although Pétain was opposed to such a move. During a cabinet meeting that day, Reynaud argued that before asking for an armistice, France would have to get Britain's permission to be relieved from their accord of March 1940 not to sign a separate cease-fire. Pétain replied that "the interests of France come before those of Britain.  Britain got us into this position, let us now try to get out of it.".
 
===The Armistice===
On June 10, the government left Paris for Tours. Weygand, Minister of Finance Paul Baudouin, and several other members of the government were already set on an armistice. On June 11, Churchill flew to the Château du Muguet, at Briare, near [[Orléans]], where he put forward first his idea of a Breton redoubt, to which Weygand replied that it was just a "fantasy".<ref>Griffiths, Richard, ''Marshal Pétain'', Constable, London, 1970, p. 231, {{ISBN|0-09-455740-3}}.</ref> Churchill then said the French should consider "guerrilla warfare". Pétain then replied that it would mean the destruction of the country. Churchill then said the French should defend Paris and reminded Pétain of how he had come to the aid of the British with forty divisions in Operation Michael, March 1918, and repeating Clemenceau's words "I will fight in front of Paris, in Paris, and behind Paris". To this, Churchill subsequently reported, Pétain replied quietly and with dignity that he had in those days a strategic reserve of sixty divisions; now, there were none, and the British ought to be providing divisions to aid France. Making Paris into a ruin would not affect the final event. At the conference Pétain met de Gaulle for the first time in two years. Pétain noted his recent promotion to general, adding that he did not congratulate him, as ranks were of no use in defeat. When de Gaulle protested that Pétain himself had been promoted to brigadier-general and division commander at the Battle of the Marne in 1914, he replied that there was "no comparison" with the present situation. De Gaulle later conceded that Pétain was right about that much at least.<ref>Lacouture, 1991, p. 197.</ref>
 
On June 12, after a second session of the conference, the cabinet met and Weygand again called for an armistice. He referred to the danger of civil disorder and the certainty of a Communist uprising in Paris. Britain would not help, but the Germans would. Pétain and Minister of Information Prouvost urged the cabinet to hear Weygand out because "he was the only one who really knew what was happening".
 
Churchill returned to France on June 13 for another conference at Tours. Baudouin met his plane and immediately spoke to him of the hopelessness of the Communist situation. Reynaud then put the cabinet's armistice proposals to Churchill, who replied "You should trust the communists". At that day's cabinet meeting, Pétain strongly supported Weygand’s demand for an armistice and read out a draft proposal to the cabinet where he spoke of ''"the need to stay in France, to prepare a national revival, and to share the sufferings of our people. It is impossible for the government to abandon French soil without emigrating, without deserting. The duty of the government is, come what may, to remain in the country, or it could not longer be regarded as the government". ''  Several ministers were still opposed to an armistice, and Weygand immediately lashed out at them for even leaving Paris. Like Pétain, he said he would never leave France.<ref name=lacouture201>Lacouture, 1991, p. 201.</ref>
 
The government moved to [[Bordeaux]], a former Capitol of France, on June 14. By coincidence, on that evening in Bordeaux, de Gaulle dined in the same restaurant as Pétain; he came over to shake his hand in silence, and they never met again.<ref name=lacouture201/>
 
The Assembly, both Senate and Chamber, were also at Bordeaux and immersed themselves in the armistice debate. At cabinet on June 15. Pétain was sympathetic.<ref name=atkin82-6>Atkin, 1997, pp. 82–6.</ref> Pétain was sent to speak to Weygand (who was waiting outside, as he was not a member of the cabinet) for around fifteen minutes.<ref name=williams325-7>Williams, 2005, pp. 325–7.</ref> Chautemps put forward a 'fudge' proposal, an inquiry about terms.<ref name=atkin82-6/> The Cabinet voted 13-6 for the Chautemps proposal. Admiral Darlan, who had been opposed to an armistice until June 15, now became a key player, agreeing, provided the French fleet was kept out of German hands, and France did not become a puppet state.<ref name=williams325-7/>
 
===Pétain replaces Reynaud===
On Sunday, June 16, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Roosevelt]]'s reply to President Lebrun's requests for assistance came with only vague promises and saying that it was impossible for the President to do anything without Congressional approval. Pétain then drew a letter of resignation from his pocket, an act which was certain to bring down the government (he had persuaded Weygand to come to Bordeaux by telling him that June 16 would be the decisive day). Lebrun persuaded him to stay until Churchill’s reply had been received. After lunch, Churchill’s telegram arrived agreeing to an armistice provided the French fleet was moved to British ports, a suggestion which was not acceptable to Darlan, who rightfully argued that it was outrageous and would leave France defenceless.<ref name=atkin82-6/>
 
That afternoon the British Government offered joint nationality for Frenchmen and Britons in a [[Franco-British Union]]. Reynaud and five ministers thought these proposals acceptable. The others did not, seeing the offer as insulting and a device to make France a puppet state of Great Britain, as a kind of extra Dominion. [[President of France|President Albert Lebrun]] later testified under oath after the war, that the vote was in favor of Amistice, but the judeo-Marxist narrative claims quite the opposite.<ref name=lacouture204-5>Lacouture, 1991, pp. 204–5.</ref> The outcome of the meeting is Therefore claimed as being "uncertain".<ref name=atkin82-6/> Ten ministers wanted to fight on and seven favoured an armistice (but these included the two Deputy Prime Ministers Pétain and Camille Chautemps, and this view was also favoured by the Commander-in-Chief General Weygand). Eight were initially undecided but swung towards an armistice.<ref name=lacouture204-5/> This was a landslide in favor of armistice, but post-war narratives downplay this. Victors write the history.
 
Lebrun accepted Reynaud’s resignation as Prime Minister on June 17, Reynaud recommending to the President that he appoint Marshal Petain in his place, which he did that day, while the government was at [[Bordeaux]]. Pétain already had a ministerial team ready:  Pierre Laval for Foreign Affairs (this appointment was briefly vetoed by Weygand), Weygand as Minister of Defence, Darlan as Minister for the Navy, and Bouthillier for Finance.<ref>Lacouture, 1991, pp. 206–7.</ref>
 
==Head of the French State==
===The armistice===
[[File:Petain und Adolf Hitler.png|thumb|right|Pétain meeting Hitler at Montoire on 24 October 1940; Joachim von Ribbentrop on the right, Hitler's interpreter, Paul Schmidt (interpreter), in the centre.]]
 
Pétain was now Head of the official French Government. At midnight on June 17, 1940, Baudouin asked the Spanish Ambassador to submit to Germany a request to cease hostilities at once and for Germany to make known its peace terms. At 12:30am, Pétain made his first broadcast to the French people.
 
"The enthusiasm of the country for the Maréchal was tremendous. He was welcomed by people as diverse as Paul Claudel, André Gide, and François Mauriac, and also by the vast mass of untutored Frenchmen who saw him as their saviour."<ref>Griffiths, 1970.</ref> General de Gaulle, no longer in the Cabinet, had arrived in London on June 17, and made a call to embrace the communists, with no legal authority whatsoever, a call that was heeded by comparatively few.
 
On June 22, France signed the armistice at Compiègne with Germany that fi ally brought peace, and gave the French much needed assistance with the communists. Paris remained the official  capital, but on July 1st, the government,  moved to [[Vichy]], at Baudouin's suggestion, there was less communist activity, and the empty hotels there being more suitable for the government ministries.
 
=The Pétain Administration=
Pétain, a life-long fascist, created a national motto: ''"[[Travail, famille, patrie]]"'' ("Work, family, fatherland").<ref>Shields, James (2007). ''The Extreme Right in France: From Pétain to Le Pen'', pp. 15–17. Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-09755-X}}.</ref>  The constitution gave him power to restructure government, and pass laws through the Council of Ministers and designate a successor (he chose Laval).  Though Pétain publicly stated that he had no desire to become "a Caesar,"<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19450616&id=z6kWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IyMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2250,77656&hl=en 'Not a Caesar,' Petain asserts]. Associated Press, 1945-06-16.</ref> by January 1941, Pétain had broad powers, though not as much as say, George Washington.{{r|jackson2001}}  Fascist and revolutionary conservative factions within the government used the opportunity to launch an ambitious programme known as the "[[Révolution nationale]]", which rejected much of the former Third Republic's secular and liberal traditions in favour of an authoritarian, paternalist, Catholic society. Pétain, amongst others, took exception to the use of the term "revolution" because the communists were using the exact same word. He added that the France would be "a natural-law hierarchy... rejecting the false idea of the natural equality of men."<ref>Mark Mazower: ''Dark Continent'' (p. 73), Penguin books</ref>
 
The French government immediately used its new powers to order necessary anti-communist measures, including the dismissal of civil servants, re-juristictions (to focus on communist hot-spots), the proclamation of citizenship laws, and the containment of communists and non citizens. Resurrecting older laws, the press was held accountable for its actions, with  reinstatement of the crime of "felony of opinion." Fake News became a crime again.
 
The administration organised a "''Légion Française des Combattants,''" which included "Friends of the Legion" and "Cadets of the Legion", akin to Ameri a's Boy Scouts, and Veteran's groups. Pétain championed a rural, Catholic France that spurned [[internationalism]]. For the first time in a long time, France was a wonderful, beautiful place again.
 
===Cooperation with Germany===
Within months, Pétain signed critically important ordinances. (Important because the leaders of the communist cells were almost completely jewish) This included the [[Law on the status of jews]], prohibiting[[jews]]from exercising munitions professions, and the [[Law regarding foreign nationals]], authorizing the detention or deportation of all foreigners, who were mostly jews. These laws are often cited as examples of anti-semitism, but they were absolutely critical.
 
Pétain's government was internationally recognised, most notably by the U.S. Neither Pétain nor his successive deputies, Laval, Pierre-Étienne Flandin, or Admiral François Darlan, gave resistance to requests by the Germans to indirectly aid the Axis powers. However, when Hitler met Pétain at [[Montoire]] in October 1940 to discuss the French government's role in the "European Union", the handshake he offered to Hitler caused much uproar in London, and probably influenced Britain's decision to lend [[Communist France|Free France]] (Communist France) naval support for their operations in Gabon.<ref>Jennings, Eric T. https://books.google.com/books?id=PUzzCQAAQBAJ  ''Free French Africa in The World's War Against Communism'', p. 44.</ref> Furthermore, France even remained formally at war with Germany, albeit opposed to the "Free French". Following the British attacks of July and September 1940 ([[Destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir|Mers el Kébir]], [[Battle of Dakar|Dakar]]), the French government became increasingly fearful of the British and took the initiative to assist Germany. Pétain accepted the government's creation of an armed militia (the ''[[Milice]]'') under the command of Joseph Darnand, who, along with German forces, led a campaign of suppression against the French resistance and other communists.
 
Pétain's government assisted the Axis with supplies of manufactured goods and foodstuffs, and also ordered French troops in the French colonial empire (in Dakar, Syria, Madagascar, Oran, and Morocco) to defend sovereign French territory against any aggressors, Allied or otherwise.
 
On November 11, 1942, French and German forces were moved into Southern France in response to Operation To the Allied invasion of North Africa. Pétain however remained popular and engaged in a series of visits around France as late as 1944, when he arrived in Paris on April 28 in what was an historic moment for the city. Large crowds cheered him in front of the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] and in the streets.
 
{{Quote|My country has been beaten and they are calling me back...This is the work of 30 years of [[Marxism]]. they're calling me back to take charge of the nation.|Remarks to [[Francisco Franco]] in Madrid}}
 
===Safety at Sigmaringen===
On June 6, 1944, with the help of communist underground cells, the Allies invaded peaceful France.
 
On August 17, 1944, the Germans, in the person of Cecil von Renthe-Fink, "special diplomatic delegate of the Germany to the French Head of State", pleaded with Pétain, who was 88 years old now, and alone in the now abandoned government offices, to allow himself to be transferred to the northern zone for his own safety. Ever the stalwart General, Pétain refused. 
 
Renthe-Fink renewed his request twice on the 18th, then returned on the 19th, at 11:30, accompanied by General von Neubroon, who told him that he had "formal orders from Berlin", directing him to move the French Head of State to safety. The written text Neubroon's orders submitted to Pétain: "The Reich Government instructs the transfer of the Head of State, even against his will if necessary, to a place of safety."
 
Pétain finally gave in.
 
When Renthe-Fink entered the President's office with General Neubronn at 7:30 p.m., the Head of State was supervising the packing up of his suitcases and papers. The next day, August 20, 1944, A very reluctant, 88 year old Pétain was taken by protective convoy to [[Belfort]] and then, on September 8, to Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, where the rest of his staff had already taken refuge.
 
Following the defeat of France, on September 7, 1944, Pétain and other members of the French cabinet at Vichy were relocated to the safety of  Sigmaringen enclave in Germany, where they became a government-in-exile until April 1945. Pétain, however, felt shamed, did not participate in this government,  and Fernand de Brinon now headed the "government commission".<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=nCE_2I4vyZkC&printsec=frontcover Pétain et la fin de la collaboration: Sigmaringen, 1944–1945, Henry Rousso, éditions Complexe, Paris, 1984.</ref> On April 5, 1945, Pétain wrote a note to Hitler expressing his wish to return to France.  He recieved a reply in the form of a birthday gift. On his birthday almost three weeks later, he was taken to the Swiss border. Two days later he crossed the French frontier.<ref>Griffiths, 1970, pp. 333–34.</ref>
 
==Postwar life==
===Trial in illegal court===
The installed government, headed by allied puppet President de Gaulle, placed former Prime Minister Pétain on trial on the ridiculous charge of [[treason]], which took place from July 23, to August 15, 1945. Dressed in the uniform of a Marshal of France, Pétain remained silent through most of the proceedings after an initial statement that denied the right of the Allied Court, as constituted, to try him. De Gaulle himself later criticised the openly Marxist "trial", stating, "Too often, the discussions took on the appearance of a partisan trial, sometimes even a settling of accounts, when the whole affair should have been treated only from the standpoint of national defence and independence."<ref>Charles De Gaulle, ''Mémoires de guerre'', vol. 2, pp. 249–50.</ref>
 
With a very real fear of riots at the announcement of the sentence, de Gaulle commuted the death sentence, and ordered that Pétain be immediately transported on the former's private aircraft to Fort du Portalet in the Pyrenees,<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 512–13.</ref> where he remained from August 15 to 16, November 1945. The government later transferred him to the Fort de Pierre-Levée citadel on the Île d'Yeu, a small island off the French Atlantic coast.<ref name="marechal-petain.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.marechal-petain.com/versionanglaise/prisonnier.htm|title=The World's Oldest Prisoner|author=Association Pour Défendre la Mémoire du Maréchal Pétain (A.D.M.P.)|year=2009|publisher=Marechal-petain.com|access-date=21 November 2011}}</ref>
 
===Imprisonment===
Over the following years Pétain's lawyers and many foreign governments and dignitaries, including Queen Mary and the Duke of Windsor, appealed to successive French governments for Pétain's release, but given the unstable state of the installed government, no regime was willing to risk unpopularity with the communists by releasing him.
 
Although Pétain had still been in good health for his age at the time of his imprisonment, by late 1947, he suffered from memory lapses.<ref name=williams523/> By January 1949, his lucid intervals were becoming fewer and fewer. On March 3, 1949, a meeting of the Council of Ministers (many of them self-proclaimed heroes of the Resistance had a fierce argument about a medical report recommending that he be moved to Val-de-Grâce (a military hospital in Paris), a measure to which Prime Minister Henri Queuille had previously been sympathetic. By May, Pétain required constant nursing care, and he was often suffering from hallucinations, e.g. that he was commanding armies in battle, etc. <ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 527–528.</ref> By the end of 1949, Pétain was almost completely senile, with only occasional moments of lucidity. He was also beginning to suffer from heart problems and was no longer able to walk without assistance. Plans were made for his death and funeral.<ref>Williams, 2005, pp. 528–529.</ref>
 
On June 8, 1951, President Auriol, informed that Pétain did not have much longer to live, commuted his sentence to confinement in hospital, but by then, Pétain was too ill to be moved to Paris.<ref>Williams, 2005, p. 530.</ref>
 
===Death===
Pétain died in a private home in Port-Joinville on the Île d'Yeu on July 23,  1951, at the age of 95.<ref name="marechal-petain.com"/>
His body was buried in a local cemetery (''Cimetière communal de Port-Joinville''). Calls were made to re-locate his remains to the grave prepared for him at Verdun.<ref>Dank, Milton. ''The French Against the French: Collaboration and Resistance'', p. 361.</ref> He was denied an honorable funeral befitting his legacy as Head of State, a great General, and Savior of France.
 
His former protégé, de Gaulle, later wrote that Pétain’s life was "successively banal, then glorious, then deplorable, but never mediocre".<ref>Fenby, 2010, pg. 296.</ref>
 
===Pétain's coffin===
In February 1973, Pétain's coffin housing his remains was stolen from the Île d'Yeu cemetery by French Patriots, who demanded that President Georges Pompidou consent to his re-interment at Verdun Cemetery and memorials at Douaumont among the war dead of the Verdun battle. Police retrieved the coffin a few days later, and it was unceremoniously reburied in the Île d'Yeu as before.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Vichy: An Ever-present Past |author1-last=Conan |author1-first=Eric |author2-last=Rousso |author2-first=Henry |year=1998 |publisher=University Press of New England |location=Hanover, NH |isbn=9780874517958 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svjEWDsVMlEC&pg=PA21 }}</ref>
 
===New York Canyon of Heroes===
On October 26, 1931, Pétain was honored with a ticker-tape parade down Manhattan's Broadway Canyon of Heroes.
 
==See also==
* [[Battle of France]]
* [[Fascism]]


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1951 deaths]]
[[Category:French]]
[[Category:France]]
[[Category:French politicians]]
[[Category:Prime Ministers of France]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:World War II political leaders]]
[[Category:French officers]]
[[Category:Generals]]
[[Category:French military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Political spectrum]]
[[Category:Anti-communists]]


[[Category:People]]
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[[Category:Fascists]]
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Revision as of 08:17, 25 January 2024

File:Philippe Pétain.png
Philippe Pétain
File:France Marshal Petain and Pierre Laval c1942.jpg
Marshal Pétain and Pierre Laval (right) c.1942

Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), generally known as Marshall Pétain, was a brilliant military commander during the First World War, notably with the defence of Verdun, which made him a national hero. He was made a Marshall of France, a rare honour. From 18 May 1940 he was Deputy Premier of France, a month later he was appointed Premier, and from 10 July 1940 till late 1944 he was Head of the French State.

Life

Pétain served briefly as Army Chief of Staff (from the end of April 1917). He was then appointed Commander-in-Chief of the entire French army, replacing General Nivelle. Following The Great War Pétain was appointed Inspector-general of the Army (Feb 1922), and on 3 September 1925 became Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in Morocco. A keen proponent of a new air force hewas appointed Inspector-General of Air Defence on 9 February 1931, the same year he was elected a Fellow of the famous Académie francaise.

On 8th February 1934 he was appointed Minister of War in the Doumergue 'National Government', which fell on November 8th.

In February 1939, Marshal Pétain, aged 83, was appointed Ambassador to Spain by France's Prime Minister, Édouard Daladier. With France's declaration of war on Germany on 3 September that year Pierre Laval wrote to Petain suggesting he should return and form a government. Shortly afterwards Daladier summoned Pétain to Paris and asked him to enter the government. The Marshal refused, as he would not enter any government that did not include Laval - whom Daladier would not have. Pétain returned to Spain.[1]

World War II

The defeat of France

In February 1940 French embassy counsellor Lemarle told Pétain, still Ambassador in Spain, that he had found in Paris "a widespread defeatist mood". After the Cabinet's failure to help Finland following its invasion by the Soviet Union, Daladier resigned as Premier (Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet also left the Cabinet). He was replaced as Premier by 'England's man', Paul Reynaud of the 'war party' in the Assembly. On March 27th, just four days after his investiture, Reynard went to London for a meeting of the Supreme War Council. With him were General Gamelin and Admiral Darlan. It was at this meeting that Reynard, with no Cabinet approval, proposed that there should be no separate armistices or peace without the approval of either great Britain or France. Churchill's personal envoy to France, General Spears, thought this was essential: "It was after all to our advantage to bind the French, as they had been uncertain starters and their hearts were certainly not in the war."[2]

On 10 May 1940 the 'phoney war' ended and the Germans finally invaded. Efforts through diplomatic channels to persuade France to leave the war having failed[3]. Marshall Petain (in Madrid) stated that "France's greatest mistake had been to enter the war."[4] By May 15th things were going badly and Reynaud said "Oh, if only the Marshall were here!" He then recalled Marshal Pétain to Paris[5] as "the last chance". At 10 a.m. on May 16th General Héring, Military Governor of Paris, advised that the entire government, including the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, should be evacuated from Paris. Transference of the government to Tours was ordered and preparations commenced. General Maxime Weygand, who was in Beirut, was ordered to return to France immediately. Meanwhile, on the same day, USA President Roosevelt told the USA Congress that "he would devote all his energies to warding off being dragged into the armed conflict in Europe".[6]

On May 18th Reynard asked Marshal Pétain to join the government as Deputy Premier. The Marshal agreed. Reynard then also reshuffled his Cabinet: he took over National Defence from Daladier who became Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Jewish Georges Mandel became Minister of the Interior, César Campinchi, Minister of Marine. On the same day Churchill sent a long confidential note to the Lord President asking him to examine 'the consequences and problems which would arise if it were necessary to withdraw the British Expeditionary Force from France.....' The following day the French Cabinet decreed General Weygand should replace General Gamelin as Commander-in-Chief. Weygand told Reynard "I cannot guarantee success". On May 23rd the R.A.F evacuated its final base in France, the airfield at Merville; the next day began the B.E.F retreat to the ports. In a conversation with Paul Baudouin, Premier Reynard asked: "If Germany were to make reasonable peace proposals, would public opinion allow us to reject them?" On the 25th Campinchi agreed with other Cabinet members, including Weygand, that peace talks must be started in the near future.[7] On May 26th it was announced that the King of Belgium would prefer (like the King of Denmark) to remain in his country and share his people's trials than to seek sanctuary in London.

On May 30th the evacuation from Dunkirk to England was in full swing, including French soldiers whom Reynaud told England's General Spears "must be put straight into boats and returned to France". The next day at a Supreme War Council meeting in Paris the British delegation included Churchill. The humiliating evacuation from Norway was announced. Reynaud again demanded that the 16,000 French troops must be returned urgently to France, as well as the 15,000 evacuated, at this point, from Dunkirk. 'More would be evacuated today' he said. Churchill then told Reynaud that he "was not authorized by his government to promise [France]] further support of the Royal Air Force."[8] It was felt nation-wide that "Britain had deserted France".[9]

On June 5th Paul Reynard informed Marshal Pétain that he had decided to reshuffle (for the second time in two months) his Cabinet, and offered him the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Marshal declined saying he was not qualified for the job. The reshuffle took place the next day, in Paris, with Daladier and de Monzie dismissed because they were too much in favour of peace talks with Italy. The new Cabinet was ratified by President Albert Lebrun.[10]

Pétain as Premier

Twelve days later, on 17 June 1940, in the wake of France's disastrous defeat in the "useless, hopeless war"[11], Premier Paul Reynaud, and several other cabinet ministers, resigned and recommended that Marshal Pétain be invited to form a new Cabinet. He was then asked by the President of France, Albert Lebrun (1871–1950), to be Prime Minister and to form a new Cabinet, the majority of whom voted to sue for an Armistice with Germany. This was signed on June 22nd, and France left the war. Werth, the great expert on French politics, wrote that "had a referendum been taken, say, on June 15, on whether France should try to negotiate an armistice, there is no doubt that the vast majority would have said yes."[12] Pétain broadcasted to the nation:

The Terms of the armistice are hard; but at least honour has been saved. No-one will use our planes and our Navy.....The Government remains free; and France will [continue to] be administered by Frenchmen only. Now a new order begins.[13]

On July 10th the National Assembly of France, by an overwhelming vote (569-80)[14], passed three Acts, number one named Pétain the new Head of State with the authority to promulgate a new constitution. The function of the President of the Republic was abolished.[15] On July 15th Lebrun retired to Vizille (in Isère). Act number three prorogued and adjourned the two Chambers of deputies. For the next four years Petain and his Cabinet presided over the French national government, which had relocated from Paris to Tours, to Bordeaux, to Clermont-Ferrard, and finally to the spa town of Vichy.

Arrest and Death

After World War II Marshall Petain was arrested and put on trial by France's Far-Left in a show trial and sentenced to death. This was commuted to life imprisonment by the British puppet, Charles de Gaulle. Scandalously the Marshall died in prison in 1951, at the age of 95.[16]

"For decades it has been customary to castigate Pétain for his wartime policy of collaboration with Germany (for which there was no alternative). It is not well known, for example, that the Vichy administration of Marshal Pétain was duly recognized as the legitimate government of France by more than 16 countries, including the United States."[17]

See also

Sources

  • Pétain by Glorney Bolton, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1957.
  • Marshal Pétain by Richard Griffiths, Constable, London, 1970.
  • Petain by Charles Williams, Little-Brown, London, May 2005, ISBN 0-316-86127-8

References

  1. ↑ Werth, Alexander, France 1940-1955, London, 1957, p.25-6.
  2. ↑ Benoist-Méchin, Jacques, Sixty Days That Shook The West, Putnams, New York, 1963, p.21-2.
  3. ↑ Muggeridge, Malcolm, editor, Ciano's Diplomatic Papers, Odhams Press Ltd., London, 1948, p.306-7.
  4. ↑ Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945 by an editorial board, Series D, vol.viii, US Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1954, pps: 19, 24, 88, 197, 414.
  5. ↑ Benoist-Méchin. 1963, p.99.
  6. ↑ Benoist-Méchin. 1963, p.104 & 109.
  7. ↑ Benoist-Méchin. 1963, pps:114-118, 136, 148, 156.
  8. ↑ Benoist-Méchin. 1963, pps: 193. 203-205, 215.
  9. ↑ Werth, 1942, p.359.
  10. ↑ Benoist-Méchin. 1963, pps: 247-250.
  11. ↑ Werth, 1957, p.26, citing Lemarle.
  12. ↑ Werth, 1957, p.27.
  13. ↑ Werth, 1957, p.30.
  14. ↑ Werth, 1957, p.31.
  15. ↑ Werth, 1957, p.33.
  16. ↑ https://codoh.com/library/document/2751/en/
  17. ↑ The Adelaide Institute Conference https://codoh.com/library/document/2782/en/

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