Georges de Bazelaire explained

Georges de Bazelaire (January 30, 1858 – March 29, 1954) was a Major General in the French Army.[1] During World War I, Bazelaire commanded the 135th Infantry Regiment, the 27th and 38th Infantry Divisions and the 7th Army Corps.

World War I

In 1916, general de Bazelaire took part in the Battle of Verdun,[2] defending the left bank of the river Meuse:[3] « He was to command the half of the Région Fortifiée de Verdun west of the river Meuse, including the section of front between Avocourt and the Meuse ».[4] In the first days of March, intense fighting involved the troops under Bazelaire's command in the areas of Bois des Corbeaux, Mort-Homme and the Cote 304.[5]

An order by Bazelaire dated March 7, 1916, quoted by the Germans and published in the New York Times,[6] reflects the extremely tough conditions of the fights when colonel Macker and his 92e Régiment d'infanterie were ordered to retake the Bois des Corbeaux where they demonstrated an admirable courage.[7]

In the British weekly The Graphic (July 1916) we can read the following comments: «After the Dead Man (Mort-Homme), none of the Verdun hills has been the scene of fiercer fighting than the now famous Hill 304 (Cote 304), where for many weeks general Bazelaire has held against the hellish fire of the Crown Prince's big guns and the massed attacks of his armed hosts [8] ».

During the offensive of the Chemin des Dames, in April 1917, the 7th Army Corps of general de Bazelaire, comprising three infantry divisions, was reinforced by the 1st and the 3rd Russian Brigades. These troops, commanded by general Nikolaï Lokhvitski, took part in the fighting near Courcy, where they behaved courageously and suffered severe losses.[9]

In February 1918, as Douglas MacArthur recalls in his memoirs, four regiments of the 42nd Infantry Division, the Rainbow Division of the American Expeditionary Forces, « were placed under the command of General Georges de Bazelaire of the French VII Army Corps to be battle-trained with four French divisions.» [10] Colonel MacArthur took part in what was his first raid against German trenches where several prisoners were seized, after which he was awarded a Croix de Guerre by Bazelaire.[11]

Captain Clarence Van Schaick Mitchell,[12] a Liaison Officer for the American Expeditionary Forces on the staff of General de Castelnau, relates a meeting he had with Bazelaire : « General de Bazelaire I met in Lunéville in April, 1918 when he was in command of a corps and our 42nd Division was under his orders. He was a tall shaggy looking man, with keen blue eyes and a very energetic, sharp manner of speaking. He questioned me about the arrival of our troops from America, said that if they were all as good as those in the 42nd Division, the Allies could ask for nothing better. He expressed his admiration for General Menoher, then commanding the Division, and was particularly enthusiastic about the then Chief of Staff, MacArthur (...) He is known for his forcefulness and unambiguous methods and our men and officers were enthusiastic about him.» [13]

Military Commendations

Georges de Bazelaire received several military citations for his services in World War I[14]

Documents

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://gw3.geneanet.org/pierfit?lang=en&p=georges&n=de+bazelaire+de+saulcy&oc=0 Georges de Bazelaire de Saulcy. Individual
  2. http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/916FBAA.pdf French forces at Verdun - 21 February - 4 March 1916
  3. Web site: Battle of Verdun - Situation on 21 February 1916 . 9 June 2013 . 13 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160313092143/http://www.westpoint.edu/history/SiteAssets/SitePages/World%20War%20I/WWOne12.pdf . dead .
  4. William F. Buckingham - Verdun 1916 - The deadliest battle of the First World War - Amberley Publishing - 2016 - page 28
  5. William F. Buckingham - Verdun 1916 - The deadliest battle of the First World War - Amberley Publishing - 2016 - pages 36-38
  6. « Germans say Bazelaire threatened to turn artillery on his retreating troops » - New York Times, March 16, 1916 https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/03/16/104668742.pdf
  7. « The near suicidal courage of Colonel Macker and his men and their determination to close with the bayonet provides textbook example of attaque à outrance philosophy inculcated in all ranks of the French army in the run up to 1914. » See: William F. Buckingham - Verdun 1916 - The deadliest battle of the First World War - Amberley Publishing - 2016 - page 39. On 10 March 1916, the beau Colonel Macker « was struck dead by a German machine gunner » during a German counter-attack in Bois des Corbeaux. See: Alistair Horne - The price of glory - Verdun 1916 - Penguin Books - London, 1991 - page 159
  8. The Vigil of Verdun - General Joffre congratulating the holder of Hill 304 - The Graphic - July 1, 1916 https://www.amazon.fr/Dirigeants-G%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral-Humbert-Bazelaire-Photographie/dp/B00AIPX950
  9. Jamie H. Cockfield - With snow on their boots: the tragic odyssey of the Russian expeditionary force in France in World War I - St Martin Press - New York, 1999 - pages 96 and fol.
  10. Douglas MacArthur - Reminiscences, page 54 - Naval Institute Press - Bluejacket Book, 2001 https://books.google.com/books?id=dVigIpN5V1UC&q=bazelaire
  11. J. L. Abrahamson and A.P. O'Meara - Leadership - Combat leaders and lessons - 2008 https://books.google.com/books?id=E60sdT3qKa8C&q=bazelaire&pg=PA19
  12. A graduate of Princeton (A.B., 1913) and Harvard Law School (LL.B., 1917), commissioned as a Captain of Cavalry in August, 1917, Clarence V.S. Mitchell (1890 - 1966) was ordered to France in January, 1918 where he was assigned as Liaison Officer on the staff of general de Castelnau. See : Princeton Alumni Weekly, Vol. 66, May 1966, page 18
  13. Clarence Van Schaick Mitchell, Captain Cavalry, U.S.A., Letters from a Liaison Officer 1918-1919, Privately printed, 1920, page 103 https://archive.org/stream/lettersfromliais00mitc#page/102/mode/2up/search/de+Bazelaire
  14. [:fr:Georges de Bazelaire]
  15. http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=18541 Military Times : Hall of Valor - Georges de Bazelaire

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