| Louis Charles Émile Gibon-Guilhem | |
| Birth Date: | 23 January 1862 |
| Death Place: | Paris, France |
| Birth Name: | Louis Charles Gibon |
| Allegiance: | France |
| Branch: | Army |
| Serviceyears: | 1882-1922 |
| Rank: | Brigadier General |
| Awards: | Croix de Guerre |
| Relations: | Émile Armand Gibon |
Louis Charles Émile Gibon-Guilhem (1862–1945) was a French Infantry Brigadier General born in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de Seine), France. Serving on the German front during World War I he was instrumental in the victory of allied forces in 1918.
Louis Charles Gibon was born on 23 January 1862 in a French family with long military tradition who took its origin in Brittany, France. He was the son of Brigadier General Émile Armand Gibon (1813–1870) who died when Louis Charles was only 8 years old. His grand father Jean Gibon (1775–1842) was a highly decorated Colonel, Commander of the Légion d'Honneur and Knight of the Empire. After his father's death his Scottish mother Elen Ord returned to Great Britain, her country of origin; her children never saw her again. Louis Charles was left with his siblings under the care of General Charles Nicolas Lacretelle (A friend of his father) and his wife Valérie Marie Guilhem. Later, at the age of 46, and by judgment dated 12 November 1908 of the Civil Court of Angers he was officially adopted by the recently widowed Valérie Marie. As recorded on his birth certificate,[1] his name was then amended to Louis Charles Emile Gibon-Guilhem.
Louis Charles Emile had a son François born on 31 January 1898 who joined the Army, and who later became aviator. Franois Gibon Guilhem became Chief of Staff of the North African-based French Air Force in 1942.[2] From his marriage, François had a son Charles Albert born in Algers in 1944.
General Gibon-Guilhem died in Paris on 10 June 1945.
Louis Charles joined the army on 25 October 1882 and entered as Cadet the famous Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr ("Pavillons Noirs" Promotion) from which he graduated in 1884 (with the rank 97 out of 406).
After 9 years in North Africa Gibon returned to metropolitan France on 31 Mai 1894.
Despite several citations, awards, medals and recommendations Gibon-Guilhem will not be promoted General before the end of the conflict.
On 23 January 1922 General Gibon-Guilhem will retire from military duties to live in Paris until 1945. Distinguished but simple, he was known to be a man respected by his enemies for his qualities, loved by his soldiers for his humanity, appreciated by his colleagues for his friendliness and competency and highly considered by his superiors for his courage and zealous military capacities in combat.
"The Regiment endurance was established in Verdun from the very beginning of the campaign in August and September 1914, then again in Artois in June, September and October 1915. During June 1916 under the command of Colonel Gibon-Guilhem in front of Verdun and under an extremely violent bombardment followed by gas emissions and despite severe losses, the regiment maintained its position on the Fleury plateau and contained enemy attacks for 3 days without losing a single inch of ground". General Denis Auguste Duchêne
"Elite regiment with superior fighting capacity. Between the 5th and the 18th August 1918 under the command of the Colonel Gibon-Guilhem and during 6 consecutive attacks (of which 2 were carried out by the entire regiment under the Colonel's command), the 39th has several times shown its fighting and resilient qualities and strongly contributed to the success of the operations. During this period the regiment made an 18 kilometre progression (12 of which through very hard fighting), took several high enemy positions, 3 villages, inflicted very high losses to the enemy, took over 350 PoW and captured a very significant amount of materials (of which 94 machine guns, 5 canons (one 210) and several minenwerfer".[3] General Debeney
On 1 August 1921, Louis Charles Gibon-Guilhem was sent to the Army Reserve. From that time he started to write the History of the 39th Infantry Regiment (Historique du 39e Régiment d'Infanterie[5]) which has just recently been published based on his memoirs.