Marie-Eugène Debeney
| Marie-Eugène Debeney | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
5 May 1864 Bourg-en-Bresse, France |
| Died | 6 November 1943 (aged 79) Bourg-en-Bresse, France |
| Allegiance |
 France
|
| Service/branch | French Army |
| Years of service | 1886–1930 |
| Rank | Général d'Armée |
| Commands held |
First Army Seventh Army |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Marie-Eugène Debeney (5 May 1864 – 6 November 1943) was a French Army general. He commanded a corps at the Battle of the Somme then, in the second half of 1917, served as chief of staff to the French Commander-in-Chief Philippe Petain. He then commanded the First Army which, fighting alongside British Empire forces, played an important role in the mobile fighting of 1918, including at the Battle of Amiens and the Storming of the Hindenburg Line.
He later served an important term as Chief of the General Staff of the French Army in the 1920s.
Marie-Eugène Debeney was born in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain. A student at Saint-Cyr, Marie-Eugène Debeney became Lieutenant des Chasseurs in 1886.
Debeney was professor of infantry tactics at the Ecole de Guerre. He was an advocate of firepower, like Petain and Fayolle, not a theorist of elan and the infantry offensive, like Grandmaison.
He was Chief of Staff of the First Army in 1914. He then served two tours as commander of a division.
Debeney commanded a corps at Verdun in 1916.
Later that year he commanded XXXII Corps on the Somme. Colonel Mangin, formerly of 79th Infantry Regiment, was his chief of staff. XXXII Corps took over the section of front near Sailly-Saillisel in October 1916. The first attack on 12 October was driven back. On 15 October the elite 66th Infantry Division took over the attack: two battalions of the 152nd Infantry Regiment (the "Red Devils") and 68th BCA (mountain infantry brigade) captured the rest of the Bois Tripot position and the ruins of the château that covered Sailly-Saillisel from the south-west and entered the village. There was then a six-day street fight whilst the French held off German counter-attacks. The French defence on 29 October, was later used as a textbook example of successful defence. "This XXXII Corps is really very good", commented the Army commander General Fayolle (4 November). The weather on the Somme turned atrocious that autumn, and the remains of the last houses did not fall until 12 November.
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