Justin Clinchant

{{Short description|French general}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} [[File:Expédition du Mexique. — Victoire d'Uquilpan.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Battle of Jiquilpan|Victory of Jiquilpan]], won by Colonel Clinchant, 2nd [[Zouave]]s, on general Juaristas [[José María Arteaga|Arteaga]], [[Miguel María de Echegaray|Echegueray]], Neri and Espinola. The latter gives his sword to Colonel Clinchant, who was shot in the leg.]]

'''Justin Clinchant''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒystɛ̃ klɛ̃ʃɑ̃}}; 24 December 1820, [[Thiaucourt-Regniéville]] – 20 March 1881) was a [[French Army]] general of the 19th century.

==Biography== Clinchant entered the army from [[École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr|St Cyr]] in 1841.<ref name=eb11>{{EB1911|wstitle=Clinchant, Justin |volume=6 |page=527 |inline=1}}</ref>

From 1847 to 1852 Clinchant was employed in the Algerian campaigns, and in 1854 and 1855 in the [[Crimean War|Crimea]]. At the [[battle of Malakoff|assault on the Malakoff]] (8 September 1855) he greatly distinguished himself at the head of a battalion. During the 1859 campaign he won promotion to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and as a colonel he served in the [[Second French intervention in Mexico|French intervention in Mexico]]. He was made general of brigade in 1866.<ref name=eb11 />

At the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870, Clinchant led a brigade of the Army of the Rhine. His troops were amongst those [[siege of Metz (1870)|shut up in Metz]], and he passed into captivity, but soon escaped.<ref name="eb11" /> The [[Government of National Defense]] made him general of division and put him at the head of the 20th corps of the [[Armée de l'Est|Army of the East]]. He was under [[Charles Denis Bourbaki|Bourbaki]] during the campaign of the Jura, and after Bourbaki attempted to commit suicide he succeeded to the command (23 January 1871).<ref name=eb11 /> He was intercepted by the German Army under [[Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel|Von Manteuffel]] in an attempt at retreat,<ref name=nie>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Clinchant, Justin|short=x}}</ref> and thus driven with 84,000 men over the Swiss frontier at [[Pontarlier]].<ref name=eb11 />

In 1871 Clinchant commanded the Fifth Army Corps of the Army of Versailles operating against the [[Paris Commune|Commune]]. In 1879, he was appointed military governor of [[Paris, France|Paris]].<ref name="nie" /> He held that position when he died in 1881.<ref name="eb11" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Military governors of Paris}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinchant, Justin}} [[Category:1820 births]] [[Category:1881 deaths]] [[Category:People from Meurthe-et-Moselle]] [[Category:French generals]] [[Category:French military personnel of the Crimean War]] [[Category:French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War]] [[Category:Military governors of Paris]] [[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]