{{Short description|French Military Commander}} {{use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[Marshal of France|Marshal]] | name = Michel-Joseph Maunoury | image = Michel-Joseph Maunoury.jpg | caption = | office1 = Member of the Superior War Council | birth_date = {{birth date|1847|12|17|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1923|03|28|1847|12|17|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Maintenon]], [[July Monarchy|Kingdom of France]] | death_place = [[Artenay]], [[Third French Republic|French Republic]] | resting_place = | spouse = | mother = | father = | relatives = [[Maurice Maunoury]] (cousin) | alma_mater = [[École Militaire|École de Guerre]] | signature = | allegiance = {{flagicon|France|1794}} [[French Third Republic|France]] | branch = [[French Army]] *[[Artillery]] | service_years = 1867–1920 | rank = [[General of division]]{{efn|Marshal of France is a dignity and not a rank.}} | unit = | commands = | battles = [[Franco-Prussian War]]<br>[[World War I]] }} '''Michel-Joseph Maunoury''' ({{IPA|fr|miʃɛl ʒozɛf monuʁi|pron}}; 17 December 1847 – 28 March 1923) was a commander of the French forces in the early days of [[World War I]] who was posthumously elevated to the dignity of [[Marshal of France]].
Initially commanding in Lorraine, as the success of the German thrust through Belgium became clear he was sent to take command of the new [[Sixth Army (France)|Sixth Army]] which was assembling near Amiens and then fell back on Paris. The Sixth Army played an important role in the [[First Battle of the Marne]] in September 1914. With a small portion of its strength rushed to the front in commandeered taxicabs, it attacked [[Alexander von Kluck|von Kluck]]'s [[1st Army (German Empire)|German First Army]] from the west at the [[Battle of the Ourcq]]. Although the attack did not succeed, the resulting German redeployment opened up a gap which was exploited by [[Fifth Army (France)|French Fifth Army]] and the small British Expeditionary force, ultimately causing the Germans to retreat.
== Prewar career == Maunoury was born on 17 December 1847.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 218</ref>
He was wounded as a lieutenant in the [[Franco-Prussian War]].<ref>Tuchman 1962, p344</ref><ref>Herwig 2009, p 241</ref> He was a ''Polytechnician'' and an artillery specialist.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 218</ref> He studied at the ''[[École Militaire|Ecole de Guerre]]'', and was then an instructor at [[Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr|St Cyr]] before becoming a full colonel.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 218</ref>
He commanded an [[artillery brigade]] then from 1905 commanded III then XX Corps.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 218</ref> He was a member of the ''[[Conseil supérieur de la guerre|Conseil Superieur de la Guerre]]'' and was then Military Governor of Paris.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 241</ref> He was earmarked for command of an army in the event of war, but retired in 1912.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 218</ref>
He is described by [[Holger Herwig]] as “slender, almost delicate”<ref>Herwig 2009, p 241</ref> and by [[Barbara W. Tuchman|Tuchman]] as “svelte, delicate, small-boned”.<ref>Tuchman 1962, p344</ref>
== First World War == === Lorraine === {{main|Plan XVII|Battle of the Ardennes}}
As [[Third Army (France)|Third]] and [[Fourth Army (France)|Fourth]] Armies thrust into the Ardennes (the Commander-in-Chief [[Joseph Joffre|Joffre]] issued orders on 20 August, for operations to begin on 22 August) they opened up a potential gap between Third Army's right and the left of [[Second Army (France)|Second Army]], which had just launched an unsuccessful attack into Lorraine. So Joffre created an Army of Lorraine at [[Verdun]] to fill the gap, including three divisions taken from Third Army. Maunoury was recalled from retirement to command it.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 26</ref> The Army of Lorraine had seven divisions in total, three of them from Ruffey. It consisted of Bonneau's VII Corps, which had begun the war with a move into Alsace, and 55th and 56th Reserve Divisions from [[Pierre Ruffey|Ruffey]]’s Third Army.<ref>Tuchman 1962, p263, 344</ref> Joffre’s ''Ordre Particuliere no 18'' (21 August), ordered the Army of Lorraine to “fix” as many Germans as possible.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 102</ref>
The Army of Lorraine consisted entirely of reserve divisions. Ruffey was not initially aware of its existence.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 146</ref> At 1.30pm on 22 August Ruffey begged for help – Maunoury sent Jules Chailley's 54th Reserve Infantry Division and Henri Marabail's 67th Reserve Infantry Division. This proved not enough to rescue Ruffey's offensive.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 149–50</ref>
=== Redeployment to the West === After meeting with [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|Sir John French]] and [[Charles Lanrezac|Lanrezac]] (commander of [[Fifth Army (France)|Fifth Army]]), who were barely on speaking terms, at St Quentin on the morning of 26 August, and hearing reports (which later turned out to be exaggerated) of the destruction of [[II Corps (United Kingdom)|British II Corps]] at [[Battle of Le Cateau|Le Cateau]], Joffre became deeply concerned about the weakness of his left flank and the risk of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] being overrun. That night he enacted ''Instruction No. 2'', ordering a new army to be formed under Maunoury around Amiens on the French west flank, consisting of four reserve divisions and a corps. He also dissolved the Army of Lorraine and sent its staff to Maunoury's new army, although not its divisions which were reabsorbed into Third Army. He also dissolved [[Paul Pau|Pau]]’s Army of Alsace.<ref>Doughty 2005, p 78</ref><ref>Clayton 2003, p 29</ref><ref>Herwig 2009, p 177</ref>
Joffre had little choice but to deploy reserve divisions in the front line. Ebener’s Sixth Group, consisting of 61st and 62nd Infantry Divisions, both reserve formations, which had made up the Paris Garrison before being railed to Arras, were ordered to march south to block the German advance on [[Bapaume]] and [[Péronne, Saône-et-Loire|Peronne]] (the future Somme battlefield of 1916). Marching down from Cambrai to link up with Maunoury’s forces, they brushed aside a German cavalry screen and entered Bapaume, then on 28 August as the fog lifted they were ambushed by [[Alexander von Linsingen|Linsingen]]’s [[II Corps (German Empire)|II Corps]] at Moislains north of Peronne (and near Sailly-Saillisel, which was to be the scene of French operations on the Somme in 1916). 62nd Division retreated north back to Arras, 61st retreated to Amiens. Further south Peronne fell.<ref>Philpott 2009, pp 18–19, 23</ref>
Maunoury’s army, initially called the “Army of Manoeuvre”, began as a collection of 80,000 reservists and second line troops, before being reinforced with troops redeployed by rail from Lorraine.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 240, 311–12</ref> Maunoury's force was also initially called the “Army of the Somme”. Advancing into the Santerre plain, Maunoury gave a good account of himself against von Kluck's forces at Proyart on 29 August. The 14th Infantry Division, regulars redeployed from the east, blocked Linsingen's columns advancing along the left bank of the Somme, using concentrated rifle and artillery fire. However, they were unable to block the Germans advancing from Peronne for long.<ref>Philpott 2009, p 23</ref> Spears wrote that Maunoury was able to fall back behind the River Avre (29 Aug) because of the [[Battle of Guise]].<ref>Spears 1930, p273</ref>
On 1 September, with French forces falling back, Joffre vetoed Maunoury's proposal to attack the Germans near [[Compiègne|Compiegne]] and instead ordered him to fall back, cover Paris and make contact with [[Joseph Gallieni|Gallieni]], Military Governor.<ref>Doughty 2005, p 82</ref>
=== Planning the Counterattack === Maunoury's [[Sixth Army (France)|Sixth Army]], as it was now called, had VII Corps, 3 reserve divisions and 45th Division from North Africa, plus Ebener's 61st and 62nd Reserve Divisions; IV Corps (formerly part of [[Third Army (France)|Third Army]]) was detraining in Paris on 3 September to join Maunoury. In 62nd Reserve Division four out of the six colonels and lieutenant-colonels, and a similar proportion of the battalion commanders (a post normally held by a major in the French Army) had been killed or wounded, replaced by “a few” reserve sub-lieutenants.<ref>Spears 1930, p373</ref> The reserve divisions contained men from Lorraine, Auvergne, Brittany and the Charente.<ref>Clayton 2003, pp 50–51 Clayton states that V Corps had been redeployed from Third to Sixth Army by 1 September, which appears to be either an error or a misprint. V Corps was still fighting with [[Maurice Sarrail|Sarrail]]'s Third Army around Verdun in early September. See Herwig 2009, pp.296-8</ref>
In a handwritten note, responding to a request for information, Joffre recommended to Gallieni that “part of General Maunoury’s active forces” strike east against the German right wing. Joffre's orders at this stage did not specify a date or time for the attack, although he did suggest that if the Germans continued to push south south east Maunoury might best operate on the north bank of the Marne. Von Kluck was probing into the gap between the BEF and French Fifth Army, a gap covered only by Conneau's cavalry corps.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 227</ref><ref>Doughty 2005, p 87</ref>
At 09:10 on 4 September Gallieni, following air reconnaissance reports and concerned that a continued French retreat would leave Paris uncovered and vulnerable to German attack, ordered Maunoury to be ready to strike east to take von Kluck in flank. Joffre, who was not consulted in advance but who had separately reached the same conclusion, approved the order, while still making up his mind about the timing of Fifth Army's stand on the Marne. Gallieni also put [[Antoine Drude]]’s newly arrived 45th Infantry Division (white settlers from Algeria) under Maunoury, raising Sixth Army to about 150,000 soldiers. Maunoury attended Gallieni's three-hour meeting with [[Archibald Murray|Murray]] (BEF Chief of Staff) on 4 September, which ended with their believing that the BEF would not join in any attack.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 227</ref><ref>Herwig 2009, p 229</ref><ref>Doughty 2005, pp 88–89</ref>
Simultaneous negotiations were taking place between [[Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet|Wilson]] (BEF Sub Chief of Staff) and [[Louis Franchet d'Espèrey|Franchet d’Esperey]] (the new commander of Fifth Army). At 10pm on 4 September, having heard that Franchet d’Esperey was ready to counter-attack, Joffre issued ''Instruction Generale No 6'', fixing the date of the counter-attack for 7 September. As part of a general allied offensive, Maunoury was to cross the Ourcq in the direction of Chateau-Thierry. At Gallieni's urging, Joffre brought the date of the attack forward to 6 September, as Maunoury would already be heavily engaged by then, a move which Joffre would later regret.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 229</ref><ref>Doughty 2005, pp 88–89</ref>
=== Battle of the Ourcq: Maunoury attacks === {{main|First Battle of the Marne}}
Sixth Army marched out from Paris on the morning of 5 September.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 240–41</ref> Maunoury was to take up positions north-east of Meaux and was due to attack the next day along the north bank of the Marne. Instead fighting began at 13:00 on 5 September, in an area where French cavalry had encountered no Germans whilst scouting, but which had since been occupied by German IV Reserve Corps, whose commander decided to attack on his own initiative. During the night the Germans withdrew to the east, but [[Alexander von Kluck|von Kluck]], commander of [[1st Army (German Empire)|German First Army]], shifted further forces up to face Maunoury's Army. [[Alexander von Kluck|Kluck]] had II, IV, III and IX Corps south of the Marne.<ref>Doughty 2005, pp 92–93</ref>
By 5 September Sixth Army consisted of 150,000 men: Frederic Vautier's VII Corps, Henri de Lamaze's Fifth Group (55th and 56th Reserve Infantry Divisions), Charles Ebener's Sixth Group (61st and 62nd Reserve Infantry Divisions), Brigade Chasseur, [[André Sordet|Jean-Francois Sordet]]’s cavalry corps and Anthoine Drude’s 45th division. Together with the BEF, Maunoury had 191 battalions and 942 guns against von Kluck’s 128 battalions and 748 guns.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 231, 240–41</ref>
=== Battle of the Ourcq: Germans redeploy === At 03:00 on 6 September Kluck ordered II Corps north, then at 16:30 IV Corps (a different unit to IV Reserve Corps). The following night (7/8 September) Kluck ordered the rest of his forces north, believing that a cavalry screen would be enough to hold back the “repeatedly beaten British”. Other than a brief advance on 6 September Maunoury's Army struggled to defend its positions and on 8 September he drew his subordinate commanders’ attention to another line to which they could withdraw. Although Sixth Army had failed to envelop the German west flank as Joffre had hoped, Kluck's redeployment had opened up a gap into which the BEF and French Fifth Army could advance.<ref>Doughty 2005, pp 92–93</ref><ref>Clayton 2003, p 54</ref>
Maunoury's Army was reinforced by Victor Boelle's IV Corps (formerly part of Third Army) on 7 September.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 226</ref> Maunoury enjoyed a numerical superiority of 32 infantry battalions and 2 cavalry divisions. 63 Reserve Infantry Division was broken by German bombardments and infantry charges, but the day was saved by Colonel [[Robert Nivelle]], then commanding 5th Artillery Regiment of 45th Reserve Infantry Division, who first attracted attention to himself by having his 75mm guns fire directly onto the enemy.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 247–48</ref>
On the night of 7/8 September, [[André Sordet|Sordet]], commander of the French cavalry, had joined Deprez's 61st Infantry Division in falling back from the French left wing, instead of raiding into von Kluck's rear at La Ferte-MIllon. Maunoury sacked Sordet.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 261–62</ref>
By time of the Battle of the Ourcq Maunoury had been strengthened by Trentinian's 7th Infantry Division (formerly part of Fourth Army). Much of the division's infantry, artillery and staff of left Paris by train and truck on night of 7/8 September. Gallieni sent 103 and 104 Infantry Regiments (five battalions) by taxicab. Police commandeered 1200 black Renault cabs and shuttled 500 of them from Les Invalides west to Gagny, where each picked up 4 or 5 soldiers then drove to Nanteuil-les-Meaux overnight. The execution was less successful. Dimmed lights, and few maps, resulted in collisions and flared tempers. Some soldiers were forced to walk the final 2 km to the front.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 262</ref><ref>Clayton 2003, p 56</ref>
For 8 September Joffre ordered Maunoury to “gain ground towards the north on the right bank of the Ourcq. Instead Maunoury aimed to retake the ground lost during the night and again attempt to outflank the German First Army. Herwig calls this “a poor decision”. Two assaults were beaten back by the Germans. It was very hot and food and water ran short. Late on the day, sensing von Kluck's imminent counterattack, Gallieni urged Maunoury to hold his ground “with all your energy”. Maunoury informed Joffre that his “decimated and exhausted” troops were holding their positions.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 262–63</ref> By the evening of 8 September, Rudolf von Lepel's brigade, marching southwest from Brussels, aimed to take Maunoury's left flank.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 277</ref>
=== Battle of the Ourcq: Germans break off, Allies advance === By 9 September Lepel was engaging Maunoury's left flank at Baron, northwest of Nanteuil-le-Haudoin.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 265</ref> During the fighting on the Ourcq and aware of the BEF advance from aviators’ reports, Lt-Col Hentsch of the German General Staff, concerned at the threat faced by [[Karl von Bülow|Bulow]]'s [[2nd Army (German Empire)|Second Army]] further south, ordered the battle broken off.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 56</ref><ref>Herwig 2009, pp 274–75</ref> Von Kluck was not concerned about the BEF, which he thought could be held off by two German cavalry corps, and thought that German First Army was about to turn Maunoury's left flank, and was dumbfounded to be ordered to retreat.<ref>Clayton 2003, p 56</ref><ref>Herwig 2009, pp 281–82</ref>
On the evening of 9 September, with the Germans withdrawing and the BEF crossing the Marne, Joffre was not yet willing to announce victory and instead sent the War Minister a message praising Maunoury's Sixth Army for defending Paris. Later that night he issued ''Instruction Particuliere No. 20'' ordering a general advance. Sixth Army “resting its right on the Ourcq” was to try to envelop the Germans from the west. Eugene Bridoux's V Cavalry Corps was set to play a key role. The BEF and [[Louis Franchet d'Esperey|Franchet d’Esperey]]’s [[Fifth Army (France)|Fifth Army]] were to push north from the Marne.<ref>Herwig 2009, p 294</ref><ref>Doughty 2005, p 96</ref>
Abandoning the plan to envelop the Germans from the west, Joffre now ordered all the French armies, including Sixth, to advance northeast. On 13 September Maunoury informed Joffre that Sixth Army, “which has not had a day of rest in about fifteen days, very much needs 24 hours rest”. Franchet and [[Ferdinand Foch|Foch]] (commander of the new [[Ninth Army (France)|Ninth Army]]) were saying similar things as the German line solidified north of the Aisne, although the French armies, along with the BEF, continued to attack until 18 September.<ref>Herwig 2009, pp 304–05</ref>
=== Later War === Early in 1915 Sixth Army was holding the front from Soissons to north of Compiegne, with [[Second Army (France)|Second Army]] on its left and [[Maurice Sarrail|Sarrail]]’s [[Fifth Army (France)|Fifth Army]] on its right. All these armies fired diversionary barrages before the offensives in the Argonne, Lorraine and the Vosges. Sixth Army also launched a diversionary offensive north of Soissons and the Aisne, into solid defensive ground where the Germans had halted their retreat in September 1914, commanded by Joffre's former staff officer [[Henri Mathias Berthelot|Henri Berthelot]]. By 14 January German counterattacks had pushed the French back behind their initial start lines, capturing almost as many French prisoners (5,200) as the Germans suffered casualties (5,529 German casualties, as opposed to 12,411 French killed, wounded and missing, 40% of the effective French troops employed). This debacle, so close to Paris, sparked the first political criticism of the Army. War Minister [[Alexandre Millerand|Millerand]] rebuked Joffre, who rebuked Maunoury, who in turn passed the blame on to Berthelot, and there was an angry debate in the French Parliament, just reconvened (12 January) after its return from Bordeaux.<ref>Greenhalgh 2014, p.81</ref>
Maunoury was severely wounded by being shot through the eye by a German sniper and rendered partially blind while touring the front on 11 March 1915, thereby ending his active career.<ref>Doughty 2005, p 122</ref>
== Later life == He died in 1923, and was posthumously elevated to the dignity of [[Marshal of France]].<ref>Clayton 2003, p 218</ref>
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
=== General references === {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Brécard |first= Général C. T. |year=1937 |title=Le Maréchal Maunoury 1847–1923 |language=fr |publisher=Editions Berger-Levrault |location=Paris |oclc=12483293}} * {{cite book |last=Clayton |first=Anthony |title=Paths of Glory |publisher=Cassell |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=0-304-35949-1}} * {{cite book|author1-link=Robert A. Doughty |last=Doughty |first=R. A. |title=Pyrrhic Victory |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-674-02726-8}} * {{cite book |last=Evans |first=M. M. |year=2004 |title=Battles of World War I |publisher=Select Editions |isbn=1-84193-226-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/greatbattlesofwo0000mari }} * {{cite book|last=Greenhalgh|first=Elizabeth|title=The French Army and the First World War|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-107-60568-8}} * {{cite book |last=Herwig |first=Holger |title=The Marne |publisher=Random House |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8129-7829-2}} * {{cite book |last=Klein |first=C. A. |year=1989 |title=Maréchal Maunoury Le Soldat exemplaire, Hugues de Froberville |language=fr |publisher=Blois |location=Paris |isbn=978-2-907659-02-4}} * {{Cite book |title=Bloody Victory: The Sacrifice on the Somme and the Making of the Twentieth Century |last=Philpott |first=W. |year=2009 |publisher=Little, Brown |location=London |isbn=978-1-4087-0108-9}} * {{cite book|last=Spears |first= Major General Sir Edward |author-link=Edward Spears| title= Liaison 1914 |orig-year=1930|year=1999|publisher= Eyre & Spottiswood |isbn=978-0-304-35228-9}} * {{cite book|last=Tuchman|first=Barbara|title=August 1914|publisher=Constable & Co|year=1962|isbn=978-0-333-30516-4}} {{refend}}
== External links == * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGSY3fAFUzM Newsreel] of the British Pathé: Maunoury, severely wounded, awarding the Legion of Honour to his brother, a military doctor (c. 1920)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maunoury, Michel-Joseph}} [[Category:1847 births]] [[Category:1923 deaths]] [[Category:People from Eure-et-Loir]] [[Category:Marshals of France]] [[Category:Military governors of Paris]] [[Category:French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War]] [[Category:French Army generals of World War I]] [[Category:École polytechnique alumni]] [[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:French recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)]] [[Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George]]