René Olry

{{Short description|French general}} {{refimprove|date=December 2018}} {{Infobox military person | name = René Olry | image = Général Olry musée de tradition des troupes de montagne.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 28 June 1880 | death_date = {{death date and age|1944|1|3|1880|6|28|df=y}} | burial_label = | burial_place = | birth_place = Lille, France | death_place = Angoulême, North Zone | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}} | branch = Artillery | service_years = 1900–1942 | rank = Général d'Armée | commands = Armee des Alps | battles = {{Tree list}} * World War I ** Western Front *** Battle of Verdun ** Italian front * World War II ** Italian invasion of France {{Tree list/end}} | awards = Légion d'honneur | relations = | other_work = }}

'''René-Henri Olry'''<ref> {{cite web | title = Les combats de l'Armee des Alpes en Savoie – Juin 1940 | url = http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/fr/une-bataille-oubliee-les-alpes | publisher = cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr | language = French | format = | accessdate = 11 May 2009 }}</ref> (28 June 1880 – 3 January 1944) was a French general and commander of the Army of the Alps ({{langx|fr|l'Armée des Alpes}}) during the Battle of France of World War II.

==Biography== ===Early life=== Olry was born on 28 June 1880 in Lille in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.<ref name="UBO">{{cite web |title = Une Bataille Oubliée: Les Alpes (10–25 juin 1940) |url = http://www.defense.gouv.fr/content/download/100709/977714/file/MC06.pdf |work = Collection "Mémoire et Citoyenneté" n° 6 |publisher = Ministère de la Défense |language = French |accessdate = 30 Jan 2012 |archive-date = 24 September 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924073001/http://www.defense.gouv.fr/content/download/100709/977714/file/MC06.pdf |url-status = dead }}</ref> The son of Albert Olry, himself a ''polytechnicien'', Olry was admitted to the École Polytechnique in 1900.<ref> {{cite web | title = Albert Charles Nicolas OLRY (1847–1913) | url = http://www.annales.org/archives/x/olry.html | work = Annales des Mines | language = French | accessdate = 17 May 2009 }}</ref> Upon graduating, he joined the 21st Artillery Regiment and was appointed the rank of lieutenant on 10 October 1904.<ref name="UBO"/>

===Military career=== During the First World War, Olry served in the Second Army at the Battle of Verdun under the command of then-general Philippe Pétain.<ref name="UBO"/> He left for Italy in 1917 as part of the French expeditionary force and participated in combat near the Piave River, and in 1918 assumed command of the 283rd Artillery Regiment.<ref name="UBO"/> His conduct during the war earned him five citations.<ref name="UBO"/>

Olry became secretary of the Supreme Council of National Defense ({{langx|fr|Conseil supérieur de la défense nationale}}) in 1922 and served with the French military mission to Greece until 1928, when he was promoted to colonel of the 309th Artillery Regiment.<ref name="UBO"/> He was promoted again in 1932 to the rank of brigadier general and in 1935 to Divisional General (a rank equivalent to major general) with command of the 29th Infantry Division,<ref name="UBO"/> which he led until 1937.<ref> {{cite web | title = Biography of General René-Henri Olry | url = http://www.generals.dk/general/Olry/Ren%C3%A9-Henri/France.html | work = The Generals of WWII | accessdate = 17 May 2009 }}</ref> He later became commander of the 15th Army Corps in the southern Alps.<ref name="UBO"/>

On 5 December 1939 Olry assumed command of the Army of the Alps.<ref name="UBO"/> When Italy invaded France in June 1940, he commanded 190,000 men on the Alpine Line.<ref name="UBO"/> Faced with an Italian force of 450,000, Olry's troops successfully stopped the Italian advance and then proved a tough opponent for the German troops which joined the battle. The performance of the French army in this theatre was far more successful than on the rest of the front and preserved some areas of France from occupation.

===Final years and death=== During the interim period following the French surrender Olry served as an inspector general. He was then appointed to command the 1st Divisional Group of the French Armistice Army: comprising four divisions in the non-occupied south. In June 1942 he reached retirement age and took up residence on his family estate in the Charente region of Mansle. Olry died on 3 January 1944 in Angoulême.<ref name="UBO"/>

==Decorations== Olry was awarded the Légion d'honneur, the highest military decoration in France, at ''Officier'' rank (''see Légion d'honneur#Classes and insignia'') in 1920 and became a ''Commandeur'' of the Légion d'honneur in 1936.

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olry, Rene}} Category:1880 births Category:1944 deaths Category:People from Lille Category:French military personnel of World War I Category:French Army generals of World War II Category:École polytechnique alumni Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour Category:19th-century French military personnel Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour