Charles Mangin

Charles Mangin
General Mangin
Nickname(s)	"The Butcher"
Born	(1866-07-06)6 July 1866 Sarrebourg,Moselle
Died	12 May 1925(1925-05-12)(aged 58) Paris
Allegiance	France
Years of service	1889–1925
Rank	General
Commands	11th Army Corps Third Army, Sixth Army, Tenth Army
Battles / wars	French colonial wars World War I Battle of Verdun Battle of the Aisne Second Battle of the Marne Battle of the Ailette

Charles Emmanuel Marie Mangin(6 July 1866 – 12 May 1925) was a French general duringWorld War I.

Early career

Charles Mangin was born on 6 July 1866 inSarrebourg.After initially failing to gain entrance toSaint-Cyr,he joined the77th Infantry Regimentin 1885. He reapplied and was accepted in Saint-Cyr in 1886 attaining the rank ofsub-lieutenantin 1888. He joined the1st Marine Infantry Regimentbased inCherbourg.He was sent toSudan,serving underJean-Baptiste Marchandand gained further experience inMali,French North Africa.During this period he learntBambara,thelingua-francaof Mali. He was wounded three times and returned to France in 1892. In 1893 he was made a Knight of theLegion d'honneur.

In 1898, Mangin joined Marchand on his expedition toFashodawith children in tow. In 1900 he attained the rank of Officer of the Legion d'honneur. He was given the command of abattalioninTonkinfrom 1901 to 1904. He was then promoted tolieutenant-colonelin 1905 and served during the French occupation ofSenegalfrom 1906 to 1908 under GeneralAudéoud.In 1910 he publishedLa force noire,where he called for the use ofFrench Colonial Forcesin the event of a European war.

First World War

During theFirst World WarMangin rose from divisional command to that of the Tenth Army for theSecond Battle of the Marne,commanding both French and American troops. Nicknamed "the Butcher" for his espousal ofla guerre à outrance(all-out war) and his faith in the suitability of North AfricanTirailleurfor the attack, there was no doubt in the French Army that Mangin was fearless. Unlike many French generals who did not visit the front, Mangin was shot in the chest while exhorting his men for further attacks during theSecond Battle of Champagne,though he returned to duty ten days later.During that war, Mangin had notable victories at theBattle of Charleroiin 1914 and then at theBattle of Verdunin 1916 but his reputation suffered following the disastrousNivelle Offensive(16 April – 9 May 1917). This was due partly to the fact that Mangin was one of the few high-ranking French officials who supported Nivelle's strategy.

Ferdinand Foch (left) in conversation with General Charles Mangin outside of the Minister of War's office in Paris, 2 November 1918.

Mangin's Sixth Army bore the brunt of the main attack during theSecond Battle of the Aisne,the main component ofRobert Nivelle's costly assault. After the failed operation was abandoned, Mangin and Nivelle were sacked. AfterFerdinand Fochwas promoted to Allied Supreme Commander (overPhilippe Pétain), Mangin was recalled upon the orders of Prime MinisterClemenceauand given command initially of the11th Army Corpsand then of the French Tenth Army on theWestern Front.

Mangin's Tenth Army was responsible for the crucial Allied counter-attack at the Second Battle of the Marne. It was this that did much to enhance his military reputation. He also became known for the observation:"Quoi qu'on fasse, on perd beaucoup de monde"( "Whatever you do, you lose a lot of men" ). In the closing months of the war, he served as part of GeneralCastelnau's Army Group East, advancing towardsMetz.

The recruitment ofAfricantroops in the French Army, which had many opponents, was chiefly the result of Mangin's advocacy. His conception of a "plus grande France", based on political autonomy and military obligation for all parts of the French Empire, is put forward in the concluding chapters of his bookComment finit la Guerre.

After the war

After the Allied victory, Mangin's 10th Army was sent tooccupytheRhineland.There, he became the focus of controversy due to his attempts to foster the establishment of a pro-FrenchRhenish Republicwith the aim of separating it from Germany and thus denying Germany the West bank of theRhine.

Mangin's 10th Army includedSenegalese Tirailleurssent specifically at his request.Amoral panicknown as theBlack Horror on the Rhinefollowed. Supposedly, "every German 'knew' that he ordered German mayors to provide brothels for his soldiers, and when the mayors protested at 'providing German women for Senegalese', Mangin was alleged to have replied, 'German women are none too good for my Senegalese'".

Mangin became a member of theSupreme War Counciland inspector general of French colonial troops. He fell seriously ill at his Paris home on 9 May 1925. Suffering from pain, he became incoherent and partly paralysed. The following day he was diagnosed as suffering fromappendicitisand as having suffered astroke,though it was rumoured he may have been poisoned. He died two days later, on 12 May.His remains were interred inLes Invalidesin 1932, and a bronze statue byMaxime Real del Sarteerected in his honour in 1928 in the Place Denys-Cochin, Paris.

Mangin's monument was destroyed on 16 June1940, two days after German troops occupied Paris duringWorld War Two.During his tour of Paris,Adolf HitlervisitedNapoleon's tomb,and the statue, being a reminder of Mangin's machinations in the Rhineland, was one of two he ordered destroyed. The other was ofEdith Cavell.A German demolition squad dynamited his statue and most of the bronze was later melted down.In 1957 a new statue was erected on the nearby Avenue de Breteuil.

Family life

Mangin and his eight children inMainzin 1919. He was keen for his children to join him during the occupation of the Rhineland.

When Mangin returned from the Merchant mission, he met Madeleine Jagerschmidt, the daughter of a banker. They became engaged just 10 days later and were married in May 1900. However, a year later, his wife died while giving birth to a stillborn child. He was very badly affected, and during the next three years would not respond to anything other than the letters of Madeleine's mother.

In January 1905, Mangin requested an introduction to discuss Tonkin with the nationalist activist and former minister,Godefroy Cavaignac.This was arranged throughMarie Georges Humbert,a professor of mathematics at theÉcole Polytechniquethe husband of his deceased wife's sister, Marie Jagerschmidt. She gave private lessons to Cavaignac's daughter Antoinette. Following the interview, Cavaignac regularly invited Mangin to dine at his house where his 25-year-old daughter Antoinette was living. Whilst Mangin was impressed by Antoinette's intelligence, he in turn impressed her with accounts of his exploits in the colonies. In June 1905, Mangin proposed and the couple were married on July 31, 1905.

They had eight children together includingStanislas Mangin,a resistance fighter during theSecond World War.

Decorations

• Légion d'honneur
  • Knight (30 December 1891)
  • Officer (1 October 1899)
  • Commander (13 September 1912)
  • Grand Officer (2 November 1916)
  • Grand Cross (6 July 1919)
• Médaille militaire(12 May 1925)
• Croix de guerre 1914–1918
• Médaille Interalliée de la Victoire
• Médaille Commémorative de la Grande Guerre
• Médaille Colonialewith "Sénégal et Soudan" clasp
• Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus(Italy)
• Distinguished Service Medal(US)
• Companion of the Order of the Bath(UK)

His publications

• La force noire,Hachette, Paris, 1910 (in this book Mangin advocated the quick and massive use of colonial troops, his so-called "Black Force", in the event of a war in Europe)
• La Mission des troupes noires. Compte-rendu fait devant le comité de l'Afrique française,Comité de l'Afrique française, 1911, 44 p.
• Comment finit la guerre,Plon-Nourrit, Paris, 1920, 330 p.
• Des Hommes et des faits. I. Hoche. Marceau. Napoléon. Gallieni. La Marne. Laon. La Victoire. Le Chef. La Discipline. Le Problème des races. Paul Adam: A la jeunesse. Réponse à M. P. Painlevé,Plon-Nourrit, 1923, 275 p.
• Autour du continent latin avec le "Jules-Michelet",J. Dumoulin, Paris, 1923, 381 p.
• Regards sur la France d'Afrique,Plon-Nourrit, Paris, 1924, 315 p.
• Lettres du Soudan,Les Éditions des portiques, Paris, 1930, 253 p.
• Un Régiment lorrain. Le 7-9. Verdun. La Somme,Floch, Mayenne; Payot, Paris, 1935, 254 p.
• Souvenirs d'Afrique: Lettres et carnets de route,Denoël et Steele, Paris, 1936, 267 p.
• Les Chasseurs dans la bataille de France. 47^edivision (juillet-novembre 1918),Floch, Mayenne; Payot, Paris, 1935, 212 p.
• Histoire de la nation française(publ. sous la direction de Gabriel Hanotaux), 8,Histoire militaire et navale,2^epartie,De la Constituante au Directoire,Plon, Paris, 1937
• Lettres de guerre:[à sa femme]1914-1918,Fayard, 1950, 323 p.

References

• Portions of this article were translated from the French Wikipedia articlefr:Charles Mangin.
• Keegan, John. "The First World War." 1998.ISBN978-0-375-70045-3
• Mangin, Louis-Eugène.Le Général Mangin.1990.
• Evans, M. M.Battles of World War I. Select Editions.2004.ISBN1-84193-226-4.
• Heywood, Chester D. "Negro combat troops in the world war". 1928.
• Krause, Jonathan; Philpott, William (2023).French Generals of the Great War: Leading the Way.Pen and Sword Books.ISBN978-1781592526.

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Charles Manginin the20th Century Press Archivesof theZBW