1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sarrail, Maurice Paul Emmanuel

SARRAIL, MAURICE PAUL EMMANUEL (1856-), French General, was born at Carcassonne (Aude) April 6 1856. He qualified for both St. Cyr, and the École Polytechnique but chose to enter the former. He passed out Oct. 1 1877 with the distinction of third place and was posted as a sub-lieutenant to the infantry. His regimental service and promotion followed the normal course; he became lieutenant Oct. 1882, captain in 1887, and chef-de-bataillon in 1897. In 1901 he was appointed Commandant of the École Militaire d'Infanterie (St. Maixent), and the following year was promoted lieutenant-colonel. From 1904 to 1906 he held the appointment of Military Commandant of the Palais Bourbon, being made colonel in 1905. In 1907 he became Director of Infantry at the War Office—an appointment which he held 4 years. He was made general-of-brigade in 1908. Three years later he was promoted general-of-division and on Nov. 1 1913 was given command of the VIII. Army Corps, being later (April 24 1914) transferred to the VI. Corps, which he commanded on the outbreak of the World War. But though General Sarrail's military capacity was recognized prior to 1914 it was principally by his semi-political activities that he was best known; and as a member of General André's military cabinet he played a conspicuous part during a very troubled period of French army history. On Sept. 2 1914, after commanding the VI. Corps with credit in the Battle of the Frontiers, he was appointed to succeed Ruffey as commander of the III. Army. This army formed the pivot of the wheel-back of the Allied forces during the retreat to the Marne, and Sarrail maintained it as such on the N.W. front of Verdun, although authorized and indeed ordered to fall back. This left him in an exposed position, but one in which the swinging-in enemy himself might present a flank to Sarrail's attack. His part in bringing about the situation which enabled Joffre to counter-attack was thus as important and as brilliant as Gallieni's on the other flank. During the trench-warfare operations of 1914-15, however, he was less successful, as he was essentially a leader of temperament, and growing friction with Joffre led to his dismissal from this command after the action of Bourdeilles. Almost immediately thereafter, under circumstances described in the article Salonika Campaigns, Sarrail was appointed Commander of the French Army of the East, and at a later date he became commander-in-chief of the Allied forces on that front. The troubled history of this command, which lasted till his recall in Dec. 1917, is told in the article referred to. After his return to France he saw no further active service. In April 1918 he was placed on the reserve on reaching the age limit. He became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour in Nov. 1914 and was awarded a Grand Cross of the same Order in Jan. 1916. He was given the Médaille Militaire in Sept. 1917. Soon after the end of the war he published his account of the Salonika operations under the title Mon Commandement en Orient.