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French soldiers in a trench, during the Battle of Verdun (1916) In World War I, the French, with their allies, managed to hold the Western front and to counterattack on the Eastern front and in the colonies until the final defeat of the Central Powers and their allies.
In March 1915, units of the French Army holding a section of the Western Front through Champagne had seen no tangible results despite two months of fighting. After two recent unsuccessful attacks, the 21st Company of the 336th Infantry Regiment (part of the 60th Infantry Division) was ordered by Général de division Géraud Réveilhac to retake positions captured by the Germans north of the ...
Albert Severin Roche (1895–1939) was a distinguished French soldier, known for his numerous successful missions and capturing of enemy soldiers throughout the First World War. He is known for being the most decorated French soldier of this war, having been wounded nine times and having captured a total of some 1,180 German soldiers.
The first French soldiers landed in Salonika on October 5, 1915 (with the authorization of the Greek government). On the same day, during the Calais conference, Joffre agreed to send a total of three French infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions to Serbia under the command of General Sarrail , designated as the " Army of the Orient ."
The Old Guard (French: Vieille garde) were the veteran elements of the Emperor Napoleon's Imperial Guard. As such it was the most prestigious formation in Napoleon's Grande Armée. [1] [2] French soldiers often referred to Napoleon's Old Guard as "the Immortals". [3] [4]
For many French soldiers, the Dunkirk evacuation represented only a few weeks' delay before being killed or captured by the German army after their return to France. [125] Of the French soldiers evacuated from France in June 1940, about 3,000 joined Charles de Gaulle's Free French army in Britain. [126]
The French Army grew as Napoleon seized power across Europe, recruiting troops from occupied and allied nations; it reached its peak of one million men at the start of the Russian campaign in 1812, [3] with the Grande Armée reaching its height of 413,000 French soldiers and over 600,000 men overall when including foreign recruits. [4]
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette [a] (French: [ʒilbɛʁ dy mɔtje maʁki d(ə) la fajɛt]; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette [a] (/ ˌ l ɑː f i ˈ ɛ t, ˌ l æ f-/ LA(H)F-ee-ET), was a French nobleman and military officer who volunteered to join the Continental Army, led by General George Washington ...