the interval wars

THE WAR INTERVAL

Marshal Pétain’s career from the end of the First World War until the beginning of second is highlighted by names of cities in which he lived a rather long time such as Paris, Villeneuve-Loubet for private reasons, or cities which he resided for official reasons such as Metz, Rabat and Meknés in Morocco, New York in the United States, Belgrade in Yugoslavia, Warsaw in Poland, Burgos, Saint-Sébastien, Madrid in Spain, and Port-Joinville (Île d’Yeu) some thirty years before returning there to die as a prisoner !

In the immediate post-war period, four dates mark the existence of Philippe Pétain: November 11, 1918, December 8, 1918, June 28, July 1919, and July 14,1919. The Armistice ending the First World War is signed in forest of Compiègne, at Rethondes on November 11, 1918 : General Pétain (promoted Marshal by decree on November 19) manifests his disappointment and his bitterness at the thought that the suspension of hostilities prevents the allied armies from penetrating into German territory to obtain a complete victory.
On December 8, 1918, in Metz, in Lorraine, Philippe Pétain receives the stick of Marshal of France which the president of the Republic Raymond Poincaré presents to him in the presence of the president of the Council, George Clemenceau, and of the allied military heads; this award honours the chief who led the French Armies to victory.

On June 28, 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors of the chateau of Versailles, is signed the peace treaty which carries the seeds of the second world war just twenty years later.
On July 14, 1919, takes place the procession, on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, during which are ovationed the victorious soldiers with, at their head, Marshals Joffre, Foch and Pétain.
On September 14, 1920, Philippe Pétain marries Eugénie Hardon, at the town hall of the seventh district in Paris. Their age difference of some twenty years had been the reason for refusal by the girl’s family when, in 1901, the future marshal had presented his request for marriage. Eugenie Hardon had then married François de Hérain with whom she had a son, Pierre, and whom she had divorced in 1914. Pétain and his wife Eugénie settle in their Parisian apartment at Latour-Maubourg square. In February 1920, the Marshal had acquired a property «The Hermitage» in Villeneuve-Loubet (Maritime-Alps). Here, he hopes to be able one day, like Cincinnatus, to rest while doing some gardening. Paul Valéry, who will visit him, writes : « he has a beautiful countryside on the heights. I acknowledge that I was very astonished, a certain autumn day, to see him very occupied, directing, in the way he knows how, the operations of the vintage. He made his wine, as with anything he made, with scruple and the greatest of care ». In a letter which he addresses in 1934 to his nephew Omer, Pétain expresses how attached his is to working with the soil : « I carried out several tests with the Hermitage which succeeded rather well ; I made some wine, poultry, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, etc. »

*
* *

By decree of January 23, 1920, he is named vice-president of the Higher War Council (C.S.G.), and as a result is maintained at the post of Commander in Chief in the event of a new conflict. The General Staff is placed under his authority, and the Chief of the General Staff is his assistant. Moreover, a decree on February 18, 1922 names him Inspector General. For this reason, he is a member of the Higher Council for National Defence (C.S.D.N.), in an advisory capacity.

*
* *

In 1921, Philippe Pétain makes an official visit to Port-Joinville on l’Île d’Yeu and Gabriel Guist' hau (who was Minister for the Navy) at his residence « Les Simounelles » which faces the house where he will die in captivity thirty years later !

In Morocco, in 1924, the tribes arise on orders of Abd el-Krim. Marshal Lyautey, Resident-General, advises the government of the gravity of the situation. In 1925, Paul Painlevé, President of the Council, asks Philippe Pétain to go on site; Pétain, on his arrival, asks for reinforcements to reduce the uprising. He directs the military operations which will be completed in May 1926 with the surrender of Abd el-Krim.
A conflict of competence between Lyautey and Pétain had been inevitable. However, a file containing eight letters from Lyautey to Pétain, published in a collection called, « Documents for History » (Sauvebonne Editions), under the signature of General René Laure shows, as do the letters of General Emile Laure to his wife, the reality of the relationship between the two marshals. A reality extremely different from the legend. We known that in 1933 Lyautey entrusted to Pétain: « Monsieur le Maréchal, is it not so that, between us, there be first of all, France. » And at the time of funeral, in 1934, of the illustrious African, Pétain would give him most vibrating of tributes : « On the tomb of this great Frenchman, I wish that unity becomes the law of our great people. At a time when this nation requires such tranquillity to bandage its wounds and prepare the future, I wish that only one heart fills all the others, like it filled that of Lyautey: the heart of France »

*
* *

On January 22, 1931, the French Academy welcomes Philippe Pétain in the seat of Marshal Foch (deceased in 1929); he had been elected on June 20, 1929 and had been received in the Academy of Political and Moral Sciences in July 1919. He took care, in his praise of Foch, of submitting the text of his welcoming speech to General Weygand. Paul Valéry responds to him with, among others, these words: « Your actions speak, your speeches are action ; you are the one among our chiefs who, leading six thousand men to war, ended the war at the head of three million combatants. »

On February 9, 1931, Marshal Pétain is named Inspector-General for aerial defence of the territory, after having transmitted to General Weygand the functions which he currently occupied as vice-president of the Higher War Council and of Inspector-General.
In October 1931, representing France, the Marshal goes to the United States to celebrate the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the victory against the English at Yorktown (Virginia), a prelude to American independence. He pronounces, on October 24, a great speech in New York, celebrating Franco-American friendship.
In 1934 in Belgrade, he attends the funeral of King Alexander of Yugoslavia, assassinated at Marseilles, and he also represents France, in Warsaw in 1935, at the funeral of Marshal Pilsudski, Head of the Polish State, at which time he meets the Marshal Goering, representing Germany, that tragic events for France will give him the occasion to meet again six years later !
Following the revelation of various scandals, the War Veterans demonstrate, Place de la Concorde, in Paris on February 6, 1934. Confrontations with the police leave a score of dead and many casualties. The former President of the Republic, Gaston Doumergue, is named President of the Council : he inserts Pétain into his government as War Minister. During his ministry, which lasts only a few months, Philippe Pétain, among other things, obtains an increase in certain appropriations, in spite of the opposition of the Left. He endeavours to coordinate the action of the ministries for War, for the Navy and Air (ministry recently created), and works with all his might for the rebuilding of the nation and the Army’s morale in his fight against antimilitarist propaganda and conscientious objection.

On April 6, 1935, Marshal Pétain gives to the Higher War School the Legion of Honour. On this occasion, he makes a speech whose strategic range will be clear in the short term:
«It is necessary to be keenly aware of the possibilities provided by the armoured vehicle and the airplane. The automobile, thanks to caterpillar tracks and armour, puts speed at the service of power… the airplane explodes framework of battle and modifies the conditions of strategic action. »

*
* *

In 1936 is created, in order to unify France’s armed forces, a « Standing Committee for National Defence» which will meet until 1939; Marshal Pétain attends these meetings regularly. He endlessly recalls the need, in times of war, of a single command: « Air forces must either collaborate with the others weapons, or act separately to carry the war to the enemy; in any event, the actions of the three weapons must be coordinated and a single command will consequently be necessary… I do not ask for a single Chief during peace, but during war… »

On March 2, 1939, Marshal Pétain is named ambassador in Spain where a civil war opposes, since 1936, the republicans of the «Frente Popular» to the nationalists of the Franco General. This fratricidal struggle ends with the capture of Madrid by the nationalists on March 28. Philippe Pétain presented his letters of accreditation to General Franco on March 20, in Burgos: Pétain was named to this post so as to standardize and improve relations between France and Spain.

While this mission is being accomplished, France, following in the wake of Great Britain, declares war on Germany (September 3, 1939) which has just attacked Poland.
Leaving Burgos, Marshal Pétain settles at Saint-Sébastien and finally in Madrid in November. He carries out his mission quite successfully, to the extent that Spain recovers the gold deposited with the Bank of France and remains neutral in the conflict which has just erupted.
Faced with a worsening military situation, Paul Reynaud, President of the Council, decides to call upon Marshal Pétain and General Weygand. On May 16, a telegram is addressed to the Marshal asking him to return to France where Paul Reynaud proposes to him the vice-presidency of the Council. The situation of the French and allied Armies does not enable Pétain to refuse this charge which constitutes the first act of his sacrifice.