| Alphonse Pierre Juin | |
|---|---|
| 16 December 1888 – 27 January 1967 | |
 |
|
| Place of birth | Bône, Algeria |
| Place of death | Paris, France |
| Allegiance |  France |
| Years of service | 1912–1962 |
| Rank | Général d'Armée |
| Commands held | 15th Motorized Infantry Division French Expeditionary Corps |
| Battles/wars | World War
I World War II |
| Awards | Marshal
of France Grand Croix de la Légion d'honneur Médaille militaire Croix de guerre |
Alphonse Pierre Juin (16 December 1888 – 27 January 1967) was a Marshal of France.
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Juin was born at Bône in Algeria, and enlisted in the French Army, graduating from the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1912.
In 1914 he was in Morocco, in command of native troops there. Upon the outbreak of World War I, he was sent to the Western Front in France where he was gravely wounded in 1915. As a result of this wound, he lost the use of his right arm.
After the war, he entered the "ecole de guerre" and had excellent results. He choose to serve in Africa again, first under the orders of Lyautey, then under those of Petain and Giraud. He served in the different staffs of the African officers.
In 1938, Juin was nominated to command a brigade. By the outbreak of World War II, he was in command of a division, the 15th Motorized Infantry Division. The division was encircled at Lille during the Battle of France and Juin was captured. Until 1941 he was kept as a prisoner of war in German custody. However during that year he was released at the behest of the Vichy Government and was assigned by them to command French forces in North Africa.
After the invasion of Algeria and Morocco by British and American forces in November 1942, Juin changed sides and ordered General Barré's forces in Tunisia to resist against the Germans and the Italians.
His great skills were exhibited during the Italian campaign when he commanded the French Expeditionary Corps in the US Fifth Army. The Corps' expertise in mountain warfare was particularly well used. The FEC was one of the crucial factors in the breaking of the Winter Line in May 1944. It was Juin who made the plan to break the Gustav line; he took the Belvedere, Monte Majo, attacked the Liri valley, won the battle of the Garigliano, the battle of the East of Rome and played an important part in the battle for Sienna. Juin's ability to analyze where things had gone wrong in some initial thrust and to set things right for the new effort earned him great respect among his contemporaries and among historians of the war such as the American, Rick Atkinson. He was also very firm in bringing the wild Moroccan irregulars, the goumiers, back under discipline and control after several excesses of mass rapine and pillage. [1]
From different sources we have received a fact on the eve of his announcement of 14 May 1944, at Moroccan troops, known goumiers Division of General Dody and the division of General Guillaume: "Soldiers! This time is not only the freedom of your land that I give you if you win this battle. Behind the enemy there are women, houses, there is a wine among the best in the world, there is gold. All this will be yours if you win. Must kill the Germans to the last man and go at any cost. What I have said and promised to keep. For fifty hours you will be the absolute masters of what they find beyond the enemy. Nobody will punish you for what you do, nobody will ask what you take into account '
The sending of such a statement was never confirmed officially, but
was confirmed by the facts. In the hours following the breaching of
the Gustav line, seven Moroccan soldiers, freed by the command,
rushed on a wide area of the province of Frosinone and the province
of Latina devastating, looting, killing, raping. The consequences
were appalling: according to official sources were raped more than
60,000 women from 8 to 85 years [1]. Were sodomized approximately
eight hundred men, among them the priest of Santa Maria di Esperia,
Don Albert Terrill, who died later from wounds. The victims were
crudely defined as "Moroccan". Then impaled men were killed trying
to protect women and children. It was raided 90% of the cattle.
Testimonials remember how Canadian troops, coming from their area
of expertise, managing intervened to stop the slaughter in part at
the request of the people fleeing. When the news spread, the
Vatican officially said that the Franco-Maghrebian not enter
Rome.
Alberto Moravia wrote the novel Two Women on these facts and Vittorio De Sica translated it in the film with Sophia Loren.
Following this assignment he was Chief of Staff of French forces and represented France at the San Francisco Conference. He was also in charge of organizing the French Army and had contact both with SHAEF and with General De Lattre de Tassigny, commander of the First French Army.
In 1947 he returned to Africa as the Resident General in Morocco. He opposed Moroccan attempts to gain independence. Next came a senior NATO position as he assumed command of CENTAG until 1956. During his NATO command, in 1952, he was promoted to Marshal of France. He was greatly opposed to Charles de Gaulle's decision to grant independence to Algeria, and he retired in 1962 as a result of the incident. (de Gaulle may have demanded Juin's resignation, but publicly announced that he was placing Juin "in the reserve of the Republic.")
Juin was the French Army's last living Marshal of France until his death in Paris in 1967, when he was buried in Les Invalides, Paris.
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| | Alphonse Juin at Find-A-Grave - Alphonse Juin (1888 - 1967) - Find A Grave Memorial |
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