French Army Mutinies (1917)

The French Army Mutinies of 1917 took place in the Champagne section of the Western Front and started just after the conclusion of the disastrous Second Battle of the Aisne.

Background

The architect of the Second Battle of the Aisne and the French Commander-in-Chief, General Robert Nivelle, had been sacked on April 29 1917.Keegan, pp 356-8] He was replaced by General Philippe Pétain. By this time, over one million French fatalities (306,000 in 1914; 334,000 in 1915; 217,000 in 1916; 121,000 in early 1917) out of a male population of twenty million had "deadened the French will to attack".

Mutiny

The French armies at Chemin des Dames had suffered a steadily growing number of desertions since the end of April.Gilbert, pp 333-334] On May 27, those desertions turned to mutiny. Up to 30,000 soldiers left the front line and reserve trenches and returned to the rear. Even in regiments where there was direct confrontation, such as the 74th Infantry Regiment, the men "wished their officers no harm"; they just refused "to return to the trenches". The mutinies "were not a refusal of war" simply "a certain way of waging it".Ashworth, pp 224-5]

In the behind-the-lines towns of Soissons, Villers-Cotterets, Fère-en-Tardenois, and Coeuvres, they refused to obey their officers' orders and refused to go to the Front. On June 1, a French infantry regiment took over the town of Missy-aux-Bois. The mutinies were "widespread and persistent", involving more than half the divisions in the French army. On June 7, General Pétain and Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (the British commander-in-chief in France) had a "private talk": Pétain told Haig that "two French Divisions had refused to go and relieve Two Divisions in the front line". [Blake, p 236] The true figure was over fifty. [Keegan, p 382]

Response: arrests, trials, servitude, and executions

On about June 8, the military authorities took swift and decisive action: mass arrests were followed by mass trials. Those arrested were selected by their own officers and NCOs, "with the implicit consent of the rank and file". There were 3,427 "Conseils de guerre" ("courts-martial"), at which 23,385 men were convicted of mutinous behaviours of one sort or another ; 554 men were sentenced to death; 49 men were "actually shot"; and the rest sentenced to penal servitude.

However, according to the historian, Denis Rolland, "there would have been about 30 executions. This number has always been controversial because of the impossibility of accessing the files until 100 years have elapsed." ["il y aurait eu environ 30 exécutions. Ce nombre a toujours été un sujet de controverses du fait de l'impossibilité d'accéder librement aux archives avant 100 ans." fr Wikipedia: Mutineries de 1917]

Aftermath

Whatever the figure, along with the stick of military justice, General Pétain offered two juicy carrots: more regular and longer leave; and, for the time-being at least, an end to attacks.

cquote|"Friday, November 9 1917:" Commandant E. A. Gemeau, French liaison officer on Haig's headquarters staff, [ Greenhalgh ] .. said that the state of the French army is now very good, but at the end of May there were 30,000 "rebels" who had to be dealt with. A whole Brigade of Infantry had marched on Paris with their rifles after looting a supply column. Another lot seized a motor convoy. Some others occupied a village and a Brigade of Cavalry had to be employed to round them up. This was not done without opening fire on the village. This shows how really bad the condition of the French army was after Nivelle's failure, and Pétain had a very difficult job to get things in good order. (Haig's war diary) [Blake, p 265]

ee also

* Étaples Mutiny

Notes

References

*Ashworth, Tony; "Trench Warfare 1914-1918", Pan, London 2000
*Blake, Robert (editor); "The Private Papers of Douglas Haig 1914-1918", London 1952
*Gilbert, Martin; "First World War", Paperback ed. London, 1995
*Greenhalgh, Elizabeth, "Victory through Coalition, Britain and France during the First World War", University of New South Wales, Sydney, ISBN-13: 9780521853842, ISBN-10: 052185384
*Keegan, John, "The First World War", Pimlico edition, London, 1999

Further reading and links

*fr Pedroncini, G; "Les mutineries de 1917", Presse universitaires de France, Paris, 1967
*fr Offenstadt, Nicolas; "Les fusillés de la Grande Guerre", Éditions Odile Jacob, Paris, 1999
*fr Rolland, Denis; "La grève des tranchées", Paris, Imago, 2005.
* fr Mutineries de 1917
* fr Soldat fusillé pour l'exemple