Henry philip petain was born on April 24th, 856 in/kloc-0, a small town called Cochratel in Calais province in northern France. His father was a farmer, his mother died young and his family was poor. 187 1 The failure of France in the Franco-Prussian War in 2000 prompted Petain to become a soldier. After graduating from high school, Petain was admitted to St. Cyril Military Academy; 1878 after graduation, he joined the mountain infantry regiment with the rank of second lieutenant.
1888, petain was transferred back to St. Cyrus Military Academy as an instructor. Because of peasant background and no military background, the promotion is very slow-5 years as second lieutenant, 7 years as lieutenant and 10 as captain. 1900 was promoted to major and commanded a battalion.
65438-0906 as an instructor in the National Shooting School. Barton works very hard and has a very honest and frank personality. He once refused to be the headmaster of the infantry school on the grounds that he thought those senior officers were more suitable for this position. He doesn't like all conspiracies, and his relationship with politicians is very bad. Captain Petain detained a reserve French parliamentarian and even publicly satirized the then president during World War I. ..
Most importantly, when the leaders and generals of the French army were obsessed with advocating the supremacy of attack, Petain dared to resist this trend alone. The essence of Petain's thought is that only when the enemy's defense has been decisively weakened can a full-scale attack be launched, and this weakened work cannot rely on the lives of infantry, but must use highly concentrated artillery. This requires close cooperation between artillery and infantry. 1965438+On the eve of the outbreak of World War I in August 2004, Petain was only an army colonel and served as the head of the 33rd regiment, at the age of 58.
The arrival of the first world war, I wonder if it should be counted as a blessing for Petain who just criticized the French red pants. Without it, Petain would have retired as an ordinary old man, and it was because of it that he had the last move after 1940.
After the war broke out, due to his outstanding leadership in the army, Petain was promoted to brigadier general. 19 14 In the Battle of the Marne River in September, Petain was promoted to major general and served as the commander of the sixth division because of his proper command. 10 year1on October 25th, petain was promoted to commander of the 33rd army again. 1965438+May 9, 2005-16, Petain led troops to break through the solid defense of the German army in the Alsace offensive. In June, he was appointed as the commander of the second army. September 25th-65438+1October 6th, although his attack failed because of the German defense in depth, his artillery preparation still surprised the Germans.
Petain immediately grasped the crux of the problem-artillery and logistics, which enabled the cruel fighting to continue. He put forward the famous defensive slogan "They won't pass". In addition, in order to prevent the morale of the French army from being low, Petain also persuaded the French army headquarters to adopt a rotation system, so almost all French troops experienced this cruel battle and accumulated experience. Under his strict leadership, by May of 1, Verdun had turned the corner. As the boss of General Neville who took over the command of the Second Army, Petain continued to exert influence on the war situation in Verdun. Four months later, the French army launched a large-scale attack on the Somme, the Germans stopped attacking Verdun, and the battle of Verdun ended successfully. As the "winner of Verdun", Petain became a French national hero and became famous all over the world. Known as "the savior of France"
1917 may 15, "army doctor" petain took over as commander-in-chief of the French army. As soon as he came up, he put forward the slogan of "more steel, less blood" and personally visited each division-alleviating the grievances of soldiers and reforming the system of meals and vacations. Just as Montgomery did in World War II, he listened to the soldiers and solved their difficulties. He quickly put down the rebellion with his prestige, and then successfully launched several limited offensives, which greatly boosted the morale of the French army. Petain saved France again.
19 18 in March, after Fuxi became commander-in-chief of the allied forces, Petain took over all the French troops he was in charge of and played an important role in the last month of hard fighting on the western front. Then he planned the offensives of Aina River-Marne River (July-August) and Amiens River (August-September), and assisted john joseph pershing in the offensives of Saint Mir (September) and Meuse-Argonne (September-165438+1October).
191819 June 65438+1October19, petain was awarded the rank of marshal of France for his outstanding wartime performance.
During World War I, Petain's prestige reached its peak. After Fauci retired, he became the arbiter of all military thoughts. 1920, petain was appointed as the vice chairman of the French supreme military Council. 1922 65438+ 10, concurrently served as the director of the French army, during which 1925- 1926 commanded 65438+ 10,000 French troops and Spain to jointly suppress the uprising of Madame Morocco.
193 1- 1934 served as director of air defense and minister of the army, and strongly advocated the construction of maginot line. 1February 934 to February 65438+065438+1October, petain served as the minister of the army in the interim government of gaston Dumerger.
1940 In May, the Germans began to attack France, and maginot line, as a permanent fortification, fell apart. The French army commanded by Maurice Gustave Gamelin and maxime weygand fell one after another, and the domestic political situation was chaotic. In order to control the situation and establish the broadest national unity, Prime Minister Paul Rono called up various domestic forces, and Petain was also recalled to China as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet. As a result, on the question of whether to continue fighting or end the war by peaceful means, the French government was divided into two factions, one headed by Prime Minister Renault and the other by Marshal Petain. 1In June, 940, Petain declared a ceasefire in France, signed a treaty of humiliation and humiliation with Germany, and formed a Vichy government that cooperated with fascism to become prime minister.
1June 2, 9401day, Hitler personally came to France to accept Germany's surrender in the Compiegne forest and met with the French negotiating delegation. On the 22nd, with the consent of Petain, the Franco-German armistice agreement was formally signed on the "armistice carriage" of that year, and France was forced to accept very harsh armistice conditions. France is divided into two parts. Three fifths of the country (mainly the northern industrial zone), including Paris, was occupied by the Germans, and the expenses of the occupying forces were borne by France. The south and west (mainly agricultural areas) are free zones; The French air force and army were reduced to 65438+ million; Most importantly, the Petain government should "cooperate" with Germany in the political, economic and diplomatic fields.
On July 1940, the Petain government moved to Vichy. In June, 5438+00, the National Assembly passed a resolution with 569 votes in favor and 80 votes against, granting Petain full power to formulate a new constitution. In the new constitution, the French Republic is replaced by the French state, and the freedom, equality and fraternity inherited by 1789 are replaced by labor, family and motherland. Petain was awarded the title of "Head of State" and concurrently served as Prime Minister. He has many powers, such as convening the National Assembly, enacting administrative legislation, commanding the army, appointing or replacing ministers, and so on, which is almost greater than Louis XIV's power. At that time, many regulations published in the official gazette began with the format of monarchy: "I, philip petain, announced in the name of French marshal and head of state." The 80-year-old man was tired of his past fame and won the support of many French people for a period of time.
From 1940 July 10 to 12 February 13, it can be called the petain-laval period. 1940 10 year1October 24th, Petain and Hitler held talks in the carriage of the train in Munduwa, Dulan. Since then, Petain claimed that France must seek a policy of cooperation with Germany for the sake of its "honor and dignity". Since then, the word "cooperation" has been branded on Petain like a label. It should be pointed out that out of dignity, Petain was a little shy when he cooperated with the Germans, and he used his usual two-faced tactics from time to time. When he had a serious disagreement with Laval's naked pro-German traitorous behavior, 1940 12 13, Petain ordered the detention of his "crown prince" (the constitutional law stipulated that Laval should succeed Marshal Petain after his death) and sent a reliable team to escort Laval to his private residence. The German authorities were unaware of this rather surprising incident.
From 1940, 12, 13 to 1942, 18 in April, the second period of Vichy regime began, which was called the Betant-Durrant period. Admiral Darren, the former commander-in-chief of the navy, became the second person in Vichy regime. Patten's cooperation policy "is closely related to the progress of the war and Germany's victory, or on the contrary, to the initial signs of Germany's failure." Petain tried to adopt a policy of neutrality and delay in diplomacy, met Franco, and persuaded him to refuse the German army to go to North Africa via Spain. However, with the support of the Germans, Laval came back to power in April 1942, and began the third period of Vichy regime. At this time, a new constitutional decree was promulgated: "The actual leadership of France's domestic and foreign policies is entirely in the hands of the head of government (namely Laval), who is appointed by the head of state and directly responsible to the head of state." In fact, Petain was turned into a small ornament on the mantelpiece.
Petain's capitulationism and cooperativism bear unshirkable responsibility for France's loss of national sovereignty and independence, and being bullied and ravaged by German aggressors. Petain's political weakness made it impossible for him to stop Laval and others from betraying the country completely. He played the leading role of "cooperation" intentionally or unintentionally. Petain suppressed any anti-German activities in the ruling area. Paten provided raw materials and commodities to pay for the German occupation, from 300 million to 500 million, and increased to 700 million in July of 1944. On the radio, Petain called for recruiting workers for Germany and establishing a compulsory labor bureau. When Germany invaded and occupied the south of France, many French people hoped that Petain would leave Vichy, but he didn't leave and stayed there, still loyal to an overly simple policy idea: one should not abandon one's land and one's compatriots when the motherland suffered. This is Petain's personal tragedy.
After becoming a puppet completely, Petain remained stubborn. 1943 12 18, and petain also wrote to Hitler, saying that "the occupation authorities have the right to change all laws in France in the future."
1June, 944, when the allied forces landed in Normandy, Petain also called on the French people to observe order and discipline in the radio and obey any instructions of the German army in the combat area. In August, Charles de Gaulle liberated Paris, and Petain quietly burned his personal documents. He sent a special envoy to contact and prepare for a peaceful transfer of power, but he was rejected by Charles de Gaulle. On August 20th, Petain and the people around him were taken from Vichy to an old castle in Hohenzolon, Lokmalingen, and his political career ended strangely. After the Allied invasion of Germany, they moved to a small town in Switzerland. On the eve of Germany's surrender, desperate Petain surrendered to the French interim government.
1945 On July 23rd, the French Supreme Court tried Betan. The indictment lists five charges of Petain: signing an armistice agreement with Germany violated the Franco-British alliance treaty; Cooperate with Germany and take hostile actions against Britain and other allies; Together with Raphael, he mobilized the national industrial sector to support Nazi Germany's war of aggression and exported a large number of French workers to Germany; Establish a dictatorship; Privately allow Germany to control its own territory.
The 89-year-old Petain remained silent for more than 20 days in the trial, but his defense lawyer was very active, saying that Petain's behavior was helpless and he did not fully cooperate with Germany. The defense lawyer also threatened the court that if Petain was executed, the country would face the danger of division and the French people would feel sad. The people in the audience were bewitched by the defense lawyer and kept cheering for the lawyer's defense words, so that the judge shouted angrily: "Why are all Germans in this hall!" "
On August 4th, 1945, the judgment came out. Petain was sentenced to death for collaborating with the enemy, all his property was confiscated, and he was declared a "national scum". In addition, the court also found him guilty of "manslaughter". Many decent citizens trusted him because he used to be a hero and was led astray. At this time, Charles de Gaulle, who was hand-picked by him, signed an Amnesty order and sentenced him to life imprisonment-just like Petain signed "no execution" on the death sentence of Vichy government in the default trial of Charles de Gaulle 1940 years ago.
Later, Petain was imprisoned in a fortress on Dale Island, but his health deteriorated seriously here.
195 1 In June, he was transferred to Isle of Isle prison in the Bay of Biscay in the Atlantic Ocean. On July 22nd, Petain died in prison. When he became a hero and marshal of France, Petain never thought that his life would end like this.
Petain recorded the image of a traitor in history, but as a soldier, he made great contributions to the neutrality of World War I. He disagreed with Fu Cha's emphasis on "offensive spirit" and thought that defense was more dominant in modern wars. After the war, his cautious attitude made him the most successful commander in France in World War I.