46 Facts About Maurice Sarrail

Maurice Paul Emmanuel Sarrail was a French general of the First World War.

At the start of the war, Maurice Sarrail commanded VI Corps then Third Army in the Ardennes and around Verdun, where his army played an important role in the final stages of the First Battle of the Marne and where he took the credit for holding Verdun.

Maurice Sarrail was dismissed for poor leadership, amidst political uproar, in July 1915.

Maurice Sarrail ended up commanding a multinational Allied force amidst political intrigue and a state of near civil war in Greece, whose King Constantine was pro-German, whilst the Prime Minister Venizelos was pro-Allied and keen to gain territory from the Turks in western Anatolia.

Maurice Sarrail was dismissed from his Salonika command in December 1917.

Maurice Sarrail later played a role in the French suppression of the Great Syrian Revolt in the mid-1920s.

Maurice Sarrail was born at Carcassonne, and attended St Cyr, graduating in third place on 1 October 1877.

Maurice Sarrail was posted as a sub-lieutenant to the infantry.

Maurice Sarrail was promoted to lieutenant in October 1882, captain in 1887, and chef-de-bataillon in 1897.

Unlike many French officers, Maurice Sarrail was a freemason and a Dreyfusard.

Maurice Sarrail's was the only corps of Ruffey's Third Army to withstand the strong German counterattacks.

Maurice Sarrail told 42nd Division, which formed the rearguard, "you have given proof of cran ".

However, during the Battle of the Marne, unlike those other French generals, Maurice Sarrail was ordered simply to pin down German Crown Prince Wilhelm's Fifth Army opposite him, in the vicinity of Verdun.

Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, had expected Maurice Sarrail to take the German Fifth Army on its eastern flank as it advanced south from the Argonne into the Revigny Gap, but instead Crown Prince Wilhelm was advancing south-east towards Bar-le-Duc, so his army and Maurice Sarrail's clashed head on.

Maurice Sarrail's forces were again mauled by von Pritzelwitz's VI Corps, which had beaten the French colonials so badly at Rossigny, earning Maurice Sarrail a blistering written rebuke from Joffre.

Maurice Sarrail refused and would later describe himself as the "Saviour of Verdun", claiming that his actions had saved Verdun from capture.

That day Maurice Sarrail was able to signal Joffre "situation satisfactory", whilst at 2pm Joffre was able to inform Millerand that the Battle of the Marne was now an "incontestable victory".

Maurice Sarrail was initially given a British division and Bailloud's division from the Dardanelles.

Maurice Sarrail initially felt that commanding a corps-sized force was a severe demotion.

Maurice Sarrail had the Office of National Security Studies criticise the logistics of the operation.

Maurice Sarrail, asked by the War Minister for his views, recommended that the British be urged to maintain their presence at Gallipoli for reasons of Allied prestige.

Maurice Sarrail urged that 30,000 British troops defend Salonika, whilst three or four French corps would push up towards the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

Maurice Sarrail's arrival had been too little and too late either to prevent German, Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian forces overrunning Serbia, or to give the Serbs somewhere to retreat, ultimately forcing the Serb Army to retreat to Albania.

Maurice Sarrail later wrote in his memoirs "one cannot do something with nothing".

Maurice Sarrail forced the surrender of the Greek artillery in the town.

In January 1916 Maurice Sarrail was granted command of all Allied forces in the Macedonian theatre.

Maurice Sarrail replied that he needed 21 divisions and was unable to do anything major before the Serbs arrived.

On 13 April 1916, whilst in Salonika, the British 85th Brigade performed a ceremonial parade when General Maurice Sarrail was invested with the Grand Cross of St Michael and St George.

The French took control of rail, postal and telegraph services, whilst Maurice Sarrail sent a naval squadron to threaten Athens.

Maurice Sarrail was suspicious of the Italians under General Pettiti, believing that Italy had colonial designs on the region.

Maurice Sarrail was suspicious of Sarrail and Briand, and keen to keep them at arm's length, instead encouraging closer links with the British.

Maurice Sarrail did not specifically praise Sarrail, but recommended that Sarrail no longer report to Joffre.

The Germans were referring to Salonika as an "internment camp" and Maurice Sarrail was highly sensitive to comparisons to Bazaine's encirclement in Metz in 1870.

Maurice Sarrail was confirmed as "Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Army of the Orient" with the national contingent commanders having right of appeal to their own governments.

Maurice Sarrail launched a general offensive between 22 April and 23 May 1917, to coincide with Nivelle's offensive on the Aisne.

Maurice Sarrail had thus infuriated Italy, Serbia, whose Prime Minister Pasic came to Sarrail's headquarters to complain, and Greece, whose Prime Minister Venizelos complained to the Supreme War Council about Sarrail.

Maurice Sarrail made Salonika the main topic of discussion at the first meeting of the War Committee, saying "Sarrail cannot remain there".

Maurice Sarrail participated in the political cabal against General Joffre which led to his fall in December 1917.

Maurice Sarrail went into retirement at his country home at Montauban to write his memoirs.

Maurice Sarrail promised free elections and said that political parties were allowed to form.

Maurice Sarrail was recalled on 30 October 1925, after he ordered the shelling of Damascus during the Great Syrian Revolt.

Maurice Sarrail was fired because of his violent way of redressing the situation during the Druze revolt.

Maurice Sarrail is responsible for the deaths of 10,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, and 2,500 to 6,000 French soldiers.

Maurice Sarrail became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour in November 1914 and was awarded a Grand Cross of the same Order in January 1916.

Maurice Sarrail was given the Medaille militaire in September 1917.

Maurice Sarrail died on 23 March 1929 in Paris, a few days after Marshal Foch.