Charles Léon Clément Huntziger (; 25 June 1880 – 12 November 1941) was a French Army general best known for his role in the Battle of Sedan in May 1940 and as Minister of War of Vichy France until his death in a plane accident in 1941. He also headed the French delegations to the Franco-German and Franco-Italian armistice negotiations in June 1940, signing them on behalf of France.
Huntziger distinguished himself during the First World War as head of operations for the Allied Army of the Orient on the Macedonian front from January 1918, where he served as a key architect behind the Vardar offensive that knocked Bulgaria out of the war that September. Between 1924 and 1928, he commanded French troops in the French concession in Tianjin before heading the French military mission to Brazil from 1930 to 1934. Between 1934 and 1938, Huntziger commanded French troops in the Levant, where he assisted in negotiating the 1936 Franco-Lebanese and Franco-Syrian independence treaties.
In command of the Second Army during the Battle of France, he was faced with the (main effort) of the German offensive through the Ardennes. Overwhelmed at Sedan, Huntziger opted to cover the rear of the Maginot Line, leaving the way clear for the German Panzer divisions to advance northwards to the English Channel. The decisions Huntziger made leading up to and during the battle have been criticised by historians. Alongside his ministerial position, Huntziger also served as commander-in-chief of the Armistice Army. Though largely forgotten, he remains a controversial figure in France.
Early life and education Charles Léon Clément Huntziger was born in Lesneven, Finistère on 25 June 1880 to Léon Jacques Huntziger (b.1853), a music and German teacher, and Marie Élise Julie Manière. Following the Franco-Prussian War, his father had emigrated from Alsace in 1871 to avoid conscription into the German army.
In 1896, Huntziger enrolled at the Lycée of Nantes on a national scholarship and as a boarder, where he studied elementary mathematics. After receiving his baccalauréat, he prepared for Saint-Cyr to which he was admitted in 1898. Sourced to:
Early military career Upon leaving Saint-Cyr in 1900 as a second lieutenant, Huntziger joined the colonial infantry, specifically the 2nd Colonial Infantry Regiment garrisoned in Brest. In 1902, he was assigned to the 2nd Malagasy Tirailleurs Regiment in Madagascar as commander of the sub-sector of Andemaka. He transferred to the 3rd Senegalese Tirailleurs Regiment in June 1903 and returned to the 2nd Colonial Infantry Regiment in France at the end of 1904, after his end-of-campaign leave. In November 1905, Huntziger was assigned to the 2nd Senegalese Tirailleurs Regiment in Upper Senegal and Niger. He finished his stay in July 1907 and was assigned to the 21st Colonial Infantry Regiment in Paris in February 1908, entering the War College (ESG) in autumn 1909 after completing required training with the 1st Colonial Infantry Regiment.
On 30 June 1909, Huntziger married Marie Alice Maurin who was the daughter of Jean Félix Albert Maurin, the quartermaster general at the Ministry of War. He graduated from the ESG in 1911, being promoted to the rank of capitaine in September, and began his staff internship in the 4th Army Corps in Le Mans. Huntziger was sent to Indochina in 1912, where he finished his internship at the High Command of Indochina in Hanoi. In December 1913, he assumed command of the 2nd company of the 1st Tonkinese Tirailleurs Regiment , where he remained at the outbreak of the First World War.
First World War At Huntziger's request he was transferred back to France, assuming command of a company of the 6th Colonial Battalion in Morocco in November 1914. Upon arriving in France, he was sent to the front on the Somme where he distinguished himself and earned a citation to the order of the army in December. In January 1915, he was assigned to the staff of the 24th Infantry Division in Champagne and Lorraine. In June, he was transferred to the 2nd Colonial Army Corps and was in charge of supplies during the Champagne offensive in September, for which he was made a knight of the Legion of Honour the following month. Huntziger became head of the 3rd Bureau (operations) of the 2nd Army Corps in early 1916 and was promoted to chef de bataillon in October.
In November 1917, Huntziger assumed command of a battalion of the 6th Colonial Infantry Regiment in the Troyon sector. He was subsequently assigned to the staff of the Allied Army of the Orient, under General Adolphe Guillaumat and based in Salonika, in January 1918. General Guillaumat selected Huntziger as head of the 3rd Bureau, where he was tasked with planning raids along the Macedonian front and the Battle of Skra-di-Legen in May. Huntziger developed the plan that underpinned the successful Vardar offensive in September, which led to an armistice with Bulgaria, and became a protégé of General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, who had replaced Guillaumat in June.
Interwar period General d'Espèrey promoted Huntziger to lieutenant colonel in December and, by the end of 1918, he was Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Allied armies in Constantinople (2nd and 3rd bureaus). Having established himself as a specialist in the Balkans, he was sent on missions to southern Russia and Romania in 1919. Huntziger returned to France in January 1920 and assumed the position of deputy chief of staff to Minister of War André Lefèvre. In January 1921, he enrolled at the Centre for Advanced Military Studies and became head of the 1st Bureau (organisation) of the Directorate of Colonial Troops in September, being conferred the rank of colonel in 1922.
Between 1924 and 1928, Huntziger commanded the French occupation corps in the French concession in Tianjin. He returned to France in early 1928 and assumed the position of chief of staff of the General Inspectorate of Colonial Troops in February. Huntziger was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in December, making him the youngest general in the French Army at 48.
Huntziger was assigned to command the French military mission to Brazil between 1930 and 1934, during which time he was promoted to major general. In April 1934, he assumed the position of commander-in-chief of the French forces in the Levant. Huntziger was subsequently selected to assist the negotiations pertaining to the 1936 Franco-Lebanese and Franco-Syrian treaties. According to historian Pierre Rocolle, he skillfully reconciled divergent interests, particularly ethnic tensions, and demonstrated a "masterful command of diplomatic protocol". Returning to France in 1938, Huntziger was promoted to général d'armée in April and became a member of the Conseil supérieur de la guerre in May.
Having initially established useful contacts in attendance at Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's funeral, Huntziger was selected to lead the Franco-Turkish rapprochement. In July 1939, he was entrusted with leading the military mission to negotiate the Tripartite Treaty of Ankara and presented its findings to Prime Minister Édouard Daladier in Paris and the British government in London. Huntziger had been proposed as the new High Commissioner of the Levant but this was opposed by General Maurice Gamelin who wanted to reserve him for an important command in France. He was replaced in the Levant in August by General Maxime Weygand who headed the broader Eastern Mediterranean Theatre of Operations and finalised the treaty with the Turks.
Battle of France
Huntziger received command of the Second Army, composed of seven divisions, that was to maintain defensive positions along the Meuse. He was at that point the youngest général d'armée and Gamelin reportedly considered him his most qualified successor as commander-in-chief if he were removed.
Huntziger's section of the front ran from where the Meuse entered France just north of Sedan to where the Maginot Line ended at Longuyon and included the of the French Ardennes. On his left was the Ninth Army under General André Corap and on his right the Third Army under General Charles-Marie Condé. Huntziger established a modest command post in the village of Senuc on 2 September 1939.
Preparations Though Huntziger benefited from of strong fortifications on his right flank, other parts of his section of the front were only lightly fortified. During the Phoney War, Huntziger directed his men to spend most of their time building fortifications and increased the density of blockhouses in the sector. He poured more concrete in the Fortified Sector of Montmédy than the Sedan sector and this meant that his troops had little time to train. Due to the nature of the terrain, Huntziger considered Sedan to be the least vulnerable sector of his line and his main worry was that the Germans might attack further to the south-east, near Mouzon, with the view of assaulting the Maginot Line from the rear. To counter this, he placed his strongest units on his right flank while the Sedan sector on his left flank was covered by the 55th Infantry Division, one of his two weaker and poorly resourced Series B divisions. In contrast to Corap who complained to Gamelin on several occasions about the inadequacies of his troops and their insufficient number, Huntziger was more complacent.
To compensate for the almost complete lack of anti-aircraft defences against low-flying aircraft, Huntziger positioned machine guns in circular trenches. He frequently visited his units, paying close attention to troops' food, clothing, and hygiene and drafted a manual incorporating lessons from the German invasion of Poland. Requests for additional fortifications had to pass through Huntziger, who typically took several weeks to respond. In March 1940, local troops took the initiative in constructing anti-tank obstacles on the outskirts of Sedan on the two roads that led from the Ardennes; an order arrived from Huntziger on 3 May to demolish them. Speaking at Pétain's trial in 1945, Huntziger's chief of staff Henri Lacaille responded that the fortifications, albeit well-intentioned, obstructed an offensive mission of the Second Army.
Huntziger organised a press office that published a bimonthly bulletin aimed at preparing officers for the coming battle, assigning prominent Maurrassian Henri Massis to head it. Elitist in his tastes, Huntziger entrusted Xavier de Courville with setting up a theatre troupe and orchestra, which employed pianist Alfred Cortot, as an alternative to the usual army theatre. This led to some ridicule in the French press, with General Victor Bourret (in command of the Fifth Army in Bas-Rhin) later remarking that Huntziger appeared "more concerned with theatrical performances than with work".
In March 1940 a parliamentary delegation visited Huntziger's section of the front, following which its rapporteur, Pierre Taittinger, sent an alarmist report to Daladier and Gamelin pointing out "grave insufficiencies" at Sedan and describing it as a "particularly weak point" in the French defences. In his report, Taittinger was sceptical of the effectiveness of the Meuse as a natural barrier. In his reply on 8 April, Huntziger criticised civilian involvement in military affairs and responded that he had reported the lack of anti-aircraft defences to command on several occasions and lacked the means by which to improve it. In conclusion, he stated: "I believe that no urgent measures are necessary to reinforce the Sedan front". On the evening of 9 May, amid indications of a German offensive, Huntziger attended the army theatre in Vouziers.
German offensive