(Sarrebourg, 1866 - Paris, 1925.) General.
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- Mangin (Charles)
The thick, black hair, the strong chin, the steely gaze, Mangin is the very type of the adventurer to whom the colonial enterprises of the Ille République allowed to give free rein to a need for action.
The marine infantry welcomed him in 1888 and made him perform his first arms in Sudan.
The young officer traveled through Africa and thus found himself, ten years later, a member of the mission of Captain Marchand who will join the Congo to the Nile.
Colonel in 1912, Mangin shows off his stripes during the conquest of Morocco. The war in France finds him at the head of an infantry division in which the "porpoises" are worthily represented.
These soldiers carrying the golden anchor are, indeed, shock units. Thus, at the climax of the Battle of Verdun, the general's unit (the 5th D.I.) was engaged for the first time in May in the Douaumont sector.
Mangin retook the fort on October 24 with the colonial infantry regiment of Morocco.
Haloed by this resounding success, on December 15 he reoccupied the Cote du Poivre, Louvemont and Hardaumont, his soldiers capturing 11,000 prisoners. Less fortunate at the head of the Sixth Army during the unfortunate Nivelle offensive on the Aisne in 1917, disgraced for a moment because of this failure, Mangin regained command in 1918 at the head of the Tenth Army. His determined action halted the German offensive on the Oise in June, then around Château-Thierry, after July 18.
Having regained all his prestige following these batterings which chased the Germans from the banks of the Marne and then those of the Aisne, the general was given command of the French occupation zone in the Rhineland.
But the encouragement given to the Rhine separatist movements provoked a strong reaction from the Americans and the British, and its mutation from 1920. Compensation came in the form of a general inspection of the colonial troops, the weapon of the beginnings.
Never, however, was Mangin's stubborn reputation as a leader who was not sparing with the blood of his men.