Headstones at La Nécropole Nationale de Pontavert. The cemetery contains the remains of 6,815 soldiers, 67 of them British, 54 Russian, and the remainder French. Of the total, 1,364 are entombed in the ossuary. © 2014 by John M. Shea
"Pétain's pronunciamento to the officer corps was followed up in a message to the commanders of armies and groups of armies dated June 11. In it he discussed the need for forthright action in suppression and held up the actions of the commander of the XXXVIIth Army Corps as being exemplary in this regard. His message concluded with a threat, 'All officers, from the commander of a platoon to the commander of a corps, must have the same sense of duty. It is necessary that all realize that they must exercise their responsibilities or else they will themselves be brought before conseils de guerre.'"
French general Henri Philippe Pétain was given command of the French Army on May 15, 1917 after the failure of Commander in Chief Robert Nivelle's spring offensive, and as mutinies spread in the army, ultimately affecting nearly half the army. Pétain's carrots were assurances to soldiers that he would not squander their lives, and that France would build the weapons of war—tanks, heavy artillery, aircraft—that could bring victory. His stick was the suppression of the mutinies by force, with trials, imprisonment, and executions. Earlier in the war, French commanders had abused cours martiales, in which soldiers had no appeal beyond the army itself. These were replaced by conseils de guerre, in which the convicted retained a right of appeal to a higher court, and death sentences had to be approved by the President. Pétain insisted on retaining courts martial, with his own approval being required and final, until the mutinies were controlled. French Prime Minister Paul Painlevé reasserted his authority on July 14, when the mutinies were clearly drawing to a close.
Dare Call it Treason by Richard M. Watt, page 232, copyright © 1963 by Richard M. Watt, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1963
1917-06-11, 1917, June, Pétain, Petain, French army mutinies, mutiny, Pontavert Cemetery
