Jean-Baptiste Eugène Estienne
Encyclopedia
Jean Baptiste Eugène EstienneEstienne's forenames are frequently incorrectly given as Jean-Baptiste Eugène. He was christened with the three names Jean, Baptiste, and Eugène, but disliked the name Baptiste, and preferred to be addressed as Eugène. He usually signed himself J.E. Estienne. See Mondet, Arlette Estienne: Le général J.B.E. Estienne, père des chars. L'Harmattan, 2010 (7 November 1860, Les Hauts-de-Chée
, Meuse
- 2 April 1936) was a general of artillery
and a specialist in military engineering
, one of the founders of modern French artillery and French military aviation; and the creator of the French tank
arm. He is considered by many in France to be the Père des Chars (Father of the Tank).
valley. He was admitted to the École Polytechnique
(the French Military Academy) at the age of nineteen. He graduated 131st of his year in 1882, the same year he won first prize in the national mathematics competition. He would for the rest of his life be interested in mathematical and philosophical problems, but his real passion was Greek Antiquity
.
, he presented his first major work in 1890, Erreurs d'Observation, to the Académie des Sciences; this stimulated the introduction of modern indirect fire
methods.
Promoted to Captain with the 1st Artillery Regiment in 1891, he began to develop telemetric
instruments at the Bourges
arsenal to put his theories into practice. He was made squadron commander with the 19th Artillery Regiment in 1902, but his real work was done as head of the workshop building precision instruments for the technical artillery section in Paris
, and promoting the use of telephonic
connections to enable the artillery to switch targets quickly. This work did not keep him from publishing a paper on Pascal's theorem
in 1906. He became head of the artillery school at Grenoble
in 1907.
in 1909, the logical candidate to command this new unit was Estienne. Since the main task of aircraft was seen as directing artillery fire, he seemed to be best qualified to solve the technological difficulties involved. So Estienne, now promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, also became one of the founders of French military aviation. After establishing the proper organisation, training and production of aircraft while developing communication methods, he commanded the 5th Aviation Group at Lyon
for a short time. But he was recalled to the arsenal of Vincennes
to continue his technical work — although he could not resist founding a new artillery aviation section there.
's division. At the Battle of Charleroi
he shocked his German opponents by the precision of his artillery fire, which was well directed due to close cooperation with aircraft. But even Estienne's competence could not save the French infantry from being destroyed by machine gun
fire. In order to protect soldiers in trench warfare
, he imagined mobile personnel shield
s to assist them.
Having long been an advocate of indirect fire
methods, Estienne now began to search for viable ways to provide close support with field gun
s. On 23 August he made his famous statement Messieurs, la victoire appartiendra dans cette guerre à celui des deux belligérants qui parviendra le premier à placer un canon de 75 sur une voiture capable de se mouvoir en tout terrain ("Gentlemen, the victory in this war will belong to which of the two belligerents which will be the first to place a gun of 75 [mm] on a vehicle able to be driven on all terrain"). However, as suitable vehicles were lacking at the time, nothing more could be done.
In the summer of 1915 he learned that Eugène Brillié of the Schneider Company
and Jules-Louis Bréton (then a member of parliament) were developing a barbed wire-cutter on a tracked Holt-type chassis. He wrote several letters during the autumn of 1915 to Joseph Joffre
at GQG (the French GHQ) with his ideas about using such tracked vehicles. These letters never got further than Joffre's staff.
On 1 December 1915 Estienne wrote a personal letter to Joffre, in which he proposed that the French army undertake a similar project. In particular, he advocated the creation of a force of all-terrain armoured vehicles large enough to assist 20,000 infantrymen to break through the full depth of a German defensive position. Armed with light artillery, the vehicles would also serve to transport men, equipment and supplies across the 40 km or so that separated French assembly areas from the open terrain behind the German defensive positions.
He was invited to explain his ideas further to Joffre's Deputy Chief of Staff, General Jules Janin, during a personal visit on 12 December. Three days earlier, he and Pétain had attended a demonstration of the chassis of the Schneider CA
tank. He realized that unknown to him Schneider had been constructing an armoured tracked vehicle since May, and immediately understood that the existence of such a prototype, even though incomplete, might well prove a decisive argument for the creation of an armoured force. He was proven right on 20 December when an official plan was conceived to produce the Schneider CA. The same day he contacted Louis Renault
to convince him to build tanks, but the industrialist refused. During a personal visit to Joffre on 18 January 1916 he convinced the supreme commander that the plan was sound.
Estienne himself was not at first personally involved in the development of the new tanks. He suggested some ideas that were duly taken notice of, but otherwise had no effect on the preparations for construction and production. Two of his personal enemies, Undersecretary Jean-Louis Bréton (who resented that Estienne had taken over his project) and Colonel Emile Rimailho (the co-inventor, with Deport and General St. Claire Deville, of the famous French 75 mm field gun
), cooperated to build the ill-fated St Chamond
tank.
During a chance meeting on 16 July, Renault informed him that his company was developing a light tank (the Renault FT), but Estienne was not in a position to make any promises. In August he and Bréton traveled together to London
, where they tried to convince the British government to postpone the first use of tanks until the French tanks were ready. They were unsuccessful, but the British action had a beneficial side effect in that the first use of the British Mark I tanks on 15 September created a euphoria that accelerated developments and on 30 September Estienne was appointed Commander of the Artillerie Spéciale: the French army's tank arm. He was duly promoted on 17 October.
At the time there was a lack of personnel and materiel and Estienne spent many months creating the new force from scratch: first recruiting personnel, then constructing training grounds and waiting till 1 December for the first Schneider CA tank to be delivered so that training could begin in earnest. During these months he cooperated with Renault in developing the Renault FT, and tried to block efforts by General Mourret to mass-produce superheavy tanks (the later Char 2C
), which threatened to swallow the available production capacity.
On 16 April 1917 he was forced by the new supreme commander, Robert Nivelle
, to commit his armoured force prematurely near Berry-au-Bac
, leading to a complete failure. The officer commanding the attack, Commandant Louis Bossut, was killed; a large monument there commemorates all French tank crewmen who died in World War I. This disaster nearly led to the abolition of the tank force; Estienne was only saved by the appointment of his friend Pétain as Commander-in-Chief.
Estienne now directed his mind to the creation of appropriate tactics for the use of tanks. He considered that the tanks most important role was to act as mobile artillery, capable of moving over the ravaged battlefields and breaking through enemy lines, without any "softening up" artillery support. Heavier tanks might be useful for this but a more efficient effort could be made by a "swarm" of lighter and faster vehicles. Estienne paid little attention to exploitation.
A large number of Renault FTs was finally made available in 1918. This allowed the French to counterattack effectively for the first time since 1914. The FT subsequently became the Char de la Victoire and the necessity for a strong tank force became firmly established.
After the war Estienne held command of French tank forces until 1927, first as Artillerie Spéciale, then as commander of the Chars when in 1920 all tanks were made part of the Infantry by law. At a conference in Brussels
in 1921 he called for a 100,000 man force equipped with 4,000 tanks and 8,000 transport vehicles that could break an enemy's front and advance 80 km in a single night. However, the military establishment in France believed in rigid infantry-oriented warfare and his appeal went unheeded.
Although politician Paul Reynaud
supported progressive ideas like those of Estienne and called for a mobile army that could take the offensive as early as 1924, he represented a minority position in the French parliament. French military doctrine still relegated tanks to the role of supporting the infantry, a situation that did not change until Weygand took command. Indeed, Estienne criticized the idea of tanks supporting infantry until his death in 1936. Charles de Gaulle
was an enthusiastic pupil of Estienne's and was the only French tank advocate to demonstrate the potential of armoured forces to act as a counter to German developments in the field.
in Saumur
, is called "Musée Général Estienne".
Les Hauts-de-Chée
Les Hauts-de-Chée is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.The former towns of Génicourt-sous-Condé, Hargeville-sur-Chée, Louppy-sur-Chée and Les Marats were joined to Condé-en-Barrois on 20 June 1972, which subsequently changed its name to Les Hauts-de-Chée on 1...
, Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
- 2 April 1936) was a general of artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
and a specialist in military engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, one of the founders of modern French artillery and French military aviation; and the creator of the French tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
arm. He is considered by many in France to be the Père des Chars (Father of the Tank).
Early life
Estienne was born at Condé en Barrois in the MeuseMeuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
valley. He was admitted to the École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
(the French Military Academy) at the age of nineteen. He graduated 131st of his year in 1882, the same year he won first prize in the national mathematics competition. He would for the rest of his life be interested in mathematical and philosophical problems, but his real passion was Greek Antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
.
Modern artillery
He joined the French army as a second lieutenant in 1883, serving with the artillery from 1884. Studying ballisticsBallistics
Ballistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.A ballistic body is a body which is...
, he presented his first major work in 1890, Erreurs d'Observation, to the Académie des Sciences; this stimulated the introduction of modern indirect fire
Indirect fire
Indirect fire means aiming and firing a projectile in a high trajectory without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire...
methods.
Promoted to Captain with the 1st Artillery Regiment in 1891, he began to develop telemetric
Telemetry
Telemetry is a technology that allows measurements to be made at a distance, usually via radio wave transmission and reception of the information. The word is derived from Greek roots: tele = remote, and metron = measure...
instruments at the Bourges
Bourges
Bourges is a city in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.-History:...
arsenal to put his theories into practice. He was made squadron commander with the 19th Artillery Regiment in 1902, but his real work was done as head of the workshop building precision instruments for the technical artillery section in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and promoting the use of telephonic
Telephony
In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....
connections to enable the artillery to switch targets quickly. This work did not keep him from publishing a paper on Pascal's theorem
Pascal's theorem
In projective geometry, Pascal's theorem states that if an arbitrary hexagon is inscribed in any conic section, and pairs of opposite sides are extended until they meet, the three intersection points will lie on a straight line, the Pascal line of that configuration.- Related results :This theorem...
in 1906. He became head of the artillery school at Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
in 1907.
Military Aviation
At that time Estienne was already reputed to be one of the most competent and progressive officers in France, and one of the founders of modern artillery. When General Brun created the French aviation service at ReimsReims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
in 1909, the logical candidate to command this new unit was Estienne. Since the main task of aircraft was seen as directing artillery fire, he seemed to be best qualified to solve the technological difficulties involved. So Estienne, now promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, also became one of the founders of French military aviation. After establishing the proper organisation, training and production of aircraft while developing communication methods, he commanded the 5th Aviation Group at Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
for a short time. But he was recalled to the arsenal of Vincennes
Vincennes
Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...
to continue his technical work — although he could not resist founding a new artillery aviation section there.
First World War
At the outbreak of the First World War Estienne was made commander of the 22nd Artillery Regiment serving with Philippe PétainPhilippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
's division. At the Battle of Charleroi
Battle of Charleroi
The Battle of Charleroi , or the Battle of the Sambre , was fought on 21 August 1914, between French and German forces and was part of the Battle of the Frontiers. The French were planning an attack across the Sambre River, when the Germans launched an attack of their own...
he shocked his German opponents by the precision of his artillery fire, which was well directed due to close cooperation with aircraft. But even Estienne's competence could not save the French infantry from being destroyed by machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
fire. In order to protect soldiers in trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
, he imagined mobile personnel shield
Mobile personnel shield
A mobile personnel shield is a type of bulletproof shield equipped with wheels, which was especially tried during World War I, as a way to attempt solving the issues of trench warfare....
s to assist them.
Having long been an advocate of indirect fire
Indirect fire
Indirect fire means aiming and firing a projectile in a high trajectory without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire...
methods, Estienne now began to search for viable ways to provide close support with field gun
Field gun
A field gun is an artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances, as to opposed guns installed in a fort, or to siege cannon or mortars which...
s. On 23 August he made his famous statement Messieurs, la victoire appartiendra dans cette guerre à celui des deux belligérants qui parviendra le premier à placer un canon de 75 sur une voiture capable de se mouvoir en tout terrain ("Gentlemen, the victory in this war will belong to which of the two belligerents which will be the first to place a gun of 75 [mm] on a vehicle able to be driven on all terrain"). However, as suitable vehicles were lacking at the time, nothing more could be done.
In the summer of 1915 he learned that Eugène Brillié of the Schneider Company
Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric is a French global company. It was founded in 1836 by two brothers, Eugène and Adolphe Schneider.In the first part of the 20th century, Schneider et Cie associated itself with Westinghouse Systems, a major international electrical group at the time. The group began manufacturing...
and Jules-Louis Bréton (then a member of parliament) were developing a barbed wire-cutter on a tracked Holt-type chassis. He wrote several letters during the autumn of 1915 to Joseph Joffre
Joseph Joffre
Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre OM was a French general during World War I. He is most known for regrouping the retreating allied armies to defeat the Germans at the strategically decisive First Battle of the Marne in 1914. His popularity led to his nickname Papa Joffre.-Biography:Joffre was born in...
at GQG (the French GHQ) with his ideas about using such tracked vehicles. These letters never got further than Joffre's staff.
On 1 December 1915 Estienne wrote a personal letter to Joffre, in which he proposed that the French army undertake a similar project. In particular, he advocated the creation of a force of all-terrain armoured vehicles large enough to assist 20,000 infantrymen to break through the full depth of a German defensive position. Armed with light artillery, the vehicles would also serve to transport men, equipment and supplies across the 40 km or so that separated French assembly areas from the open terrain behind the German defensive positions.
Schneider CA1
The Schneider CA1 was the first French tank. It was inspired by the need to overcome the stalemate of the trench warfare of the Great War.-Caterpillar development:...
tank. He realized that unknown to him Schneider had been constructing an armoured tracked vehicle since May, and immediately understood that the existence of such a prototype, even though incomplete, might well prove a decisive argument for the creation of an armoured force. He was proven right on 20 December when an official plan was conceived to produce the Schneider CA. The same day he contacted Louis Renault
Louis Renault (industrialist)
Louis Renault was a French industrialist, one of the founders of Renault and a pioneer of the automobile industry....
to convince him to build tanks, but the industrialist refused. During a personal visit to Joffre on 18 January 1916 he convinced the supreme commander that the plan was sound.
Estienne himself was not at first personally involved in the development of the new tanks. He suggested some ideas that were duly taken notice of, but otherwise had no effect on the preparations for construction and production. Two of his personal enemies, Undersecretary Jean-Louis Bréton (who resented that Estienne had taken over his project) and Colonel Emile Rimailho (the co-inventor, with Deport and General St. Claire Deville, of the famous French 75 mm field gun
Canon de 75 modèle 1897
The French 75mm field gun was a quick-firing field artillery piece adopted in March 1898. Its official French designation was: Matériel de 75mm Mle 1897. It was commonly known as the French 75, simply the 75 and Soixante-Quinze .The French 75 is widely regarded as the first modern artillery piece...
), cooperated to build the ill-fated St Chamond
St Chamond (tank)
The Saint-Chamond was the second French heavy tank of the First World War.Overall an inadequate design born of commercial rivalry, the war ended before it was replaced by British heavy tanks.-Development:...
tank.
During a chance meeting on 16 July, Renault informed him that his company was developing a light tank (the Renault FT), but Estienne was not in a position to make any promises. In August he and Bréton traveled together to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where they tried to convince the British government to postpone the first use of tanks until the French tanks were ready. They were unsuccessful, but the British action had a beneficial side effect in that the first use of the British Mark I tanks on 15 September created a euphoria that accelerated developments and on 30 September Estienne was appointed Commander of the Artillerie Spéciale: the French army's tank arm. He was duly promoted on 17 October.
At the time there was a lack of personnel and materiel and Estienne spent many months creating the new force from scratch: first recruiting personnel, then constructing training grounds and waiting till 1 December for the first Schneider CA tank to be delivered so that training could begin in earnest. During these months he cooperated with Renault in developing the Renault FT, and tried to block efforts by General Mourret to mass-produce superheavy tanks (the later Char 2C
Char 2C
The Char 2C was a French super-heavy tank developed, although never deployed, during World War I. It was the largest operational tank ever.-Development:...
), which threatened to swallow the available production capacity.
On 16 April 1917 he was forced by the new supreme commander, Robert Nivelle
Robert Nivelle
Robert Georges Nivelle was a French artillery officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion, and the First World War. In May 1916, he was given command of the French Third Army in the Battle of Verdun, leading counter-offensives that rolled back the German forces in late 1916...
, to commit his armoured force prematurely near Berry-au-Bac
Berry-au-Bac
Berry-au-Bac is a commune in the department of Aisne in Picardy in northern France.-References:*...
, leading to a complete failure. The officer commanding the attack, Commandant Louis Bossut, was killed; a large monument there commemorates all French tank crewmen who died in World War I. This disaster nearly led to the abolition of the tank force; Estienne was only saved by the appointment of his friend Pétain as Commander-in-Chief.
Estienne now directed his mind to the creation of appropriate tactics for the use of tanks. He considered that the tanks most important role was to act as mobile artillery, capable of moving over the ravaged battlefields and breaking through enemy lines, without any "softening up" artillery support. Heavier tanks might be useful for this but a more efficient effort could be made by a "swarm" of lighter and faster vehicles. Estienne paid little attention to exploitation.
A large number of Renault FTs was finally made available in 1918. This allowed the French to counterattack effectively for the first time since 1914. The FT subsequently became the Char de la Victoire and the necessity for a strong tank force became firmly established.
Post war
Estienne submitted to Pétain a proposal in 1919 titled Study of the Missions of Tanks in the Field. This stressed the need for armoured, tracked support vehicles to carry infantry, artillery and recovery teams alongside the tanks, and also for the need for aircraft to conduct an in-depth bombardment of the enemy. This was somewhat advanced for the time, and presaged Tukhachevsky's ideas of the 1930s.After the war Estienne held command of French tank forces until 1927, first as Artillerie Spéciale, then as commander of the Chars when in 1920 all tanks were made part of the Infantry by law. At a conference in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
in 1921 he called for a 100,000 man force equipped with 4,000 tanks and 8,000 transport vehicles that could break an enemy's front and advance 80 km in a single night. However, the military establishment in France believed in rigid infantry-oriented warfare and his appeal went unheeded.
Although politician Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. He was the penultimate Prime Minister of the Third Republic and vice-president of the Democratic Republican Alliance center-right...
supported progressive ideas like those of Estienne and called for a mobile army that could take the offensive as early as 1924, he represented a minority position in the French parliament. French military doctrine still relegated tanks to the role of supporting the infantry, a situation that did not change until Weygand took command. Indeed, Estienne criticized the idea of tanks supporting infantry until his death in 1936. Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
was an enthusiastic pupil of Estienne's and was the only French tank advocate to demonstrate the potential of armoured forces to act as a counter to German developments in the field.
Legacy
Estienne is revered in France as the "Father of the Tanks", even having a street in Paris named after him. Several military stations and posts have also borne his name and the largest tank museum in the world, the Musée des BlindésMusée des Blindés
The Musée des Blindés or Musée Général Estienne is a tank museum located in the Loire Valley of France, in the city of Saumur. It is one of the world's largest tank museums....
in Saumur
Saumur
Saumur is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc...
, is called "Musée Général Estienne".