World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseCharles Huntziger was born in Lesneven, Finistère, France. He graduated from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in Brittany, France in 1900 and then joined the colonial infantry. During WW1, he served in the Middle East; he served as the chief of staff of operations of the Allied Expeditionary Force and had a role in the planning of the victorious offensive that led to the Armistice of Mudros of Oct 1918. In 1933, he was named the commander-in-chief of troops in the French Mandates of Syria and Lebanon, where he was to hold certain political powers as well. In 1938, he joined the Superior Council of War. When the European War broke out in 1939, he was assigned command of first the French 2nd Army and then the French 4th Army Group. During the German invasion of France in 1940, he held field command of the 2nd Army; stationed in the Ardennes, his troops failed to hold the line when the German tanks attacked unexpectedly near Sedan. After the French defeat, he was placed in charge of the armistice negotiations with the Axis powers by Marshal Philippe Pétain; he signed the French surrender instrument at Compiègne, France with the Germans on 22 Jun 1940 and then near Rome, Italy on 24 Jun with the Italians. He later served as the Secretary of State for War and then the commander-in-chief of the land forces in the Vichy-French government. On 3 Oct 1940, he signed the anti-Semitic Statute on Jews, which excluded Jews from positions in the army, the press, commerce, industry, and government. Huntziger passed away near Le Vigan, Gard in southern France as the result of an air accident while returning from an inspection.

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