General Estienne

[David]

“Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne was born at Condé en Barrois (Lorraine) on November 7, 1860. Owing to the trend of events during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 his school, the Lycée of Bar le Due, was forced to shut, and it was whilst enjoying an enforced holiday at the age of ten years at Condé with his parents that his idea of embracing a military career was born. He was one day an interested spectator of the passage of a column of Prussian artillery through the paved streets of his native town, and was lost in youthful admiration of this display of military power. He hastened back to tell his parents of his decision one day to enter as a conqueror into a town with his guns clattering behind him.

From this hour he became wedded to an artilleryman's life, and in due course passed in and out of the famous École Polytechnique, where his mathematical ability enjoyed full scope. In due course, too, he passed through the artillery school of Fontainebleau, and in 1884 entered the garrison town of Vannes as a Second Lieutenant.

Promoted Captain in 1891, he completed his studies in the use of the collimateur (an aiming instrument) and became the apostle of the use of indirect fire for field artillery, which he eventually succeeded in introducing in the French Army. In 1909 he was summoned to Vincennes with a view to determining if any use could be made of aeroplanes in conjunction with field artillery, and succeeded in establishing a part for F.A. aircraft service. This, however, was transferred to the R.E., and Lieut.-Colonel Estienne consequently asked to be returned to regimental duty.

In 1913 he was again summoned to Vincennes to continue his research, and was here at the outbreak of war, when he obtained command of the 22nd Regiment of Artillery. This he commanded in Belgium and throughout the retreat from Charleroi to the Seine. He had with him his two experimental aeroplanes, which rendered invaluable service during the Battle of the Marne, where he served under General Petain.
It was during the retreat that Colonel Estienne first spoke to members of his Staff of the future which would attend a machine capable of crossing ploughed fields and trenches, transporting arms and men. With this thought in his mind he was wont to invite his casual visitors and members of his Staff to assume all manner of peculiar attitudes under tables, etc., with a view to determining how many human beings could conveniently be crammed in a certain cubic area. His last command before being selected to father the future Chars d'Assautwas at Verdun, when he did not hesitate to employ a barrage of his heavy guns to break up a threatening German attack.

As a man he appears to enjoy perpetual youth. He is short of stature, with no neck and a large round head. His hair is white, plentiful and worn en brosse, and he appears to be clean-shaven, so short is his clipped white moustache.

Two things strike one immediately, the charm of his perennial smile and the quick brilliance of his brown eyes. As a raconteur he is inimitable, whilst as a lecturer his marvellous power of expression, his command of vocabulary and his convincing use of simile make it possible for him to communicate to his less erudite audiences a certain measure of his vast knowledge. This is by no means confined to military subjects, and his power of quotation from the classics is marked, whilst he has at least once published a lengthy poem in a volume dealing with the mathematics of gunnery.

As an ardent philologist he bristles all over at the sound of the word ‘Tancque’ from French lips, and opens a violent crusade against the use of foreign words as a substitute for good French equivalents. His voice is loud and resonant and his speech accom­panied by frequent gestures, his favourite being the placing of his left hand flat upon his chest as if he implies that his utterances emanate from his heart. He possesses many characteristic attitudes, and when in conversation is often to be seen tossing his kepi from one side of his head to the other. In fact, it is scarcely ever to be seen except jauntily tilted over one ear.

His admiration for the cavalryman at the head of a triumphal entry into a town is reduced to nothingness by his conviction that he is useless in modern war. He would prefer to see a victorious General enter a town on foot, escorted by a section of Chars d'Assaut, as being more typical of the present-day battlefield. He is himself a great walker, and may frequently be seen alone, wearing, as is his wont, a pair of pale blue spats or gaiters, a relic of the Empire uniform, and in summer no socks. This latter habit was recommended to him by a friend, and its adoption by him is typical of the man in that he is always prepared to give careful thought and personal trial to any scheme laid before him.

To this quality, added to his immense personal charm and vast experience, is due his undoubted right to rank amongst the big men of this war, a successful issue to which has ever been the dream of his life.”