Émile Fayolle

Marie Émile Fayolle (14 May 1852 – 27 August 1928) was a French general during World War I and a diplomat, elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France.

Marie Émile Fayolle was born on 14 May 1852, in Puy-en-Velay, at 9 rue du Chenebouterie, a road renamed in 1961 "rue du Maréchal-Fayolle". He is the first of six children born from the marriage of Jean Pierre Auguste Fayolle, lacemaker in Le Puy, and his wife Marie Rosine Badiou.

He married in 1883 to Marie Louise Augustine Collangettes, in Clermont-Ferrand, and had two children. He is the grandfather of the pilot Émile Fayolle and the great-grandfather of Anne Pingeotb, mother of Mazarine Pingeot.

Fayolle studied at the École polytechnique from 1873, where he graduated with the class of 1875 and was commissioned into the artillery.

During his career he served in the artillery. He participated in the Pacification of Tunisia in 1881. Promoted to Captain he entered the École de Guerre in 1889 and graduated with distinction in 1891. From 1897 to 1908 he taught artillery at the École supérieure de Guerre. Fayolle was promoted to Brigadier General on 31 December 1910, taking command of the artillery of the 12th Army Corps. Two years later he took command of the 19th Artillery Brigade. He retired on 14 May 1914.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Fayolle was recalled from retirement by the French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre and given command of the 70th Infantry Division. Fayolle took part in the fighting near Nancy, notably the Battle of Grand Couronné, which helped make possible the French victory at the First Battle of the Marne. Later, Philippe Pétain took command of the Corps in which Fayolle was serving, and the two commanders became close.

In May 1915, Fayolle succeeded Pétain in command of the 33rd Corps. In this command he participated in the Artois Offensive.

In 1916, Fayolle was given command of the Sixth Army, which he commanded at the Battle of the Somme, under the command of Ferdinand Foch's Northern Army Group. In preparation for the Somme offensive, the French Sixth Army under Fayolle would attack with 8 divisions, a force reduced from the original 40 divisions because of the French needs at Verdun. During the offensive, Fayolle is credited with successfully using a combination of artillery resources and infantry tactics to push the less well-defended Germans back across an 8-mile (12.87 km) long segment of his front. In August, as the Battle of the Somme continued, General Foch, commander of French forces on the Somme, visited British General Haig at Val Vion. Foch appointed Fayolle, one of the most successful army commanders of July, to fight alongside the British forces between their right flank and the north bank of the River Somme. During the British and French Somme offensive from 1 August to 12 September, Fayolle decided without consulting the high command that his troops were too exhausted to launch a major offensive. He then reduced his command's participation in the battle to 1 division. The British had lost significant French support on their right during the offensive. In October, French forces led by Fayolle advanced almost to Sailly Saillisol by successfully using the artillery-barrage system.