Alphonse Juin

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Alphonse Pierre Juin (December 16, 1888-January 27, 1967) was a Marshal of France.

Juin was born at Annaba in Algeria, and enlisted in the French Army, graduating from the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1912. In 1914 he was in Morocco, in command of native troops there. Upon the outbreak of World War I, he was sent to the Western Front in France where he was gravely wounded in 1915. As a result of this wound, he lost the use of his right arm.

In 1938, Juin was nominated to command a brigade. By the outbreak of World War II, he was in command of a division, the 15th Motorised Division. The division was encircled at Lille during the Battle of France and Juin was captured. Until 1941 he was kept as a prisoner of war in German hands. However during that year he was released at the behest of the Vichy Government and was assigned by them to command French forces in north Africa. After the invasion of Algeria and Morocco by British and American forces in November 1942, Juin changed sides. This was reflected during the Italian campaign when he commanded the French Expeditionary Corps in the US Fifth Army. The Corps' expertise in mountain warfare was well used and was one of the crucial factors in the breaking of the Winter Line in May 1944. After the battle the F.E.C. committed war crimes against the civilian population (see marocchinate), the countryside beyond Cassino was plundered, a large and violent mass rape was committed, hundreds of civilians were murdered. General Juin has been accused to have allowed the crimes, giving a 'permission' of 50 hours to his colonial troops.

Following this assignment he was Chief of Staff of the French forces.

In 1947 he returned to Africa as the Resident General in Morocco. He opposed Moroccan attempts to gain independence. Next came a senior NATO position as he assumed command of CENTAG until 1956. During his NATO command, in 1952, he was promoted to Marshal of France. He was greatly opposed to Charles de Gaulle's decision to grant independence to Algeria, and he retired in 1962 as a result of the incident. (de Gaulle may have demanded Juin's resignation, but publicly announced that he was placing Juin "in the reserve of the Republic.")

He was the French Army's last living Marshal of France until his death in Paris in 1967, he was buried Les Invalides, Paris.