Louis Dartige du Fournet | |
|---|---|
 Dartige du Fournet in 1910 | |
| Birth name | Louis René Charles Marie Dartige du Fournet |
| Born | (1856-03-02)2 March 1856 Putanges-Pont-Écrepin, France |
| Died | 16 February 1940(1940-02-16) (aged 83) Périgueux, France |
| Buried | Saint-Chamassy, France |
| Allegiance | France |
| Service | French Navy |
| Years of service | 1872–1917 |
| Rank |  Vice-amiral(Vice Admiral) |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | |
Louis René Charles Marie Dartige du Fournet (Putanges-Pont-Écrepin, 2 March 1856 –Périgueux, 16 February 1940) was a Frenchvice admiral duringWorld War I.
The Dartige du Fournet family is a surviving family of the old Frenchbourgeoisie, originally fromFelletin, in what is now theCreusedepartment of France.[1] The progenitor of the family was François Dartige (1600–1674),bourgeois andpostmaster at Felletin. It was in the 19th century that the Dartige family took up the name "du Fournet," the surname of a family of former nobility, now extinct, some of whose members were close toBertrand du Guesclin. The Dartige du Fournet family still owns the Château du Fournet, inSaint-Judoce, France.
Louis Dartige du Fournet was born Louis Dartige inPutanges-Pont-Écrepin, France, on 2 March 1856,[2] but his father, Louis Auguste Dartige (receiver of registration and domains), was authorized by presidential decree in 1877 to add "du Fournet" to the family name, reviving the name borne by one of his maternal ancestors and recalling the Château du Fournet in Saint-Judoce, inCôtes-du-Nord (nowCôtes-d'Armor), where his father lived. (The chateau still houses a portrait of Louis Dartige du Fournet). His mother was Sidonie Olympe Mourin d'Arfeuille. He married Marie Vauquelin de la Rivière, then Edmée de la Borie de la Batut.
Dartige du Fournet entered theEcole Navale (the Frenchnaval academy) on 5 October 1872, coming aboard the school shipBorda, which housed the academy, atBrest, France. He graduated as his class'svaledictorian. He became amidshipman 2nd class on 1 August 1874, and soon was promoted to midshipman first class. He embarked on thecentral battery ironcladRichelieu on 5 October 1875[2] and served in theEscadre d'évolution ("EvolutionSquadron") in 1876.[2] In 1877, he was assigned to thefrigateIsis for amilitary campaign in West Africa.[2]
Dartige du Fournet was promoted toenseigne de vaisseau (ensign) on 20 June 1878,[2] after which he served aboard the 30-gunbrigBeaumanoir on theIceland Station.[2] As of 1 January 1879, he was in residence at Brest.[2]
In 1881, Dartige du Fournet served aboard thesloop-of-warParseval in theCochinchina NavalDivision.[2] He received a promotion tolieutenant on 27 January 1883.[2] As of 1 January 1885, he was aboard theunprotected cruiserVillars in the Far East Squadron.[2] He became a Knight of theLegion of Honour on 28 December 1885.[2]
As of 1 January 1886, Dartige du Fournet was executive officer of theavisoBouvet in the North Atlantic Naval Division.[2] In 1889, he served in the Department of Underwater Defenses of the 5th Maritime District inToulon, France.[2] He becameorderly officer for the Frenchminister of the navy in January 1891.[2]
In 1893, Dartige du Fournet becamecommanding officer of thegunboatComète.[2] On 13 July 1893, in thePaknam Incident during theFranco-Siamese conflict, Dartige du Fournet, under the orders ofCapitaine de frégate (Frigate captain) Bory, commanding theavisoL'Inconstant, forced the pass offPaknam onSiam'sChao Phraya River aboardComète to clear the port ofBangkok. Dartige du Fournet distinguished himself in the battle,[2] which contributed to Siam conceding theMekong River′s left bank (nowLaos) to France.[3]
Promoted tocapitaine de frégate (frigate captain) on 18 September 1893,[2] Dartige du Fournet served as executive officer of a new school shipBorda, which housed theEcole Navale, at Brest from 1894 to 1895.[2] He was executive officer of thearmored cruiserPothuau in 1897.[2] Promoted tocommander in 1897, he became an Officer of the Legion of Honour on 31 August 1897,[2] thePresident of France,Félix Faure, presenting him with the award atDunkirk, France. On 1 January 1899, he was commanding officer of theprotected cruiserSurcouf of the NorthernSquadron.[2]
On 1 January 1901, Dartige du Fournet was the commanding officer of the protected cruiserD'Entrecasteaux, at first in specialreserve at Toulon and later in the Far East Naval Division, whereD'Entrecasteaux took part in operations along the coast of China.[2] He was promoted tocaptain on 18 April 1901.[2] By 1 January 1903, he was in residence atCherbourg, France,[2] and on 1 January 1904 he was serving as chief of staff toVice admiralCarles Bayle, commander-in-chief of the Far East Squadron,aboard Bayle'sflagship, the armored cruiserMontcalm.[2] By 1 January 1906 he was at Toulon,[2] and on 1 June 1908 he was serving as deputy chief of staff of the 5th Maritime District at Toulon.[2]
Dartige du Fournet was promoted torear admiral on 9 September 1909.[2] He became major general of the 4th Maritime District at theRochefort Arsenal inRochefort, France, on 16 April 1910.[2] In April 1911, he took command of a division of the 1st Squadron, flying his flag first on the armored cruiserJules Ferry and later on the arrmored cruiserLéon Gambetta.[2] During theFirst Balkan War (1912–1913), he commanded the FrenchMediterranean Fleet and carried out a campaign in theEastern Mediterranean.[2] He became a Commander of the Legion of Honour on 10 July 1913[2] and received a promotion to vice admiral on 28 November 1913.[2] He then served asmaritime prefect ofAlgeria andTunisia until August 1914.[2]
France enteredWorld War I in August 1914, and Dartige du Fournet became commander of the newly created French 3rd Squadron in February 1915, with thebattleshipSaint Louis as his flagship.[2] Based inSyria or atPort Said in Egypt (according to different sources), the squadron became responsible for enforcing theblockade of theOttoman Empire decreed in August 1915.[4]
Dartige du Fournet took command of theAlliedDardanelles Squadron in September 1915[2][5] with the battleshipFrance as his flagship.[2] He instigated the development of the French insular strategy in theEastern Mediterranean, in which, as part of the fight against the Ottoman Empire, the French Navy took possession of the islands ofRouad in September 1915 andKastellorizo in December 1915.[6] It set up particularly active intelligence centers there which operated throughout the war.
On 5 September 1915,Armenians entrenched onMusa Dagh[4] ("MountMoses") to resist theArmenian genocide undertaken by theOttoman Turks used a whitebed sheet marked with a red cross to attract the attention of the Frenchprotected cruiserGuichen, which was operating north of theBay of Antioch under the command of CaptainJean-Joseph Brisson. After Brisson brought the Armenians' desperate situation to his attention, Dartige du Fournet sought instructions from the Frenchgeneral staff. Receiving no clear answer, he took upon himself the responsibility for evacuating the Armenians, 4,080 of whom embarked onGuichen, the armored cruisersAmiral Charner andDesaix, the protected cruiserD'Estrées, and theseaplane carrierFoudre[7] on 12 and 13 September 1915. The ships transported them to Port Saïd. Dartige du Fournet continues to be regarded as a hero by Armenians for his actions in September 1915.
On 10 October 1915, Dartige du Fournet replaced Vide AdmiralAugustin Boué de Lapeyrère as Allied commander in the Mediterranean Sea. He became a Grand officer of the Legion of Honour on 8 January 1916.[2] He directed theevacuation of theSerbian Army[2] fromAlbania, which was completed in February 1916. He received theCroix de Guerre with palms,[2] the citation reading, that he had "demonstrated the finest military qualities, both in the exercise of his current command and in those of the Algerian-Tunisian district and the 'Syrian Squadron.'"[2]
After an Allied force had landed atSalonica in neutralGreece in September 1915 both to defend Salonica and support the hard-pressed Serbian Army in its struggle to defendSerbia against aCentral Powers offensive, theNational Schism developed in Greece between pro-Allied Prime MinisterEleftherios Venizelos and the pro-Central PowersKingConstantine I.[8] In the autumn of 1916, Venizelos and his supporters created a separate Greek government at Salonica, and the French then led Allied efforts to pressure Constantine I into a more pro-Allied stance.[8] Although he disliked interfering in the affairs of aneutral country, Dartige du Fournet aboard hisflagship, thebattleshipProvence, led a French navalsquadron into theBay of Salamis which seized and disarmed theRoyal Hellenic Navy fleet[8] on 11 October 1916. In late November 1916, the French demanded that the Greek royalist army provide arms and ammunition for pro-Allied Greek volunteers fighting on the Salonica front and, after the Greek government failed to comply, Dartige du Fournet steamed a French naval force into the harbor atPiraeus, Greece, on 1 December 1916 (18 November according to theJulian calendar then used in Greece) and went ashore with a landing party of French sailors in a show of force he believed would intimidate the Greek government into meeting the French demands, beginning what is known as theNoemvriana ("November Events") or "Greek Vespers."[8] After Dartige du Fournet and his landing party reachedAthens, the Greeks still refused to turn over any arms or ammunition and, to the surprise of the French, a battle broke out in which Dartige du Fournet and his party were cut off from the harbor.[8]Torpedo boats and the French battleshipMirabeau shelled Athens to enable the French ashore to disengage.[8] Dartige du Fournet finally negotiated aceasefire after 70 French sailors were killed, and the vastly outnumbered French retreated to Piraeus and withdrew by sea on 3 December 1916.[8]
AdmiralLucien Lacaze, the FrenchMinister of the Navy, criticized Dartige du Fournet for refusing to bombard Athens more vigorously and accused him of weakness and recklessness.[2] Lacaze relieved him of command on 11 December 1916[2] and replaced him with AdmiralDominique-Marie Gauchet on 12 December 1916.[9][10] Dartige du Fournet transferred to the naval reserve in February 1917.[2]
Dartige du Fournet sought to reintegrate into the French Navy during the last months of World War I.[11] He was rehabilitated by the end of the war, but married and retired in 1918 to hisvilla, Paknam, inPérigueux, France.
Dartige du Fournet died on 16 February 1940 at Périgueux. He is buried inSaint-Chamassy in Dordogne, France.[12]
Knight of theLegion of Honour, 28 December 1885
Officer of the Legion of Honour, 31 August 1897
Commander of the Legion of Honour, 10 July 1913
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, 8 January 1916
Croix de guerre 1914–1918 with palmsThe French actorJean Reno portrayed Dartige du Fournet in the American 2016 filmThe Promise.[citation needed]
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