Philippe Pétain wore this kepi during World War I while holding the rank of Division General and serving as commander of Army Group Centre from May 1916 to the spring of 1917. The kepi is the standard Division General's pattern with two rows of oak leaf embroidery on the cap band. His corps commander and higher status is distinguished by the silver horizontal braid between the cap band and turban. The interior contains a label dated June 1916, which places it during the Battle of Verdun. Pétain went on to become Commander-in-Chief of the French Army in May 1917, a Marshal of France in November 1918, and later served as Head of State during the Vichy Regime from 1940-1944.

Marshall Henri Philippe Pétain (1856-1951)

Henri Philippe Pétain was born April 24, 1856. He was the son of a farmer and made the decision early in life to join the military. There he received an officer’s commission and attended several prestigious military academies. Although considered a capable officer Pétain frequently butted heads with the French military establishments for his unorthodox rejection of French infantry theory. Pétain believed, contrary to French thinking at the time, that emphasis should be placed on artillery as an offensive weapon rather than infantry. Although Pétain would later be proven correct in the opening salvos of WWI (1914-1918), he was marginalized during his early career.¹

By August of 1914 Pétain was merely a regimental colonel, but his success at the First Battle of the Marne earned him a quick promotion to divisional command. He continued to command the French line south of the Verdun fortress through July of 1915. In February of 1916 the German army staged a massive assault on the Fortress of Verdun. Pétain was dispatched to Verdun and ordered to hold the site at all cost. Pétain’s response to the order “ils ne passeront pas,” or “they shall not pass,” became a rallying cry for the French people and made Pétain a national hero. During the battle German attackers were subjected to Pétain’s skillful and devastating use of artillery and the French held the fortress.² Still losses on both sides were staggering. The French lost 550,000 casualties and the Germans 434,000.³

Pétain’s “success” at Verdun lasted only a short while. His emphasis on defensive withdrawal continued to make him unpopular with a military command fixated on infantry assaults and reclaiming French territory in the hands of the Germans. French Commander-in-Chief General Joseph Joffre was removed from command and he was replaced by the more offensive minded General Robert Nivelle. Nivelle’s offensive doctrine proved a complete disaster and for much of the spring of 1917, the French Army was on the verge of open mutiny. Nivelle was removed and Pétain became Commander-in- Chief.⁴

As C-in-C, Petain rebuilt the fledgling French Army by settling into defensive positions. He also improved conditions for soldiers at the front and was able to stay the mutiny. Unfortunately his defensive instructions were poorly followed and when the German’s staged their 1918 Spring Offensive Pétain’s lines quickly fell apart, jeopardizing the entire war effort. Petain was supplanted in command by General Ferdinand Foch, who was named Supreme Allied Commander and took over much of the planning for the Autumn Offensive of French, British, and American troops that eventually broke the will of the Imperial German Army.⁵

After the November 11, 1918 Armistice Pétain remained a national hero and was given the supreme honor of being named a Marshall of France. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he served in a number of military and governmental posts, including war minister in 1934 and Ambassador to Spain in 1936.⁶ As war with Germany loomed Pétain was included in the French war council, and after the German invasion of Belgium, French Premier Paul Reynard made Pétain a member of his cabinet. Unfortunately for Reynard, Petain had developed a liking for the Fascist Doctrines of Nazism. Pétain admired the militarism, conservative doctrines, and national unity that came with Fascism. During his time in the cabinet his sentiment was often defeatist and when the Germans broke through for Paris in May of 1940 Petain pressured Reynard into accepting a negotiated settlement with Hitler. When Reynard pushed for fleeing to North Africa and continuing the fight against Germany, Petain and other members of the cabinet forced his resignation. Petain replaced Reynard as the de facto war leader of France and sought surrender terms with Germany.⁷

France officially surrendered to the Germans on June 22, 1940 at an armistice ceremony in Compeigne, the very site where Marshal Ferdinand Foch accepted the German surrender in 1918. France was subjected to severe terms including the forced imprisonment of a million French troops and the surrender of Alsace-Lorraine. The country was split into a Northern Zone occupied by German troops and a Southern puppet state. Pétain became the dictator of the puppet regime known as Vichy, for the resort town where Petain set up the Fascist government. Vichy was permitted to govern southern France and French colonies so long as they made serious attempts to throw off any British or American invasion. Pétain and the men who joined him in controlling Vichy were collaborationists and Fascist sympathizers who believed that France could be remade along the Nazi model. Some wanted to join the Nazis and attack the British, but Pétain instead chose to wait out the war assuming Germany would win, the war would end, and his Fascist regime could carry France into the future.⁸

Pétain and his fellow collaborator’s dreams were not to be. In November of 1942 American and British troops invaded French North Africa. French soldiers initially resisted before being completely overwhelmed by the superior Allied force. In retaliation for the French surrender of North Africa, Hitler invaded Vichy and ended the puppet state, but Pétain remained a figurehead. The Germans officially arrested Pétain in 1944 as Allied troops poured in Northern France.⁹

After the war Marshal Pétain turned himself in to the Free French Forces of General Charles de Gualle. Pétain was tried for war crimes and treason and sentenced to death. General Charle de Gualle commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. He died in prison on July 23, 1951.¹⁰

Country: France	War Period: World War I
Garment Type: Kepi	Year Made:
Identification: FRK-157-0711