Joseph Simon Gallieni Birth - Apr. 24 1849 Death - May 27, 1916 French General and Colonial Administrator. After serving in the Franco-Prussian War, Gallieni spent most of the rest of his career in the French colonies of Martinique, French Sudan, Tonkin and Madagascar, earning the nickname “le Pacificateur.” Seniority and experience would have given him command of the French armies before the outbreak or World War I, but age and ill-health caused him to defer to his one-time protege, Joseph Joffre. Gallieni was given command of the garrison of Paris. In the first weeks of the war, the Germans pushed the Allied Armies back almost to the gates of Paris. When, at the last moment, the German First Army began turning south and east instead of continuing westward to encircle Paris, Gallieni alerted Joffre to the possibilities of hitting the German First Army in the flank as they passed in front of Paris. However, there wasn’t enough military transport to move the garrison troops to the front. Gallieni solved the problem by drafting over 400 Parisian taxicabs and their drivers to ferry 4000 troops of the 103rd and 104th Infantry Regiments to reinforce the French 6th Army near Nanteuil-le-Houdouin. The resulting victory of the Allied Armies in the First Battle of the Marne was a turning point in the war. Gallieni was appointed Minister of War in 1915, resigning shortly before his death in 1916. He was promoted to the rank of Marshal of France posthumously in 1921. Burial - Cimetière Jean Moulin Saint-Raphaël, France http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8883552 http://ww1talk.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=886
