Alphonse Joseph Georges

He was also chief of staff under Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain in French Morocco during the 1920–1926 Rif War and as a division commander in Algeria (1928–1932).

Based in Paris, he witnessed the assassination of French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou and King Alexander I of Yugoslavia in Marseilles on 9 October 1934.

Seriously wounded, Georges had a long recovery but was expected to succeed General Maxime Weygand as head of the French Army in 1935.

Gamelin and Georges assured Daladier that France had the greatest army in the world and were shocked when the Allied front was broken through at Sedan by the Wehrmacht[citation needed].

Winston Churchill wanted Georges to become commander of French forces in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia after the invasion of North Africa in November 1942.

General Georges, left, with General Lord Gort at Arras circa 1940
General Alphonse Joseph Georges of the French Army, accompanied by General Lord Gort , Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), inspecting men of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers , British 5th Division , at Bethune , France, 23 April 1940.