Joseph Brugère

Joseph Brugère
Born	27 June 1841 Uzerche
Died	31 August 1918 Lautaret
Allegiance	Second French Empire (1869) French Third Republic
Service / branch	French Army
Years of service	1859–1906 1914–1918
Rank	Divisional general
Commands	2nd Army Corps
Battles / wars	Franco-Prussian War World War I
Awards	Grand cross of the Légion d'honneur

Henri Joseph Brugère (Uzerche, 27 June 1841 - Lautaret, 31 August 1918) was a French divisional general.

Career

On 4 October 1914, German attacks by the II Cavalry Corps (General Georg von der Marwitz) and the XIV Reserve Corps drove the group of the 81st, 82nd, 84th and 88th Territorial divisions (General Joseph Brugère) back from Hébuterne, Gommecourt and Monchy au Bois to the north. The village was captured by the 1st Guard Division on the night of 5/6 October and held against French counter-attacks, which were stopped 50 yards (46 m) short of Gommecourt, where the front settled until March 1917. The French XI Corps attacked at Beaumont Hamel on 19 November but failed to capture the village, after being held up by uncut wire. A diversion was conducted by XI Corps from 7–13 June 1915 at Toutvent Farm, 2 miles (3.2 km) to the north, during the Second Battle of Artois. On a 2,000-yard (1,800 m) stretch of the German front line, an area 1,000 yards (910 m) deep was captured and held against German counter-attacks, at a cost of 10,351 casualties. The area around Gommecourt was taken over by the British in July 1915.

References

• Edmonds, J. E. (1925). Military Operations, France and Belgium: Mons, the Retreat to the Seine, the Marne and the Aisne, August – October 1914. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. OCLC 604621263.
• Edmonds, J. E. (1993) [1932]. Military Operations France and Belgium, 1916: Sir Douglas Haig's Command to the 1st July: Battle of the Somme. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. I (Imperial War Museum & Battery Press ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-89839-185-7.
• Whitehead, R. J. (2013). The Other Side of the Wire: The Battle of the Somme. With the German XIV Reserve Corps, 1 July 1916. Vol. II. Solihull: Helion. ISBN 978-1-907677-12-0.