Colonel Péchot, a melancholy centenary

One hundred years ago this month, Prosper Péchot retired. This was for the second and last time he returned to his civilian home in Paris.

1917 is full of melancholy anniversaries – Passchendaele, the Chemin des Dames, Caporetto, Russia. Why should the retirement of a French artillery Colonel matter?

We believe that although his youth was behind him and he served for only part of the War, he was a significant figure in a hugely important war. Without the ideas that he had promoted back in 1882, the ‘industrial’ scale of warfare 1914-18 was not possible.

Prosper Péchot in 1907 with his Légion d'Honneur. Photo courtesy Raymond Péchot

While still a junior officer in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1, he realised that a modern army needed vastly updated transport. The Prussian breech-loading gun, with a range of up to 2.5 kilometres and its percussion-cap shells, was generally considered a war-winner. In fact, it was only as good as the supply of such ammunition. Getting guns within range of the enemy meant that they were usually at a distance from railways and canals. Transporting ammunition by road was a problem. In the days before metalled roads and tracked vehicles, those last few kilometres were a real headache.

The Prussian gun 1870-1, manufactured by Krupps of Essen. This took 4 kilogram shells and could fire at the rate of two per minute. It was superior to the equivalent French 4 kg gun because it had a longer range and a percussion cap rather than a fuse. Firing at the rate of twice a minute, it required 480 kg of ammunition a hour! Photo courtesy Hachette/SM Wright

At Staff College, Péchot had come up with his system of 60cm portable track and special rolling stock. These could be rapidly laid and take large volumes of freight. Between 1882 and 1888, he fought hard, at the expense of his career, to have it accepted. It was, to be known as artillerie 88. For the next 26 years, there was little further investment. In 1910, Colonel Péchot was retired.

Before 1888, the Germans had been flirting with other gauges. In that year, they suddenly adopted 60cm gauge portable track and very similar rolling stock. In fact, by constant practice and training, they improved their feldbahn system. Portable track, for example, was only used in initial stages. They produced the splendid 0-8-0 D-Lok. In 1914, these were more modern and more numerous by far than the French artillerie 88 locomotives.

D-lok Built in thousands. In 1914, the French had a maximum of 60 ageing locomotives for their equivalent system. Photo courtesy MD Wright - taken at Apedale Staffs.

In August and September 1914, the German invaders streaked through northern France. Paris itself was under threat. In the general mobilisation, Prosper Péchot was recalled. General Gallieni had been impressed by his work - in 1896, he had designed a 60cm railway for Madagascar. Though never built, Gallieni remembered the earnest artillery officer and invited him to help modernise the defences of Paris, the camp retranché. Forts and guns were all very well, but the defenders needed supplies in vast quantities. The Péchot system could help.

In fact, by October/November, the German army was withdrawing. Both sides dug in and the Western Front was formed, stretching from Belgium, through northern France as far as Switzerland. Millions of soldiers, entrenched at an average of ten kilometres from the nearest railway station, needed supply. The Germans started the War with a large Feldbahn system. The Allies had to create their own.

Hundreds pf steam locomotives were ordered, but under trench conditions, internal combustion engines were safer. The Baldwin works of Philadelphia produced 600 of these 50hp locotractors for front-line duty. A smaller 35hp version was also produced for the AEF. Photo taken at the museum at Froissy, courtesy Jim Hawkesworth.

Orders were placed for more equipment but there was a need for trained staff. A school was requested on 15^th December 1914 and formed early in the new year. Prosper Péchot was to be its director, the school being at Jouy en Josas, south-west of Paris. In fact, by January, two were actually started, one specialising in construction of 60cm railways, the other in how to run them. The construction school was to be directed by acting-major Marcel Prévost, the other by Péchot. Unfortunately, though they had staff and students of several hundred, there was no equipment!

Somehow Péchot got the blame and as early as February 1915, his place was taken by his second-in-commend Lt Col Tricon. The new school of railway management opened in March 1915 at Boissy St Léger south-east of Paris but gradually extended towards Sucy.

Ever eager to justify themselves, Péchot’s seniors – especially General Miquel-Dalton claimed that he did not appreciate the big picture. ‘He did not understand that above all else, he should be satisfying the needs of the army. He followed routines as if it were peacetime.’

Were such comments justified? No; in quick succession, Prévost, the director of the school at Jouy en Josas was fired and then Péchot's successor, Tricon.  Tricon was described as ‘good with reinforced concrete and nothing else’, Prévost as a ‘brilliant writer and academic but…’ (Source Alain Meignier 'Vie et oevre du Colonel Péchot' Do Bentzinger Colmar 2007) Prosper Péchot was reemployed as a Technical adviser – the others, so far as we know, were put to different duties. A cynic would note that as material and rolling stock were gradually supplied by manufacturers, so the service life of the staff at the Schools increased.

In June 1915, Péchot set about re-editing the old cahiers – instruction books – which he had written more than 20 years previously. By July 1916, he was completely rewriting the vital section on tracklaying. To take the traffic required by a modern army, some ballast was required, especially when staff cars and lorries developed the tiresome habit of using the track. He checked this with careful experiments.

The voie sacrée, the road link to Verdun 1916/17. There seem to be as many road-menders as troops. Parallel to the road ran a metre gauge railway, carrying at least half of all supplies. Photo courtesy MD Wright

To carry freight by road, an army of workers was in constant employment, plus a quarter of all the tonnage the lorries carried. To ballast railway track, one cubic metre of gravel was required per five metres, plus occasional maintenance.

Most tellingly, it was Prosper Péchot that the politicians consulted. Abel Ferry, a député (member of the French parliament) recognised his unique skill and took him on his tours of inspection. The French Senate (upper house) asked his advice. He reported to them on December 15^th 1916. In 1919, Marshal Franchet d’Esperey, hero of the Bulgarian campaign, sent Péchot a special letter of thanks.

But Péchot had already returned to civilian life. He was informed that he had reached the definitive age of retirement on 4^th February 1917 a couple of days before his 68^th birthday.

The Péchot System at work in 1890, transporting 32 tonnes of gun across a field. Prosper Péchot is just to the ;eft of the gun barrel. Photo courtesy Raymond Péchot