Philippe Pétain

Philippe Pétain was a French army officer who became a national hero during the First World War, especially for his role in the defence of Verdun in 1916. He later served as commander in chief of the French Army and held senior political offices between the wars.

After France’s defeat in 1940 Pétain became head of the authoritarian Vichy regime, which collaborated with Nazi Germany and participated in persecution and deportation. Tried for treason after liberation, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because of his age and earlier service.

Jeff Shaara’s To the Last Man places Philippe Pétain among the senior French commanders trying to sustain an exhausted army in the final phase of the First World War. His authority belongs to the French response to the crisis of 1917 and to the Allied effort to hold the Western Front until American manpower could enter the fighting in decisive strength.