Weygand, << `vay` GAHN, >> Maxime (1867-1965), a French soldier, served as chief of staff to Marshal Ferdinand Foch during World War I (1914-1918). In 1920 and 1921, Weygand was military adviser to the Polish government during the Russo-Polish War, and he helped the Poles defeat the Russian Bolsheviks. He was chief of the French General Staff from 1930 to 1935.
During the German invasion of France in World War II (1939-1945), Weygand was brought from the Middle East to command the French Army. But he could not prevent the French defeat. He served the Vichy government, first as minister of war and later as commissioner in North Africa. He would not join with the Allied invasion forces in 1942 but was suspected by the Germans. They later recalled him and held him prisoner until 1945. After the war, Weygand was charged with collaborating with the Germans, but in 1948, a French court found him not guilty. He was born in Brussels, Belgium, on Jan. 21, 1867. He entered the French Army in 1888. He died on Jan. 28, 1965.
