François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta

François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta (6 July 1870 – 9 November 1923) was a French army officer. He joined the army as a cavalry trooper in 1888 and was commissioned in 1893. Jouinot-Gambetta initially specialised in geographical surveying and was deployed across French African territories. He was wounded in 1900 during a mission in Mauritania. In the first years of the 20th century Jouinot-Gambetta served with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the War Ministry. During the First World War he commanded a cavalry brigade on the Macedonian front and was responsible for a rapid advance that captured Skopje from the Bulgarians.

Early life Jouinot-Gambetta was born in Paris on 6 July 1870. He was a nephew of the politician Léon Gambetta. He was shot and wounded in the left thigh on 9 June 1900 at Atar, Mauritania.

Jouinot-Gambetta transferred to the 1st Regiment of Hussars 27 April 1901.

Jouinot-Gambetta was promoted to chef d'escadrons (major) on 25 March 1906. He transferred to the 6th Regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique on 19 October 1906 and deployed again to Algeria on 5 February 1907.

First World War

By the start of the First World War in 1914 Jouinot-Gambetta was a colonel. On 21 October 1918, Jouinot-Gambetta's Moroccan troops entered Negotin, where they were met with a resistance from the retreating German troops. After a short fight, the Germans retreated. Two days later, on 23 October 1918, the Negotin city council unanimously declared Jouinot-Gambetta an honorary citizen of Negotin.

Post-war

Jouinot-Gambetta was appointed a grand officer of the Legion of Honour on 22 January 1919. Jouinot-Gambetta died in Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes, on 9 November 1923.

In 1930, the Monument to the liberators and General Gambetta was unveiled in Negotin. On 12 October 1930, the Monument to the liberators and General Gambetta was unveiled in Negotin, Serbia (then Kingdom of Yugoslavia) in the presence of Jouinot-Gambetta's widow Blanche Augustine Haÿ.