Gaston Cros

Colonel Marie Augstin Gaston Cros (known as Gaston Cros) (6 October 1861 – 10 May 1915) was a French army officer and archaeologist. He was born in Alsace and was displaced when that territory was incorporated into the German Empire. He joined the French Army as a lieutenant and saw action in Tonkin before spending several years surveying in Tunisia, receiving the honours of membership of Vietnamese and Tunisian orders and appointment as a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In 1901 Cros was appointed head of the French archaeological expedition to Girsu, Iraq to continue the work of Ernest de Sarzec. His work over the next five years included the tracing of the city wall, and for his work there he received a letter of commendation from Gaston Doumergue, the Minister of Fine Arts, and the award of the Golden Palms of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel, Cros served in the French protectorate of Morocco from 1913, seeing action in the Zaian War.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War Cros was recalled to metropolitan France and fought in defence of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne, leading an ad hoc unit of zouaves and tirailleurs. He was wounded and spent two days directing his troops from a horse-drawn carriage before he was forced to leave his command. On 15 September 1914 he was promoted to colonel and subsequently received command of the 2nd Moroccan Brigade, which he led at the Battle of the Yser and the Second Battle of Artois. It was at Artois that he was killed in a German counter-attack. Cros' name is recorded alongside that of Colonel Pein, who commanded the 1st Moroccan Brigade at Artois, on the Moroccan Division Memorial at Vimy.

Early life Marie Augstin Gaston Cros was born at 2.00am on 6 October 1861 to Hippolyte Cros, a lawyer, and Marie Petronille Reine Scherb at Saverne, Bas-Rhin in the Alsace region. Cros volunteered for a five-year commission with the French Army on 25 October 1881 at Nancy. He was awarded the Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal for his work in the country. He was promoted to captain on 10 July 1894 and became a chevalier of the Legion of Honour on 29 December 1896. Cros transferred to the 39th Infantry Regiment on 5 April 1898 and served with them in Algeria from 11 November 1899 to 1 June 1900. Cros' knowledge of archaeology, like Sarzac's, came from a purely amateur interest in the subject though he had a thorough understanding of desert topography from his surveying days. One of Cros' first acts was to move the site of the French camp nearer to the excavation area, having been previously situated an hours ride away. This made it less defensible and further from the water supply but he solved these problems by negotiating protection from the local Karagul Arabs and co-ordinating the construction of a new reservoir supplied with water by caravan convoys. In 1903 he discovered a doorway in the vicinity of de Sarzac's famous cuneiform tablets that provided evidence that the tablets were stored as part of a state administrative archive.

During his time at Tello he remained nominally with the 39th Infantry Regiment, transferring to the 80th Infantry Regiment on 17 February 1903.

Cros transferred to the 33rd Infantry Regiment on 25 May 1906 and to the 5th Infantry Regiment on 22 December of that year. When Cros left Tello in 1909 the French government was unable to find a suitable successor. Cros received the Golden Palms of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques for his academic work.

First World War

After the outbreak of the First World War Cros returned to France from Africa, with the 8th Marching Regiment (an ad hoc unit made up of tirailleurs and zouaves). His unit was sent to defend Paris in the First Battle of the Marne where it was ordered to take the town of Saint-Prix, which changed hands five times in the first four days of the battle. The move was intended to clear the way for the 42nd Infantry Division to advance on Cros' left.

On 15 September Cros received temporary promotion to colonel and on 20 October was given command of the 2nd Moroccan Brigade at the Battle of the Yser. He also received a further mention in dispatches as "a brave soldier, an experienced great leader, wise, prudent, with natural authority" and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm. Cros took particular care to inspire a keen esprit de corps in his men and on the eve of the attack told them: "I am your father and you know that I love you as my children, if you want to show me that you love me in return, fight and kill lots of Boche". At 10 am on 9 May 1915, Cros' brigade advanced in conjunction with the division's 1st Brigade, a French Foreign Legion unit led by Colonel Pein.