Jean-Baptiste Molinié

Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Molinié, (21 September 1880 – 13 January 1971) was general in the French Army who commanded the 25th Motorized Division and the during the Siege of Lille in May 1940.

Biography Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Molinié was born on 21 September 1880 in Bayonne. He is the son of Jean Baptiste Camille Molinié and of Maria Refugio Alexandria de la Puente

He entered Saint-Cyr in 1900, in the promotion Tchad and graduated in 1902, he was assigned as a Sub-lieutenant of infantry in the 107th Infantry Regiment.

On 24 March 1906 he married Marie Léonie Joséphine Marthe Léglise and then to Divisional general on 9 September 1939. On 2 September 1939 he was given command of the 25th Motorized Division, part of the 7th Army under general Giraud.

On 25 May 1940, during the Battle of France his division ended stuck in the Lille pocket along with other units retreating. As the most senior Officer in Lille, he took command of the defence of the city along with 3 Brigadier generals : Alphonse Juin, and .

The three pockets of resistance regroup to soldiers. During the night of 27-28 May they tried to escape the city, it ended in a bloodbath in which they lose much of their ammunition. By 31 May they could no longer resist and Molinié accepted a proposition of general Waeger to surrender with honour and the ceasefire started at 5pm. On 1 June the Germans paid honours to the defenders who laid down their arms in front of the railway station. Molinié becomes a POW in the Königstein Fortress.

In 1956 he wrote a study for National Defence named : La 25e Division motorisée dans la bataille de France.

General Molinié died on 13 January 1971 in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.

Distinctions

Legion of Honour

Notes and references