Marie Charles Duval

Marie Victor Charles Maurice Duval (1869–1958) was a French Brigadier General and aviator of World War I. He was one of the main organizers of the Armée de l'Air and was a Commander of the Legion of Honour.

Military education and training Maurice was born on June 5, 1869, at Bayonne as the son of General Léon Duval who commanded the 77th Infantry Regiment and Louise Marie Elisabeth Mathilde (née de Leigonye). He attended the Saint-Joseph of Reims with a bachelor's degree in arts and sciences. After that, Duval enrolled in the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr on October 25, 1888, after passing the entrance exams, ranking 183 out of 450. He was promoted to Corporal on August 20, 1889, and to Sergeant on October 1, 1889, before graduating as part of the Class of 1889.

Upon graduating from the academy, he gained his commission of Second Lieutenant within the 27th Infantry Regiment October 1, 1890, but was transferred to the 122nd Infantry Regiment sixteen days later which was stationed at Montpellier. Duval was promoted to First Lieutenant on October 1, 1892, and began taking lessons at the Valbonne Shooting Club from 1892 to 1893 and ranked 42 out of 57 by the end of his class and was assigned to the 36th Infantry Regiment on August 1, 1894. Around this time, Duval married Marie Joséphine Lucienne Yvonne Teisserenc on October 1, 1894, and they would proceed to have two boys and two girls. On April 25, 1899, he was assigned to the 142nd Infantry Regiment and was given a letter of satisfaction on July 7, 1899, by the French Minister of War, Camille Krantz for his studies conducted in 1898. By August 16, 1901, he was within the 15th Infantry Regiment and staff of the 6th Army Corps on November 1, 1902.

During 1918, Duval was made the Aide-Major General of military aeronautics and was given command of the 1st Air Division on May 15, 1918, and would command the division until the end of the war. After the conclusion of World War I, he became part of the management committee of the Aéro-Club de France after being introduced to it by André Michelin and R. Soreau on March 10, 1921. He then became president of the Comité Français de Propagande Aéronautique on 1925. Around the same time, Duval engaged within CFRNA from 1920 to 1932 with Romanian diplomat Nicolae Titulescu. He was also the director of the Le Figaro subsidiary, Eaux de Garges.

After receiving the Commander of the Legion of Honour on July 7, 1927, he became president of the engineering company Salmson and specified in producing Canton-Unné 2M7 engines from 1935 to 1938 until retirement. He died at the 16th arrondissement of Paris on August 23, 1958.

Works Les leçons de la guerre d'Espagne (preface by General Maxime Weygand), Plon, 1938, p. 247 Les Espagnols et la guerre d'Espagne, Plon, 1939, p. 237