Sabattier was born in Paris on 2 August 1892 and entered the academy of Saint-Cyr in 1913. In 1915, during World War I, he was promoted to lieutenant. In 1916 he was made captain. In 1928 he was sent to serve in French Morocco and in 1934 he was sent to China as a military attaché with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Promoted to colonel, he was sent to Indochina by the Vichy government in November 1940. He fought in the brief war with Thailand between October 1940 and May 1941. By 1942 he had been promoted to brigadier-general and was in charge of all French troops in southern Vietnam, although the country was now under Japanese occupation.