page_title: Gaston Cros
section_title: First World War
hierarchical_section_title: Gaston Cros / First World War
caption_attribution_description: English: The Moroccan Division Memorial, opposite the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, 8 kilometres northeast of Arras.
context_page_description: Colonel Marie Augstin Gaston Cros 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 32.5 feet thick city wall and for his work there 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.
context_section_description: 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.  He was wounded in the leg in an action at Mondement-Montgivroux on 9 September that earned him a mention in dispatches and, later, his description as "bravest of the brave".  After two days spent following his unit in a horse-drawn carriage he was forced to leave his command.
  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.  His promotion was confirmed as permanent on 1 November 1914 and he became a commander of the Legion of Honour on 10 April 1915.  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.  In the spring he wrote to an archaeological colleague, Léon Heuzey, telling him that "I continue with my work as an archaeologist.  As at Tello I record earthworks, but instead of artefacts of Gudea I find German shells, it is not without excitement".
  Later that year Cros led his brigade, as part of the 1st Moroccan Infantry Division, at the Second Battle of Artois - an allied attempt to capture Vimy Ridge with an assault on a 13 miles (21 km) wide stretch of the front.  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.  The five-hour preliminary bombardment was largely ineffective and the division took heavy casualties in reaching the German lines, 3 miles (4.8 km) distant.  However they managed to push the Germans out and some units even reached the villages of Vimy and Givenchy-en-Gohelle.  The next morning, hit by their own artillery and under German counter-attack, the French were forced to withdraw to their own lines in the course of which Cros was killed.  Cros was one of almost 2,000 men of the Moroccan division killed in that action, as was fellow brigade commander Colonel Pein.
  Cros' colleague Huezey described him later as "a trainer of men and a keen naturalist whose integrity was matched by his intelligence and bravery.  His medals and uniform are held in the collection of the Musée zoologique de la ville de Strasbourg and he is remembered in the inscription on the Moroccan Division Memorial at Vimy.
  To the fallen of the Moroccan Division
  Without fear, without mercy
  To the memory of Colonel Pein, Commander of the 1st Brigade, of Colonel Cros, commander of the 2nd Brigade, officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Moroccan Division who gloriously gave their lives on 9, 10 and 11 May 1915. On 9 May 1915, the regiments of the Moroccan Division at 10AM launched their offensive from the Berthonval trenches and successfully overcame fierce resistance from the German side to claim victory over Hill 140, their objective - breaking through enemy lines for the very first time
  — Translation of the inscription on the Moroccan Division Memorial at Vimy.
caption: The Vimy Ridge Moroccan Division Memorial bearing Cros' name
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