Who's Who - Dominique-Marie Gauchet
Dominique-Marie Gauchet
(1853-1931) served as French Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean from
December 1916.
Gauchet replaced Dartige du Fournet first as commander of French naval units in the Dardanelles in October 1915, and subsequently again as Mediterranean Commander-in-Chief on 14 December 1916, Dartige suffering replacement in the wake of the failure of the botched Athens Landing.
Gauchet was a complex, difficult officer, highly sensitive to perceived slights and determinedly aware of the dignity of his position as (nominal) regional Allied Commander-in-Chief. This made for problematic inter-Allied relationships, with his British and Italians counterparts frequently despairing of establishing a practical working relationship under his command.
In the event the British were able to largely ignore Gauchet and continued their focus on the development of anti-submarine tactics, an area in which Gauchet exhibited scant interest.
Instead Gauchet continued preparations at Corfu for a large fleet action against the Austro-Hungarian navy that never transpired, meanwhile complaining that he possessed insufficient destroyers for just such an engagement.
Retiring in 1919 amid widespread unpopularity he died in 1931.
A "salient" is a battle line that projects into territory nominally held by enemy forces.
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