Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude

Lieutenant-General
Alphonse, Baron Jacques de Dixmude
"Général Jacques"
Birth name Jules Marie Alphonse Jacques
Born (1858-02-24)24 February 1858
Stavelot, Belgium
Died 24 November 1928(1928-11-24) (aged 70)
Ixelles, Belgium
Allegiance  Belgium
 Congo Free State
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands held 12th Regiment of the Line
Battles/wars Battle of the Yser

Jules Marie Alphonse Jacques, 1st Baron Jacques de Dixmude (24 February 1858 in Stavelot – 24 November 1928 in Ixelles), often known as General Jacques, was a Belgian soldier, general and colonial advocate.

Congo Free State

Alphonse Jacques in the Congo, 1903

He founded Albertville (Kalemie) in the Congo in 1892.

Military career

Congo Arab war

From 1886-1892, the Society of Missionaries of Africa had founded catholic missions at the north and south ends of Lake Tanganyika. Léopold Louis Joubert, a French soldier and armed auxiliary, was dispatched by Archbishop Charles Lavigerie's Society of Missionaries of Africa to protect the missionaries. The missionaries abandoned three of the new stations due to attacks by Tippu Tip and Rumaliza.[1] By 1891 the Zanzibari slavers had control of the entire western shore of the lake, apart from the region defended by Joubert around Mpala and St Louis de Mrumbi.[2] The anti-slavery expedition under Captain Alphonse Jacques—financed by the Belgian Anti-Slavery Society—came to the relief of Joubert on 30 Oktober 1892.[3] When the Jacques expedition arrived Joubert's garrison was down to about two hundred men, poorly armed with "a most miscellaneous assortment of chassepots, Remingtons and muzzle-loaders, without suitable cartridges". He also had hardly any medicine left.[4][5][6] Captain Jacques asked Joubert to remain on the defensive while his expedition moved north.[7]On the 3rd of Januari 1892, Captain Alphonse Jacques' anti-slavery expedition founded the fortress of Albertville on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and tried to put an end to the slave trade in the region. Rumaliza's troops surrounded Albertville on the 5th of April and besieged the outpost for 9 months. Eventually Rumaliza's forces had to retreat because of the arrival of the Long-Duvivier-Demol Anti-Slavery expedition, a relief column sent from Brussels at captain Alphonse Jacques's aide.[3] Captain Jacques was soon sent back to Belgium and was promoted to colonel.

World War I

His greatest service was to come during World War I when he was mobilized and later took command of the 12th Regiment of the Line. He led his soldiers with great skill and extreme bravery, becoming a hero of the Belgian army in the first days of the invasion of the powerful German forces. In 1914, his troops successfully repelled two heavy German attacks near Antwerp that was crucial in giving the Belgian forces time to withdraw to the Yser.[8] Later, on Belgian soil, he commanded the 3rd Belgian army division from 5 February 1917 to 4 October 1919. His troops prevented Diksmuide falling into the hands of the German army. This military achievement led to his elevation to the Nobility of Belgium as Baron Jacques de Dixmude in 1919.

bas reliefs
Kansas City Liberty Memorial. Left to right: Beatty, Foch, Pershing, Diaz and Jacques reliefs.
Generals of WWI: Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude, Armando Diaz, Ferdinand Foch, John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, David Beatty.
Statue of Jules Jacques de Dixmude in center of Diksmuide.

Commemoration

"General Jacques" is commemorated by several statues and monuments around Belgium, including the "Boulevard Général Jacques" in Brussels as well as others in Nivelles, Chaudfontaine and Verviers and numerous statues. A bas-relief of Baron Jacques is included as part of the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City.

Honours

References

  1. ↑ "Il y a 80 ans, le 27 Mai 1927, Mourait le Captiaine Joubert" (in French). Lavigerie. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  2. ↑ Shorter, Aylward (2003). "Joubert, Leopold Louis". Dictionary of African Christian Biography. Retrieved 2013-04-10.
  3. 1 2 Ergo 2005, p. 43.
  4. ↑ Moloney, Joseph Augustus (30 July 2007). With Captain Stairs to Katanga: Slavery and Subjugation in the Congo 1891–1892. Jeppestown Press.p.56. ISBN 978-0-9553936-5-5.
  5. ↑ Swann, Alfred J. (6 December 2012). Fighting the Slave Hunters in Central Africa: A Record of Twenty-Six Years of Travel and Adventure Round the Great Lakes. Routledge.p.34. ISBN 978-1-136-25681-3.
  6. ↑ Cheza, Maurice (2005). "L'accompagnement arme- des missionaires dans l'Afrique des Grand Lacs: Les cas de Joubert et Vrithoff". Les conditions matérielles de la mission: contraintes, dépassements et imaginaires, XVIIe-XXe siècles : Actes du colloque conjoint du CREDIC, de l'AFOM et du Centre Vincent Lebbe : Belley (Ain) du 31 août au 3 septembre 2004 (in French). KARTHALA Editions. p. 96. ISBN 978-2-84586-682-9.
  7. ↑ Swann, p. 34.
  8. ↑ "Baron Jules Jacques". Retrieved 2013-12-13.
  9. ↑ http://www.ars-moriendi.be/DE_EERSTE_WERELDOORLOG.HTM
  • Ingels, A. "Jacques de Dixmude, Baron" (in French). congoposte.be. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  • Newspaper clippings about Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics (ZBW)

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