CORDONNIER, VICTOR LOUIS EMILIEN 1936), French general, was born at Surgy (Nievre) on March 23, 1858. After passing through the military college of St. Cyr he entered the infantry as sub-lieutenant in 1879. In 1887 he graduated from the Ecole de Guerre, and staff and regimental service (including duty in the Alps and in Algeria) alternated until in 1905 he became instructor at the Ecole de Guerre. From this time until 1910 his work was wholly instructional. In this period he wrote Les Japonais en Mandchourie (1911, Eng. trs. Part I. 1912, Part II., 1914). In 1913 he was promoted general of brigade and appointed to command the new 87th Brigade, forming part of the reinforced couverture created by the Three Years' Service Act. In command of this brigade, Cordonnier distinguished himself at Mangiennes on Aug. I o, 1914, and in the heavy fighting of the IV. Army in the Ardennes. He was advanced to the command of the 3rd Division which he led in the battle of the Marne, and in the advance to Ste. Menehould and the Argonne which followed. On Sept. 15 he was severely wounded, and though he resumed his command in October, he had again to be invalided. In December, having become general of division and an officer of the Legion of Honour, he commanded his division in the bitter trench-warfare fighting in the Argonne, and in Jan. 1915 commanded the VIII. Corps in the St. Mihiel sector. In July 1916, after receiving the grade of commander in the Legion of Honour, he was appointed to command the French contingent of the Salonika armies grouped under Sarrail, which became the "Armee francaise d'Orient." In general charge of the Allied left wing in Sarrail's autumn offensive he fought the actions of Ostrovo, Florina, Armenohor and Kenali, but owing to acute differences with Sarrail, he re turned to France just before the battle at Monastir which his movements and combats had prepared. He was already gravely ill, and was unable to hold any further command. He then de voted himself to historical and critical work on the war. In 1921 he published an account of the operations of the 87th Brigade under the title Une Brigade au feu, Potins de Guerre.