Pierre Émile Berdoulat was born on July 29, 1861, in
Pinsaguel, Haute-Garonne. He studied at the lyceums of
Toulouse and
Bordeaux. On October 20, 1879, he volunteered for military service as a soldier of the
57th Infantry Regiment. On September 21, 1880, he received the rank of corporal. On October 27, 1882, he was enrolled in the
École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr. On September 11, 1884, he graduated from high school, and on October 1 of the same year, with the rank of second lieutenant, he was enlisted in the
Troupes de la Marine. He then entered in the
4th Colonial Infantry Regiment in
Toulon and took part in the fighting in the
Sino-French War as well as pacification operations in
Bình Thuận and
Khánh Hòa. He served in the and the
6th Colonial Infantry Regiment. On April 17, 1893, he married Marguerite Alice de Moines. After graduating from the
École navale on November 27, 1896, he joined the military government of Paris as a trainee. On November 8, 1898, he was sent to serve at headquarters at
French Sudan and participated in quelling the unrest there. On May 30, 1900, he was promoted to battalion commander. On January 22, 1901, he was sent to serve in the technical department of the administration of the
Troupes coloniales. On August 1, 1903, he was appointed chief of staff of the occupation corps in Madagascar. On March 30, 1904, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Served in the
3rd Marine Infantry Regiment which participated in the
1904–1905 uprising in Madagascar. He served in the 28th Colonial Infantry Regiment. On December 30, 1911, he took over as director of the colonial troops. On February 14, 1912, he became a member of the National Committee for the Defense of the Colonies. On October 23, 1912, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. , France, July 1918. After the start of the war, on October 8, 1914, he was appointed commander of the 52nd Infantry Brigade. On November 5, 1914, he took up the post of commander of the
69th Infantry Division. On April 20, 1915, he was promoted to the rank of divisional general. On April 29, 1915, he was appointed commander of the . During the
Second Battle of Champagne from September 15 to October 2, 1915, the corps under the command of Berdoulat captured heavily fortified German positions and repelled stubborn German attacks for seven days in a row, In July 1916, during the first days of the
Battle of the Somme, Berdoulat's corps was able to advance 10 kilometers deep into enemy territory, capturing 85 guns and over 8,000 prisoners. After Berdoulat reached the age limit for service, On July 29, 1923, Berdoulat was enrolled in the personnel reserve of the headquarters of the colonial troops. He served as president of the Offrandes nationales organization, which provides assistance to military personnel, their widows and children. Pierre-Émile Berdoulat died on November 24, 1930, in the
Val-de-Grâce military hospital in Paris, where he was receiving treatment. The farewell took place in the
Val-de-Grâce church in the presence of the representative of the President of France, General
Henri Lasson, the Minister of War
André Maginot, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces
Maxime Weygand, almost all members of the Supreme Military Council, including Marshal
Philippe Pétain, numerous military and civilians. The funeral took place in Reims without military honors, since Berdoulat, during his lifetime, asked not to distract the troops on this occasion once again. ==Legacy==