 Born on June 29, 1857 in Ribeauvillé in the department of Haut-Rhin in Alsace, he was sent as an officer to French Sudan (today Mali).He participated to the long war against the local ruler Samory Touré, and was in 1892 the Chief of Staff of Colonel Louis Archinard, governor of French Sudan.He returned to French Sudan with the rank of Major in July 1895, distinguishing himself against the Tuaregs, that he defeated in a series of battles fought in 1897–98, that helped to secure French control on Timbuktu, endangered by the massacre near the city of a platoon of Sipahis in June 1897.