Paul Emile Diou (6 September 1855 – 23 August 1914) was a French general. Diou entered the army in 1873 and spent much of his early career superintending the training of army personnel. He saw extended service in Tunisia with the Army of Africa and also in the Far East. Diou was praised for his work in Morocco in 1908 and was subsequently appointed to brigade command. In the opening stages of the First World War he led his brigade in an attack on German positions and was mortally wounded. Early life and career Diou was born on 6 September 1855 at Saint-Julien-lès-Metz in Moselle where a plaque marks his birthplace. His parents were Joseph Diou, a lecturer in rhetoric who was later principal of Mirecourt College, and Marie Francoise Feultier Diou. Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1 his home town was annexed by Germany. Following the terms set out by the Treaty of Frankfurt, Diou was one of the Alsatians and Lotharingians who chose to retain their French citizenship. Diou volunteered for a five year period of service with the French Army on 22 October 1873 and entered the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr two days later. He was commissioned as a sous lieutenant on 1 October 1875 with the 69th Infantry Regiment (Diou's graduating class was named for Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen who had fought against France's enemy Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War). As a subaltern he was reportedly a "shy and timid character, but an energetic worker" and was commended by the Minister of War (Jean Auguste Berthaut) on 31 January 1877 for survey work undertaken in the vicinity of Toul. Later that year he won the army's regional shooting championship at the camp at Châlons-en-Champagne. Colonial Service Diou was promoted to lieutenant in the 110th Infantry Regiment on 17 September 1880 and served in Tunisia from 11 September 1881 until 9 April 1883. There was a break in his service in that country between May and September 1882 and he may have returned to France to recover from Typhoid fever that he contracted in Tunisia. Diou was promoted to captain in the 45th Infantry Regiment on 29 December 1885 and held responsibility for preparing enlisted candidates for the non-commissioned officer examinations at the Ecole Militaire in Saint-Maixent. He wrote a dissertation on the development of defensive positions at Farbus in 1888 and returned to the