Biography

A student of the École polytechnique (1902) and of École des Ponts et Chaussées, he began work in 1908 on the Cherbourg water systems, where he met Maxime Laubeuf, inventor of the twin hull and twin propeller submersible, which would dominate submarine design for 40 years.The similarity of names inspired Detoeuf to set up the limited company Detoeuf et Laubeuf, specialising in submersible aircraft and flying submarines...In 1912, he was appointed to the maritime service in Le Havre where he accomplished his original work.He soon showed a profound desire not to confine engineers in execution or monitoring tasks, but to involve them in the operation and coordination of work with other services.He would quickly put his ideas into practice in the First World War.After recovering from his wounds in the Flanders fighting, he was transferred to the military operation of navigable waterways in Rouen.Here, his particular achievement was to create a single compulsory river freight office which was eventually accepted by boatmen.This initiative maximised the efficiency of transport on the Lower Seine to compensate for inadequate rail provision.These results prompted Alexandre Millerand, General Commissioner of Alsace, to offer Auguste Detœuf a post managing the ports of Strasbourg and Kehl, which were restored to France under the peace treaty.On his departure from Strasbourg in 1924, he instigated a Parliamentary Bill to create an autonomous port there.From 2 million tonnes in 1913, traffic through the port rose to more than 6 million, a large part of which was handled by the French Rhine fleet.In 1928, he was one of the protagonists in the creation of Alsthom, which combined the Thomson-Houston Company's electrical construction business (which he joined in 1924), and the Alsatian Mechanical Construction Company. He became the new firm’s first chairman from 1928 to 1940. Involved in the upheavals of his era, in 1936 Detœuf gave a famous speech to the X-Crise Group called “The end of liberalism”.In 1938 he took part in the Walter Lippmann colloquium, where he opposed Ludwig von Mises on certain issues.He was also one of the founders of the Les Nouveaux Cahiers review, which argued for cooperation between management and unions.Apart from a book replete with humour and information –  Propos de O.L. Barenton, confiseur, (1951) – Auguste  Detœuf was the author of a large number of articles, studies and lectures, all of which propounded an idea that for him remained essential:  “Widespread trade unionism will be the best defence against the development of state control and totalitarianism and is a condition for the protection of the essential aspects of freedom.”A clear analyst of the society of his time, his articles in the mainstream press met with widespread success.

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