The general who defied Vichy and led the Liberation Army
In January 1945, defying a retreat order, he commanded that the symbolic city of Strasbourg be defended, anticipating de Gaulle's own instruction by twenty-four hours 'with perfect convergence.'
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny was a French professional soldier shaped by the First World War and the Moroccan war, and a commander who preserved his division’s cohesion amid France’s defeat in 1940. He remained in Vichy’s army, but in November 1942 he refused orders not to resist the German occupation of southern France, and joined the Free French after imprisonment and escape. Commanding Army B and then the French First Army, he led the liberation of Toulon and Marseille after the Provence landings, advanced to the Rhine and Danube, and represented France at the German surrender in Berlin in 1945. He later commanded the French colonial war in Indochina, where illness ended his life in 1952; he was posthumously made Marshal of France.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1911Graduated from the cavalry school and commissioned as an officer
- 1914–191812th Dragoons and 93rd Infantry Regiment, First World War
- 1921–1926Served in Morocco during the Rif War
- 1940Commanded the 14th Infantry Division in the Battle of France
- 1942–1943Commander of the 16th Military Division; imprisoned after defying Vichy and later escaped
- 1943–1945Commanded Army B and the French First Army in the Liberation campaign
- 1950–1951High Commissioner in Indochina and Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Expeditionary Corps
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarFrench army officerHe served in the 12th Dragoons and 93rd Infantry Regiment during the First World War.
- 1940–1944The Fall of France and the Vichy Regime14th Infantry Division commanderHe commanded the 14th Infantry Division in the Battle of France in 1940.
- 1940–1944The French Resistance and the Liberation of FranceCommander of French Army BHe led North African and Free French forces to capture Toulon and Marseille, then drove the rapid advance north.
- 1945–1954The August Revolution and the First Indochina WarFrench commander and high commissionerBuilt the De Lattre Line and stopped the Viet Minh offensives of 1951.
High Commissioner in Indochina: scorched earth and the 1951 battles
In December 1950 de Lattre de Tassigny took up the posts of High Commissioner in Indochina and commander-in-chief of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps, and he directed the French colonial war there until November 1951. To cut the Viet Minh off from food and other supplies he implemented scorched-earth tactics, and French forces burned crops in areas of Viet Minh activity. These measures increased the anger of the Vietnamese people against the French and have been judged a strategic failure.
Militarily he produced clear results. Soon after his arrival the Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap proclaimed that his army would face "an adversary worthy of its steel". At Vinh Yen de Lattre defeated two Viet Minh divisions, 20,000 men under Giap's personal command; he took charge of the outnumbered French forces himself, flew in reinforcements and mustered every available aircraft for airstrikes, and had anticipated Giap's attacks by reinforcing the defences with hundreds of cement blockhouses and new airfields. In March 1951 at Mao Khe near Haiphong he defeated Giap again, who had underestimated the French ability to deploy naval guns and move reinforcements by assault boat. The arrival of de Lattre raised French morale markedly, and he was highly regarded by his Vietnamese adversaries as well.
The cost was both private and political. His son Bernard, holding the town of Nam Dinh at all costs on his father's orders, was killed in action in late May 1951. In September 1951 de Lattre spoke at the Pentagon to request American aid, warning of the spread of communism in Southeast Asia; the United States was preoccupied with the Korean War and sent only transport planes, trucks and other equipment, "a significant contribution" but "scarcely enough to turn the tide for France". Illness forced him back to Paris in November 1951; he died there in January 1952 and was posthumously made Marshal of France.