Colonial infantry general who signed the 1954 Geneva ceasefire on behalf of the commander of French Union forces in Indochina
A Saint-Cyr graduate in the colonial infantry, he served in the Rif War, in Mauritania and at a post on the Chinese border in upper Tonkin. Captured in 1940, he escaped and fought in the 1944 Provence landing and at Toulon. In 1945 he led the 21st Colonial Infantry Regiment in the reoccupation of Indochina, "pacifying" north-western Cochinchina, and in 1948 completed the "pacification" of Tamatave province in Madagascar after the 1947 insurrection. Navarre's deputy in Cochinchina in 1954 and promoted general in May, he went to Geneva as president of the French military commission, negotiated the ceasefire terms with the Viet Minh and signed the agreement. He then led a division watching the 17th parallel, left Indochina in 1955 and retired in 1963.
Also known as: Henri Noël Barthélemy Delteil
Activities and affiliations
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1924–1963
France state institutionsFrench colonial infantry generalMain
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1924Graduates from Saint-Cyr into the colonial infantry
- 1936–1938Post commander at Mường Khương, Tonkin
- 1945–194621st Colonial Infantry Regiment in the reoccupation of Indochina
- 1948"Pacification" of Tamatave province, Madagascar
- 1954President of the French military commission at Geneva; signs the ceasefire
- 1955Director of the colonial troops
- 1958–1961Supreme commander of French forces in the Indian Ocean