Free French armoured commander
At Kufra in 1941, he had his men swear not to lay down their arms until the French flag flew over Strasbourg Cathedral.
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque was a French general who joined de Gaulle's Free French after the 1940 defeat and forged colonial troops and exiles into a fighting force. He set an objective that ran from Kufra to Strasbourg and transferred the mobile warfare learned in Africa to the 2nd Armored Division. In August 1944 he challenged the Allied plan to bypass Paris, driving on the capital and making its liberation French-led alongside the Resistance. After the war he recognised in Indochina that military victory could not settle the conflict, but died in a 1947 air crash before he could develop that judgement.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1924Graduated from Saint-Cyr military academy
- 1925–1939Cavalry officer, service in Morocco and graduation from the War College
- 1940Joined Free France and was sent to Africa under de Gaulle
- 1940–1943Military commander in Cameroon and Chad, leading the Kufra and Fezzan campaigns
- 1943–1945Commanded the 2nd Armored Division in Normandy and the liberation of Paris and Strasbourg
- 1945–1946Commander of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and French representative at Japan's surrender
- 1946–1947Inspector General of Land Forces in North Africa
Related historical events
- 1941–1944The Second Front and the Normandy Landings2nd Armored Division commander in NormandyHe commanded the 2nd Armored Division in Normandy.
- 1940–1944The French Resistance and the Liberation of FranceCommander of the 2nd Armored DivisionHe decided to move on Paris, turning the uprising into a French-led liberation and challenging the Allied plan to bypass the capital.
- 1945–1954The August Revolution and the First Indochina WarCommander of the French Far East Expeditionary CorpsArrived in Saigon in 1945 and directed the reoccupation of the south.
Seeking a political settlement in Indochina
After the war in Europe ended in 1945, Leclerc was appointed commander of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and represented France at the Japanese surrender ceremony. In French Indochina, his forces expanded French control around Saigon, through the Mekong Delta and into the Central Highlands, but he judged that military operations alone could not resolve the conflict with Ho Chi Minh, who had declared Vietnamese independence. Leclerc supported French government negotiator Jean Sainteny’s proposal to negotiate with Ho and led French troops into Hanoi after an agreement was reached in March 1946. The agreement met opposition among French colonial interests and on the Vietnamese side; Indochina High Commissioner d’Argenlieu denounced it and unilaterally proclaimed an autonomous Republic of Cochinchina under French control. Leclerc was replaced as commander of French forces in July 1946. He warned that anti-communism alone could not resolve the question of nationalism and urged negotiation, but he did not control French policy. This episode shows him pursuing a diplomatic solution amid the conflict between the military restoration of French colonial rule and Vietnamese independence.