Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
1902–1947
✕ Killed in air crash
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.
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