World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseJean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny was born into an aristocratic family in a village in Mouilleron-en-Pareds in the Pays de la Loire region of France in 1889. He graduated from the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in Brittany, France in 1911. He participated in WW1 (during which he was wounded twice) and the Rif War in the 1920s. In 1932, he served on the staff of Maxime Weygand. In 1935, he was made the commandant of the Army War College. Between 1939 and 1940, as France entered into the European War during WW2, he was the commanding officer of French 14th Infantry Division. Remaining in the French Army after the French defeat, he was transferred to Tunisia in 1941 and took command of French 16th Division in 1942. Later in 1942, he was arrested for his involvement in anti-German resistance forces and was sentenced to a ten-year imprisonment term. He escaped imprisonment, crossed into Allied territory in Algeria, and was given command of French Army B within the US 6th Army Group. His troops participated in the invasion of Corsica and Southern France. Although he was criticized for his lack of aggressiveness which allowed the Germans to strengthen the defensive position later to be known as the Colmar Pocket, he remained a popular leader especially as his troops crossed the Rhine River into Germany and captured Karlsruhe, Ulm, and Stuttgart. He represented France at the German surrender ceremony in Berlin, Germany on 8 May 1945. After the war, he served as the chief of staff of infantry troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), served in diplomatic functions in South America, and saw action in the First Indochina War. In 1951, he returned to Paris, France due to declining health. He passed away in the following year. He was given a state funeral, during which international dignitaries such as Bernard Montgomery and Dwight Eisenhower served as pallbearers. He was posthumously given the title of Maréchal de France (Marshal of France). He was buried next to his son, Bernard de Lattre de Tassigny, who was killed in French Indochina during the First Indochina War.

Photographs

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Timeline

Visitor Submitted Comments

Show older comments

2.  Alan Chanter says:
23 Nov 2014 03:40:51 AM

The suggestion that General de Lattre was arrested in late 1942 accused of 'involvement in anti-German resistance forces' should, perhaps, be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt. In fact it appears that, as the commander of Vichy forces in the Montpellier area, he was arrested on a charge of secretly planning to oppose the German take over of the unoccupied zone. He had earlier fallen out with Juin, the Commander of all Vichy forces in French North Africa, over the best way to defend Tunisia from Axis incursion should the British win in Libya (he advocated a forward defence by bringing forwards reinforcements from Morocco, whilst Juin recognised that this could expose Algeria and violate the armisice with Hitler). His subsequent sacking and posting back to France, in January 1942, was no doubt of great relief to Juin but, at the same time, an acute embarrassment to a Vichy regime still trying to remain free of German interference.

His escape to Britain, in September 1943, would be no less an embarrassment for the Allied powers. He had not seen eye to eye with de Gaulle, due to his former service in the Vichy forces, and was therefore of little use to the Free French. General de Lattre's desire remained firmly dedicated to the purpose of obtaining a field command. To this end he badgered the British, American and Free French to permit the creation of a French army in North Africa. After a short stay in hospital for a damaged lung, he flew to Algeria to see de Gaulle and Giraud. The latter, an old ally, got him appointed as commander of the French 2nd Army, which encompassed all the French forces in North Africa. Nevertheless, he would have to wait until April 1944 before his command was officially designated as Army B and committed to the invasion of Southern France.