François de La Rocque
| François de La Rocque | |
|---|---|
François de La Rocque in 1936
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| Born | 6 October 1885 Lorient, Brittany, France |
| Died |
28 April 1946 (aged 60) Paris, France |
| Alma mater | Saint Cyr Military Academy |
| Occupation | Military man, political activist |
| Title | Colonel |
| Parent(s) | Raymond de La Rocque Anne Sollier |
François de La Rocque (6 October 1885 – 28 April 1946) was the leader of the French right-wing league named the Croix de Feu from 1930 to 1936 before he formed the more moderate nationalist Parti Social Français (1936–1940), which can be seen as a precursor of Gaullism.
He was born on 6 October 1885 in Lorient, Brittany, the third son to a family from Haute-Auvergne. His parents were General Raymond de La Rocque, commander of the artillery on the Lorient Naval Base, and Anne Sollier.
He entered Saint Cyr Military Academy in 1905, the class of "Promotion la Dernière du Vieux Bahut", and graduated in 1907. He was posted to Algeria and the edge of Sahara, and in 1912 to Lunéville. The next year, he was called to Morocco by General Hubert Lyautey. Despite the outbreak of World War I, he remained there until 1916 as officer of indigenes affaires, when he was gravely wounded and repatriated to France. Meanwhile, his older brother Raymond, a major in the army, had been killed in action during 1915. Despite this, he volunteered to fight on the Western Front and was sent to the trenches of the Somme to command a battalion.
After the war he was assigned to the Inter-allied staff of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, but in 1921, he went to Poland with the French Military Mission under General Maxime Weygand. In 1925, he was made chief of the 2nd Bureau during Marshal Philippe Pétain's campaign against Abd el-Krim. He resigned from the army in 1927 as a lieutenant colonel.
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