Pierre Messmer
| Pierre Messmer | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Prime Minister of France | |
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In office 6 July 1972 – 27 May 1974 |
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| President | Georges Pompidou |
| Preceded by | Jacques Chaban-Delmas |
| Succeeded by | Jacques Chirac |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 March 1916 Vincennes, Seine (now Val-de-Marne), France |
| Died | 29 August 2007 (aged 91) Paris, France |
| Political party | UDR |
| Occupation | Civil Servant |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ mɛsmɛʁ]; 20 March 1916 – 29 August 2007) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under Louis XV – and then as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1972 to 1974. A member of the French Foreign Legion, he was considered as one of the historical Gaullists, and died aged 91 in the military hospital of the Val-de-Grâce in August 2007. He was elected a member of the Académie française in 1999.
Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was born in Vincennes in 1916. He graduated in 1936 in the language school Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales and the following year at the Ecole nationale de la France d'outre-mer (National School of Oversea France). He then became a senior civil servant in the colonial administration and became a Doctor of Laws in 1939. In the outbreaks of World War II, he was sous-lieutenant of the 12th regiment of Senegalese tirailleurs, and refused France's capitulation after the defeat. He then hijacked in Marseille an Italian cargo, along with Jean Simon, and sailed first to Gibraltar, then London and engaged himself in the Free French Forces as a member of the 13th Demi-Brigade of the French Foreign Legion. Messmer then participated to the campaign in Eritrea, in Syria, in Libya, participating to the Battle of Bir Hakeim, and in the Tunisia campaign. He also fought at the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt. He joined in London General Koenig's military staff and participated in the landings in Normandy in August 1944 and the Liberation of Paris.
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