Date of birth:

July 8th, 1913 (Quincy-le-Vicomte, France)

Date of death:

June 11th, 1942 (Bir-Hakeim, Lybia)

Nationality:

French

Charles Adolphe Marie Bricogne was the eldest son of ten children of Colonel Alfred Emmanuel Bricogne and Édith Marie Edmée Labouré. His uncle Joseph Labouré (born in 1898), Lieutenant serving in the 7e Régiment d'Artillerie de Campagne, was killed on the second day of the final Allied offensive, July 19, 1918, in Villers-Hélon (Aisne).
Charles Bricogne entered the École Polytechnique as part of the class of 1932. He graduated major of his promotion at the Artillery Application School in Fontainebleau. In 1936, he served as Lieutenant in the 72e Régiment d'Artillerie in Lunéville.

In May 1940, as Captain, he commanded an Artillery Battery and resisted a large group of armored vehicles. During the retreat, he continued to destroy many enemy tanks. His regiment having retreated towards the Channel, at the end of its ammunition, he was taken prisoner at Saint-Valery-en-Caux in June 1940. His younger brother Michel Bricogne (born in 1914), Lieutenant in the 11e Régiment de Dragons Portés, was killed on May 21, 1940 in Berneville during the Battle of Arras.

Charles Bricogne escaped and crossed the demarcation line. Appointed in Vichy, he applied for and obtained his assignment in Syria. He served there with Colonel Philibert Collet and commanded one of the Tcherkesses squadrons.

He joined the Free French Forces in May 1941. Commander Laurent-Champrosay then instructed him to form the 2nd group of the 1er Régiment d'Artillerie of the Free French Forces (1er RAFFL). He left for the Libyan Desert in December 1941, with General Kœnig and his 1st Free French Brigade.

He fought at the head of his group and distinguished himself in particular in Halfaya where his shells pounded the opponent. It facilitated operations towards Mechili and Gazala.

In Bir Hakeim, in the spring of 1942, Charles Bricogne took part in all the exits of "jock columns", so called mixed units of machine guns and infantry attacking in force on a specific point in a harassment tactic. He acted as second in command of the regiment. He successfully resisted several enemy attacks on the fort. On the night of June 10 to 11, 1942, during the break-out, he was at the head of the tractors towing the cannons. According to the testimony of Saint-Hillier: "Captain Bricogne left with a rifle and two grenades to assault a German machine gun ... We would never see him again". His body has never been found and is presumed dead on June 11, 1942.
In his "Mémoires de guerre", Charles de Gaulle cited Chef d'Escadron Bricogne among the three senior officers killed, when he was officially only a captain. Pierre Kœnig evoked Captain Bricogne as a Burgundian with a strong reddish mustache, not very elegant but of excellent family; he praised his aggressiveness against the enemy and his charisma on his subordinates.

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• - Charles BRICOGNE | L'Ordre de la Libération et son Musée