Date of birth:

August 12th, 1909 (Saint-Germain-Sur-Moine, France)

Date of death:

April 30th, 1957 (Angers, France)

Nationality:

French

Saint-cyrien of the promotion 'General Mangin' (1929-1931), he served as a second lieutenant in the 23e Régiment d'Infanterie then as a lieutenant on the Maginot line.

In October 1935, he joined the 6e RTA in the Levant then in March 1938, the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment with which he was stationed in Algeria and Tunisia.

At the time of the declaration of war in 1939, he served in Syria, with the 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment. Victim of a fracture of the humerus on commissioned service in August 1940, he made several hospital stays until January 1941.

The following May, he chose to rally the Free French Forces in Palestine with Colonel Collet's Circassian squadrons. Hired under the pseudonym of Yves de la Hautière, he was promoted to captain in July 1941.

He took part within the 13th Demi-brigade of the Foreign Legion (13e DBLE), as company commander, in all the campaigns of the 1st Free French Division: Syria, Libya, Tripolitania and Tunisia.

In Algiers, in 1943, he and his company provided security for the first sessions of the Consultative Assembly.

With the 1st Battalion of the 13e DBLE, he distinguished himself in Italy first of all in the attack on Garigliano during which, on May 12, 1944, he was wounded in the head by mortar shards and then again in the arm. this time, by seizing, in close combat, on June 18, at the head of the first echelon of the battalion, of the castle of Radicofani and of the Villa Medici.

He landed in August 1944 in Provence and took part in the liberation of the territory. At the head of the command battalion of the "13", he took part in the Vosges campaign where, during the fighting at Fresse in October 1944, he demonstrated impressive calm. From November 1944 to January 1945, he again set the example of the greatest disregard for danger by ensuring numerous and perilous liaison missions.

In Alsace, Captain de la Hautière counter-attacked at Benfeld, at the head of the 3rd Company, on the night of January 11 to 12, 1945, thus allowing the retreat of the encircled garrisons of Rossfeld and Herbsheim.

After the German capitulation, still with the "13", he left for Indochina where he received a summons to the order of the army corps. Promoted to battalion commander, he joined Morocco in 1948, still in the Foreign Legion, before retiring in 1954.

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• - François CARRÉ de LUSANÇAY | L'Ordre de la Libération et son Musée