Date of birth:

May 29th, 1908 (Bilbao, Spain)

Date of death:

January 2nd, 1967 (Nancy, France)

Nationality:

French

After graduating as an engineer, he did his military service as an EOR at the Versailles Tank School, then as a second lieutenant in the 510th Combat Tank Regiment in Nancy.

In 1931, he joined Laiterie Saint-Hubert, a large agrifood company.

At the same time, he enrolled in the faculty of pharmacy where he prepared and obtained a diploma in microbiology.

Mobilized in 1939 as tank lieutenant, Charles Clerc volunteered for Syria, where he was assigned to the Homs tank battalion. In his capacity as "Gadz'Arts", he was then seconded to the Beirut automobile annex park, as head of the tank workshop.

Responding to General de Gaulle's call, he reached Palestine on June 30, 1940, and joined in Haifa the 3rd company of the 24th RIC of Tripoli, which soon took the name of 1st Marine Infantry Battalion (1st BIM) .

The 1st Company of the 1st BIM left Ismailia to join in Solum, in Egypt, the British troops of General Wavell who, in December 1940, took the offensive against the Italian troops of the Graziani army. In January 1941, Lieutenant Charles Clerc achieved a masterful blow during the raid on Tobruk by capturing six enemy posts. What earned him to be quoted to the order of the Army and made Companion of the Liberation by General de Gaulle on March 7, 1941.

In June 1941, with the 1st Free French Light Brigade commanded by General Legentilhomme, he returned to Syria then he was assigned to the 1st Free French Brigade, which, under the orders of General Koenig, distinguished himself in Libya and Egypt in Halfaya, Bir-Hakeim and El Alamein, alongside the British 8th Army.

The scientific and technical skills of Captain Charles Clerc earned him the responsibility of setting up the auto service of the 1st Free French Division. He created from scratch the first heavy mobile divisional support workshop through which the Division would travel thousands of kilometers.

After the reconquest of Tunisia in 1943, Captain Clerc, original rider, was assigned to General Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division, then in training in Morocco. He was in charge of the equipment management of this large unit with which he joined England in April 1944; he was one of the first elements to land in Normandy in August 1944.

At the head of a reconnaissance group, he took part in the race which, from Normandy, took Leclerc to Paris, Strasbourg and the Rhine.

Appointed lieutenant-colonel in the fight between Baccarat and Strasbourg, Charles Clerc ended the war under the orders of General de Larminat in operations to reduce the pockets of the Atlantic.

As soon as the hostilities ended, Charles Clerc resumed his duties at the Saint-Hubert dairy, where he became deputy general manager and administrator.

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