Corlu, Jean-Marie

Date of birth:: August 8th, 1912 (Saint-Donat-sur-l'Herbasse, France)
Date of death:: August 30th, 1944 (Bobigny, France)
Nationality:: French

Biography

He entered Saint-Cyr on October 1, 1931, he left in 1933 (promotion of Tafilalet) to be assigned to the 24th Senegalese Tirailleurs Regiment (24th RTS). He became an instructor for the Senegalese troops in Perpignan.

Appointed for AOF in August 1934, he started at the 7th RTS where he was highly rated by his chefs. Promoted lieutenant in October 1935, he was assigned the following year to the Nomadic Group of Akjoujt in Mauritania, but he was obliged to return to France the following year and was assigned to the 8th BTS in Toulon.

In 1939 Jean-Marie Corlu returned to AOF and took command of the Meharist Group of Agadès. It was there that he was in June 1940.

On August 8, 1940, he decided to celebrate his birthday by switching to "dissidence". Since Niger remains under the obedience of Vichy, he decides to leave the territory. Sent by its leader to the north "in recognition of pastures", it stings to the south. On the back of a camel, escorted by two goumiers, he crosses the desert escaping all searches (every three hours, the radio stations in Niger broadcast the same message: "by all means, search for and arrest Lieutenant Corlu, from Nomadic Group of Agadès "). In ten days, he traveled 700 kilometers in the desert. Before crossing the border into British Nigeria, he sends his goumiers away with a message for the officers of Agades, indicating to those who would like to join him the route to follow.

In Sokoto, the capital, contact with the English is positive. Corlu is heading for Chad, joined by de Gaulle since August 26.

On September 6, he was in Fort-Lamy. Assigned to the Nomadic Group of Tibesti, he was entrusted with a delicate mission by Colonel Leclerc. Accompanying the survivors of an English patrol heading for Sudan, his task is to check whether the Italian post of El Aouenat is still in the hands of the enemy. And while the English patrol continues its march on Egypt, it joins, alone to report, the Column Leclerc.

Then he takes part in the Koufra operation. On February 25, 1941, with Captain Dio and a few men, he entered the fulcrum, inside the peripheral defenses, and chased the occupants, despite a violent fire from grenades and automatic weapons. Wounded in the legs by fragments of grenade, he covered with coolness the folds of his men. Cited to the order of the army, he was then appointed captain on March 1, 1941, before being hospitalized in Fort Lamy, then in Brazzaville.

In July 1941, Jean-Marie Corlu joined the Régiment de tirailleurs Senegalais du Tchad (RTST) in Fort-Lamy.

In November 1941 he took command of the 12th company of the RTST, making it an elite unit. But from June 1942 the disease overwhelmed him and immobilized him for many months. In October 1942, he was assigned to the Chedra group in Chad then, in February 1943, took command of the 12th RTST company with which he took part in the 2nd Fezzan campaign.

On February 27, 1943, he was again injured by jumping on a mine during a liaison mission in Ksar Rhilane in Tunisia. Evacuated to Egypt, he joined the Division in May and became, at 31, the youngest battalion commander in the Division.

He was called to the staff of the Régiment de Marche du Tchad (RMT) by Colonel Dio then, shortly before the departure of the 2 nd DB from Morocco for England, he was appointed deputy officer of the 1st battalion of the RMT .

On August 4, 1944, Commander Corlu landed at Sainte-Mère-Église. He fights during the capture of Alençon and Argentan. On August 25, he entered Paris at the head of the 1st Battalion of the RMT.

Two days later, it was the fighting at Le Bourget, Corlu left in a jeep with Captain Sammarcelli to reconnoitre the route of their cars and tanks. Engaged on the empty airfield at Dugny, they soon heard gunshots. Jean Corlu is seriously injured in the stomach. Captain Sammarcelli, himself hit by two bullets, had him evacuated.

At the Franco-Muslim hospital in Bobigny, exhausted, Commander Jean-Marie Corlu could not bear the operational shock and died on August 30 in his hospital room.