Cauloudon, Emile

Date of birth:: December 29th, 1907 (Clermont-Ferrand, France)
Date of death:: June 1st, 1977 (Clermont-Ferrand, France)
Nationality:: French

Biography

Mobilized in 1939, Staff Sergeant Coulaudon was taken prisoner on June 22, 1940 in Gérardmer and escaped from Colmar on July 8, 1940.

He resumed his post of regional director of the Philips Company in Clermont-Ferrand and joined the resistance movement "Combat" created by Henri Frenay, of which he was, from November 1942, leader of the Frankish groups for the Clermont-Ferrand region.

At the same time, he became the leader of the 1er Corps franc d'Auvergne and departmental combat leader for the Puy de Dôme. He then directs and carries out, with specialized teams, direct actions on the enemy: the sabotage of the steelworks of Les Ancizes on two occasions, of the German transmitting station of Royat, of liquid oxygen in Massiac, of the extractor of Pont- du-Château, the attack on a German troop train at Les Martres, the destruction of 150 high-voltage pylons in a single day and the Polminhac factory, etc.

He recovered more than 200,000 liters of gasoline, 100 tonnes of clothing from the Chatelguyon and Vertaizon depots, more than 150 light and heavy vehicles, several thousand weapons (weapons depots at Massiac, Coudes, etc. ).

Departmental head for the Puy de Dôme of the United Resistance Movements (MUR) from their creation in February 1943, then regional head of the Secret Army (AS) a year later, Émile Coulaudon was then appointed head of the FFI of Region R 6 (Allier, Cantal, Haute-Loire and Puy de Dôme).

After the meeting of the Regional Liberation Committee chaired by Henry Ingrand on April 29, 1944, he obtained the agreement which authorized him to order the mass levy of all the members of the various Resistance movements in Region R 6. This levy in Mass began on May 15, 1944, and all able-bodied "sedentaries" then joined the Monts de la Margeride, at the junction of the departments of Haute-Loire, Lozère and Cantal.

At Mont Mouchet (1465 meters above sea level, 40 km of forests), 2,700 men were in place on June 2 when a formation of 800 Germans attacked from the south, four days before the Normandy landings. They are pushed back on Paulhac and lose a certain number of men, while the maquisards have only three wounded.

On June 10, 1944, two enemy divisions attacked on several fronts but they were defeated and retreated the same evening to Saint-Flour and Saugues. The next day, they set out again to assault and fail to break down the fifteen companies in place, equipped with automatic weapons. With his chief of staff, Colonel Garcie, and in agreement with Henry Ingrand, Émile Coulaudon, known as Colonel Gaspard, ordered the stall at 10 p.m., ammunition running out in some companies.

The reconstituted companies and increased in strength then represent 4,000 men who will undergo, nine days later, a new assault from the two German divisions which fought at Mont Mouchet who receive reinforcement from the south (Montpellier / Mende). The battle is very hard and, a second time, the FFI hold out until nightfall. Once again the stall was decided, faced with the risk of an encirclement initiated by the Germans. On the morning of June 21, the latter found a void in front of them, but they savagely exterminated a dozen seriously wounded who had not been able to withdraw in time.

From that moment, the guerrillas raged on all the roads where had been prepared, since 1943, areas which had already proved their worth with the destruction of factories, railways, power lines and in the fight against Militia and the Gestapo.

The German forces wishing to go back to the north, where they could have played an important role in the face of the Allied landing troops, found themselves harassed day and night, the railroads cut, the bridges destroyed.

After the liberation of Saint-Flour, Issoire, Clermont-Ferrand, Vichy, Montluçon and Moulins, 22,000 Germans, driven back from the Massif Central and the South-West on the Loire, chased by the FFI of Auvergne, Limousin and the South -West, capitulate in Decize in the Nièvre.

After the liberation of Clermont-Ferrand on August 27, 1944, he became the assistant to the colonel and then to the general commanding the 13th Military Region.

After the war, Émile Coulaudon was, until 1947, deputy mayor of Clermont-Ferrand, Gabriel Montpied.