Henri Tourtet

Henri Tourtet (Montélimar, 21 July 1899 - Mort pour la France Saint-Georges-de-Didonne 15 April 1945), was a French soldier and Companion of Liberation. After serving in the First World War, he pursued his military career in Africa, taking part in the Rif War.

During the Second World War, after taking part in the Battle of France, his sympathy for Gaullism led to him being placed under surveillance by the French state and sent to Martinique to perform lower-ranking tasks. However, he led a revolt that contributed to the island's rallying to Free France. On his return to metropolitan France at the head of a battalion he had created, he was killed during the fighting to reduce the Royan pocket.

Biography

Youth and education Henri Tourtet was born on 21 July 1899 in Montélimar, in the Drôme region of France. The son of an officer, he spent his schooling at the Ecole des Enfants de Troupe in Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais.

First world war His father and elder brother were killed on the front in 1916. Taking part in the battles of the Chemin des Dames and the Aisne, he was promoted corporal in January 1918 and sergeant the following month.

Between the world wars In 1920, he was promoted to second lieutenant after attending École de l'infanterie at Saint-Maixent. He subsequently joined the 7th Senegalese Rifle Regiment, then the 13th Senegalese Rifle Regiment, before travelling through Algeria, Senegal and Guinea. However, he refused to be evacuated and even replaced his battalion commander who had been killed in action. On 27 June, in Balata (a military camp on the outskirts of Fort de France), a company of soldiers mutinied and claimed Commandant Tourtet as their leader. In April 1945, the BMA5 was present on the Atlantic coast where it was involved in the operations to reduce the Royan pocket. While he was inspecting the area and heading out of the village to observe the German lines, he was killed by a burst of machine-gun fire. In Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, an avenue has been named in his honour. At the entrance to the latter, his name appears on the stele commemorating the liberation of April 1945.