Paul Arnaud de Foïard

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Paul Arnaud de Foïard
9 September 1921 – 7 August 2005

Place of birth Meudon, France
Place of death Nérac, France
Allegiance France
Service/branch French Army
Years of service 1941-1981
Rank Général de corps d’armée
Commands held 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment
11th Parachute Division
Battles/wars World War II
First Indochina War
Algerian War

Paul Marie Félix Jacques René Arnaud de Foïard (9 September 1921 – 7 August 2005) was a French Army general, he took part in World War II, First Indochina War and Algerian War.

[edit] Biography

He joined the French Resistance at twenty. Emprisoned, he managed to escape and join the Free French Forces. He joined for the duration of the war and was posted to the 501st Tank Regiment.

He was posted as an aspirant to the 3rd Battalion, Foreign Legion Marsch Regiment on 1 April 1944. He landed in Southern France and took part in offensive of the First French Army, during which he was wounded. He was leader of a section in Germany and received the médaille militaire in 1945.

Assinged to the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment, he takes part in the reconquest of French Indochina where he was wounded a second time. He was made Knight of the Légion d'honneur in 1947; he volunteered to serve as section leader in the parachute company of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment in 1948.

Promoted to captain in 1952, he took command of the 2nd Company of the 1st Battalion, 1st Foreign Regiment in Sidon, Algeria. At the end of his command, he was assigned to the morale service of the Foreign Legion as editor of the Képi blanc magazine in Sidi-Bel-Abbes. He is given command of the 5th Company of the 4th Foreign Regiment in 1955. He then returns to France in 1957 as a part of the Foreign Legion depot. After the Ecole de guerre, he returns to the Foreign Legion at the operation bureau of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment from 1962 to 1963. He took command of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment in 1965 at Bou Sfer and will command it during its move to Calvi, Corsica until 1967.

He commanded the 11th Parachute Division from 1975 to 1977. He retired from active service on 11 September 1981 with the grade of Général de corps d’armée, having commanded the Ecole de guerre in Paris for four years.

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