Émile Laure

Auguste Marie Émile Laure
Born June 3, 1881
Apt, Vaucluse, France
Died 1957
Hyères
Allegiance France, Vichy France
Service/branch French Army
Rank Général d'armée (Army general)
Commands held Division d'Alger
9e Corps d'Armée
VIIIe Armée
Spouse(s) Eugénie Marguerite Degasquet (married in Draguignan on September 27, 1908)
Other work Secretary-General to the Head of State (Philippe Pétain) under Vichy France

Auguste Marie Émile Laure (June 3, 1881 – 1957) was a French général d'armée (Army general).[1]

He was born June 3, 1881 in Apt, Vaucluse, France.[2] His father was Jacques Ernest Laure (Ingénieur des Arts et Manufactures). His mother was Marguerite Marie Louise Duval. He died in Hyères in 1957. He married Eugénie Marguerite Degasquet in Draguignan on September 27, 1908.

Just prior to World War II, he commanded the 9th Military Region. At the time of the outbreak of World War II, he commanded 9e Corps d'Armée. At the Fall of France, he commanded 8th Army until his capture. After his release, he served the Vichy government as Secretary-General to the Head of State until April 1942.[3]

In 1940, he was the commanding officer of the VIIIe Armée on the Lorraine front.

He was imprisoned in La Bresse, with four other generals, on June 22, 1940.[4]

Freed following the intervention of marshal Pétain, Laure became secretary general of the office of the head of state (secrétaire général du cabinet du chef de l'État) on November 15, 1940[5][6] and, in December, secretary general of the Légion française des combattants (LFC), the Vichy veterans organization, replacing Xavier Vallat. He left this position in 1942 after the return of Pierre Laval to the government. He was arrested by the Germans in December 1943 and deported to Germany. He was not released until May 1945.

He was tried in the Épuration légale (French: "legal purge") anti-collaborator trials that followed World War II in France. He was acquitted on July 2, 1948.

His son, René Laure, also became a general in the French army. Another son, Henri Laure, became an admiral.

Publications

References

  1. Vanwelkenhuyzen, Jean (2007). Le gâchis des années 30: 1933-1937 1. Bruxelles: Racine. p. 163, footnote 3. ISBN 2873864087. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  2. Naissance en 1881 - État civil - Archives départementales de Vaucluse
  3. "Laure, Auguste-Marie-Emile". The Generals of WWII, Generals from France. Generals dk. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  4. The circumstances under which he was imprisoned are described in volume 3 (L'armée broyée, chapitre XVIII) of the work by Roger Bruge Les Combattants du 18 juin (Fayard, 1987)
  5. "PETAIN ADDS GENERAL TO STAFF OF COUNCIL; Makes Laure Secretary in Shift -- Creates New Board". The New York Times. November 18, 1940. 17-General Auguste-Marie-Emile Laure, just released after four months as a prisoner in Germany, has been called by Chief of State Marshal Henri Philippe ...
  6. "VICHY SEEKS OWN WAY OF TOTALITARIANISM; Pucheu Emphasizes Catholicism in Post-War Role of France". The New York Times. October 31, 1941. The future foreseen for the French Legion by M. Pucheu was forecast recently by General Emile Laure, chief of Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain's military Cabinet ...