Lattre de Tassigny, Jean de

Lattre de Tassigny, Jean (-Marie-Gabriel) de

(born Feb. 2, 1889, Mouilleron-en-Pareds, France—died Jan. 11, 1952, Paris) French military leader. After service in World War I and later in Morocco, he was promoted to general in 1939. An infantry division commander in World War II, he was imprisoned by the Germans (1940–43), but he escaped to North Africa. In 1944 he led the French army in the Allied landing operations in southern France and in the drive across France into southern Germany and Austria. He represented France at the signing of the German capitulation (1945). In 1950–51 he commanded French troops in the First Indochina War against the Viet Minh. He was made a marshal of France posthumously.