Général Auguste Joseph Marie Lahoulle was a French military officer who began his career as a World War I

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

. He was a double ace during the war, credited with ten confirmed aerial victories.

Service before and during World War I

Ground service

Auguste Lahoulle began a four-year enlistment on 10 October 1910. He was promoted to enlisted ''

brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

'' and sent to

École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM, literally the "Special Military School of Saint-Cyr") is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto is ...

as an '' aspirant'' on 12 October 1911. He was subsequently commissioned as a ''

sous-lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 19 ...

'' and assigned to heavy cavalry. He became one of the first casualties of the war, suffering a serious wounding and medical evacuation on 9 August 1914. On 1 October, he was promoted to lieutenant; on 21 December, he returned to combat duty. Nine days later, he was appointed a ''Chevalier'' in the ''Légion d'honneur''.Franks, Bailey, p. 181.

Aerial service

On 13 April 1916, he was seconded to aviation duty to train as an observer/gunner. On 19 May, he was assigned to '' Escadrille 48'' as a

Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...

observer. On 4 January 1917, he transferred to another Nieuport unit, ''Escadrille 23''; on the 28th, he was sent to

Avord Avord () is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Geography A farming area comprising the village and several hamlets situated by the banks of the river Yèvre, some east of Bourges at the junction of ...

as a pilot trainee. On 18 May 1917, he received Military Pilot's Brevet No. 4817 before being forwarded for advanced training at Pau on 24 July. On 18 September 1917, he was assigned to ''Escadrille N12'' ('N' denoting unit's use of Nieuport aircraft), only to transfer back to ''Escadrille N48'' on 16 October. On 19 January 1918, he was transferred yet again, to ''Escadrille 57'' as a SPAD pilot. Two months later, on 23 March, Lahoulle teamed with

Marcel Haegelen Colonel Marcel Émile Haegelen (13 September 1896 – 24 May 1950), Légion d'honneur, Médaille militaire, Croix de Guerre, was a World War I French flying ace credited with 22 victories. Biography Early life and military service Claude Marcel ...

and

Jean Chaput Lieutenant Jean Chaput was a French World War I flying ace credited with 16 aerial victories. Biography Jean Marc Chaput was born on 17 September 1893 in Paris.''Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United Sta ...

to shoot down and capture balloon busting ace

Erich Thomas Leutnant Erich Thomas was a World War I German flying ace credited with ten aerial victories. Nine of these were observation balloons he destroyed.The Aerodrome website http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/thomas1.php Retrieved on 19 April 201 ...

in his

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...

; the French trio also downed a second Albatros accompanying Thomas. Two days later, Lahoulle was selected to command ''Escadrille 154''. He opened his account with them on 1 April, teaming with Xavier Moissinac to destroy an

observation balloon An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War ...

over Fresnoy-en-Chaussee for a third victory. Three more Germans, all flying

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qui ...

s, fell under Lahoulle's guns in May, Moissinac assisting with two of them. On 16 June, Lahoulle destroyed another German fighter plane. Then, on 15 July, in a long day's audacious combat, he flew with

Michel Coiffard Michel Joseph Callixte Marie Coiffard (16 July 1892 – 29 October 1918) was one of the leading French flying aces of World War I. He was notable for his success as a balloon buster shooting down enemy observation balloons, which were usually hea ...

and a couple of other French pilots to destroy three German balloons in the vicinity of Goussancourt. In the process, Lahoulle was again seriously wounded and evacuated. He was then elevated within the ''Légion d'honneur'' to ''Officier'' on 5 August 1918. On 1 November 1918, he was selected for duty with the Under-Secretary of State for Aviation.

Post-war service

Lahoulle remained in the profession of arms. He ran the school for fighters at

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, where he himself had trained. He was elevated once more within the ''Légion d'honneur'', to ''Commandeur''. During World War II, in 1942, he commanded the fighters stationed at

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

, Morocco, reaching his final rank of General in the process. Auguste Joseph Marie Lahoulle died in Rabat on 17 April 1959.

References

External links