Georges Loustaunau-Lacau (17 April 1894 – 11 February 1955) was a French army officer,

anticommunist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

conspirator, resistant and politician. Loustaunau-Lacau was born in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and in 1912 began his studies at the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

's officer school, the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr. He served on the staffs of

Maxime Weygand Maxime Weygand (; 21 January 1867 – 28 January 1965) was a French military commander in World War I and World War II. Born in Belgium, Weygand was raised in France and educated at the Saint-Cyr military academy in Paris. After graduating in 1 ...

and

Hubert Lyautey Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (17 November 1854 – 27 July 1934) was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. Early in ...

. Loustaunau-Lacau replaced Charles de Gaulle on the staff of Marshal

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

. An officer with far-right and anticommunist views, he was one of the founders of the ''Union des Comités d'action défensive'', also known as the ''Corvignolles'' network, the military branch of La Cagoule. His complicity with that organisation was discovered during the investigations ordered by

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Marx Dormoy, and he was dismissed from the army in 1938 by order of

War Minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in so ...

Édouard Daladier Édouard Daladier (; 18 June 1884 – 10 October 1970) was a French Radical-Socialist (centre-left) politician, and the Prime Minister of France who signed the Munich Agreement before the outbreak of World War II. Daladier was born in Carpe ...

. He was recalled to active service at the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

but was arrested on the orders of Daladier on 22 March 1940 and imprisoned at Obernai. Later in 1940, under Pétain's new

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

, Loustaunau-Lacau was appointed to head the Légion française des combattants (LFC), a veterans' organisation created by Vichy France. Loustaunau-Lacau used his new post as a cover to recruit agents for a resistance organisation that was later known as the Alliance network. He was replaced as head of LFC by

Xavier Vallat Xavier Vallat (December 23, 1891 – January 6, 1972), French politician and antisemite who was Commissioner-General for Jewish Questions in the wartime Vichy collaborationist government, and was sentenced after World War II to ten years in pr ...

and sent to

French North Africa French North Africa (french: Afrique du Nord française, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is the term often applied to the territories controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era, namely Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. I ...

, where his former chief, Marshal Weygand, had him arrested in May 1941. Loustaunau-Lacau escaped and returned to France, where he was arrested and later deported to

Mauthausen Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regu ...

concentration camp. He survived his imprisonment and after the war entered conventional politics. He was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

in 1951 to represent Basses-Pyrénées (now

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...

). Loustaunau-Lacau was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general on 3 February 1955 and died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

eight days later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loustaunau-Lacau, Georges 1894 births 1955 deaths People from Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine Deputies of the 2nd National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic French military personnel of World War I French military personnel of World War II French Resistance members Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Order of the Francisque recipients