André Lalande

André Lalande (26 May 1913 – 19 October 1995) was an officer in the Chasseurs Alpins and in the French Foreign Legion.

He was a Breton who studied at the French military academy, the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr from 1931 to 1933 and was posted 2nd Lieutenant at Metz.

In 1937 he requested a transfer to the 6th Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins (6e BCA); with this unit he fought at the Battle of Narvik in April–June 1940, where he was wounded. In 1942, this service was awarded the Krigskorset med Sverd or Norwegian War Cross with Sword.

After the Battle of France, Lalande joined the Free French. In October 1941 he was posted to Beirut where he joined the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13e DBLE). With this unit he fought in the Battle of Bir Hakeim in May 1942 and the Second Battle of El Alamein, where he was again wounded.

He was promoted head of the 3rd battalion in June 1943. His unit was attached to the 1st Free French Division and took part in the assault on the Gustav Line in Italy in Spring 1944, Operation Dragoon (the Allied invasion of southern France) in August 1944, the battles on the German frontier in Alsace in the winter of 1944–1945, and in the capture of the last German holdouts in the Alps in April 1945.

Following World War II, Lalande volunteered to serve in the First Indochina War. Promoted to colonel of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment, he fought at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, where he was in charge of the "Isabelle" strongpoint. Lalande was captured when the position fell on May 7, 1954 and spent five months in a Viet Minh prison camp.

He fought in the Algerian War and was promoted to brigadier general in 1961.

Decorations

 * Grand Officer of the Légion d’Honneur
 * Companion of the Liberation
 * Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite
 * Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (2 citations)
 * Croix de guerre des Théatres d'Opérations Extérieures
 * Médaille Coloniale
 * Norwegian War Cross with Sword