François-Henry Laperrine

François-Henry Laperrine
Born	Marie Joseph François Henry Laperrine d'Hautpoul September 29, 1860 (1860-09-29) Castelnaudary, France
Died	March 5, 1920 (1920-03-06) (aged 59) Sahara, French Algeria
Nationality	French

François-Henry Laperrine (born Marie Joseph François Henry Laperrine d'Hautpoul, September 29, 1860 – March 5, 1920) was a French general who served during World War I.

Biography

Laperrine entered the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in October 1878 and became a captain in the 2nd Dragoons in November 1891. Laperrine organized the Compagnie Méharistes Sahariennes in 1897.[1][2] He was a friend of Charles de Foucauld who was killed in 1916 in Tamanrasset.[3][4] The two were honored on a stamp of Algeria in 1950.

Laperrine died after a plane crash (a Breguet) in the Sahara in 1920. His companions, Lieutenant Bernard and mechanic Marcel Vasselin survived and recorded Laperrine's last words, "People think they know the desert...People think I know it. Nobody really knows it. I have crossed the Sahara ten times and I will stay here."[1] Bernard and Vasselin buried Laperrine near the plane, but when a rescue party arrived he was disinterred and buried in Tamanrasset next to Foucauld. The fort was named for Laperrine.

Honors

• Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur
• Croix de guerre 1914–1918
• Médaille coloniale avec agrafes Algérie, Soudan, Sénégal, Sahara, AOF
• Croix de guerre belge 1914–1918 avec palme

References

1. Fleming, Fergus (2004). The sword and the cross : two men and an empire of sand. New York: Grove Press. pp. 299. ISBN 978-0802141736.
2. Blaudin de Thé; Jacques Soustelle (1955). Historique des compagnies méharistes: 1902-1952. Imprimerie officielle.
3. de Foucauld, C.; Laperrine, M.J.F.H. (1954). Lettres inédites au général Laperrine: pacificateur du Sahara. La Colombe.
4. Foucauld, Charles de, and Marie Joseph François Henri Laperrine. Lettres inédites au général Laperrine, pacificateur du Sahara. Paris: La Colombe, 1954.

Further reading

• Germain, José; Stéphane Faye (1922). Un fils de France : le général Laperrine, grand Saharien. Paris : Plon.
• Gorée, G.; Thiout, M. (1948). Laperrine: la plus belle amitié saharienne du pére de Foucauld. B. Arthaud.
• Lehuraux, Léon. Laperrine, le saharien. Paris: Éditions de l'Encyclopédie de l'Empire français, 1947.
• Porch, Douglas (2005). The conquest of the Sahara (1st pbk. ed.). New-York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374128791.
• Smith, Tony (1978). The French stake in Algeria, 1945-1962. Ithaca: Cornell U.P. ISBN 978-0801411250.

External links

• Works by or about François-Henry Laperrine at the Internet Archive