caption serviceyears branch commands death_date death_place birth_place allegiance awards battles birth_date rank image article_title name
general after he joined de gaulle 's staff . georges catroux in london , october 1940 , 1898 - 1961 french army 19th corps 21 december 1969 paris limoges , haute-vienne france grand cross of the légion d'honneur world war i world war ii 29 january 1877 général d'armée georges catroux 1940.jpg georges catroux
 georges catroux
georges catroux

georges albert julien catroux -lrb- 29 january 1877 -- 21 december 1969 -rrb- was a french army general and diplomat who served in both world war i and world war ii , and served as grand chancellor of the légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969 .
catroux was born in limoges , haute-vienne .
he was the son of a career officer who had risen through the ranks .
he was educated at the prytanée national militaire , and entered the École spéciale militaire de saint-cyr in 1896 .
in the early years of his distinguished military career , catroux moved from algeria -lrb- where he met charles de foucauld and then lyautey -rrb- to indochina .
in 1915 , while commanding a battalion , he was taken prisoner by the germans .
during his time in captivity , catroux met charles de gaulle , who was then a captain .
after world war i , he became a member of the french military mission to arabia , and then served in morocco , algeria and the levant .
in july 1939 , catroux was appointed governor general of french indochina , and in august 1939 , one month before the declaration of war , took over from a senior civil servant .
paris wanted to send a strong signal to the far east on the eve of hostilities .
however , after the first japanese ultimatum of 17 june 1940 , and following disagreements with the new vichy government , catroux was ordered to hand over his post to admiral jean decoux on 25 june .
he initially ignored the order , and only resigned on 20 july .
he then chose to join de gaulle , who was by now leader of the free french movement .
as a five-star general , catroux was the most senior officer of the french army to transfer allegiance .
officially honored as a french liberation fighter , catroux was minister for north africa in the first government of charles de gaulle from 9 september 1944 to 21 october 1945 , and became ambassador to the ussr in 1945-48 .
after the unrest in morocco , catroux negotiated the return of the sultan mohammed v in 1955 .
as resident minister in algeria for the government of guy mollet in 1956 , he was unable to take up his post because of demonstrations in algiers by french residents on 6 february .
catroux presided over a board of inquiry , the catroux commission , that investigated the french defeat at the battle of dien bien phu .
he was also the judge in the military tribunal which tried the generals involved in the seizure of power in algiers in 1961 .
he died in paris in 1969 .
