André Lalande

Who was André Lalande?

André Lalande 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; 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. 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 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.