Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque

Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947), was a French general during World War II; he became Marshal of France posthumously, in 1952. He was born Philippe François Marie, Comte de Hauteclocque, but changed his legal name in 1945 to incorporate his French resistance alias Jacques-Philippe Leclerc. He is generally known in France simply as Maréchal Leclerc. Philippe de Hauteclocque was born on 22 November 1902 at Bell... more

Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947), was a French general during World War II; he became Marshal of France posthumously, in 1952. He was born Philippe François Marie, Comte de Hauteclocque, but changed his legal name in 1945 to incorporate his French resistance alias Jacques-Philippe Leclerc. He is generally known in France simply as Maréchal Leclerc. Philippe de Hauteclocque was born on 22 November 1902 at Belloy-Saint-Léonard in the department of Somme. He was the fifth of six children of Adrien de Hauteclocque, comte de Hauteclocque (1864-1945) and Marie-Thérèse van der Cruisse de Waziers (1870-1956). Philippe was named in honour of an ancestor killed by Croats in 1635. Leclerc came from an old line of country nobility; his direct ancestors had served in the Fifth Crusade against Egypt and again in the Eighth Crusade of Saint Louis against Tunisia in 1270. They had also fought at the great battles of Saint-Omer in 1340 and Fontenoy in 1745. The... less