Astier de la Vigerie, who passed out of Saint-Cyr in 1909, was a fighter pilot in the Great War and came out of it with seven citations and five confirmed victories. In May and June 1940 he led the air battle of France; his command was taken from him because he wanted to withdraw the aircraft to North Africa. He then joined the Resistance, and reached London at the end of 1942.
The story
François d'Astier de la Vigerie was born at Le Mans on 7 March 1886 and came out of Saint-Cyr in 1909. A fighter pilot in the First World War, he finished it with five confirmed victories and seven citations, then commanded from 1926 to 1930 the Fez centre and the southern Moroccan air group.
A brigadier-general of the air force in 1936, he took over the Aix-en-Provence air region the following year, and in 1939 became a lieutenant-general commanding the air forces of the north-east. In May and June 1940 he directed the air battle of France; he was relieved of his command for wanting to withdraw the air force to North Africa.
He went into the Resistance in the autumn of 1940 and joined de Gaulle in London in November 1942. On 1 December he was appointed deputy to the commander-in-chief of the Free French Forces and a member of the High Military Committee.
In 1944 he worked with the inter-Allied command to prepare the French military share in the landings. He was then ambassador of France in Rio de Janeiro until 1946, and later campaigned for de Gaulle's return to power.
A Companion of the Liberation and grand officer of the Legion of Honour, he died on 9 October 1956. His two brothers, Henri and Emmanuel, were Companions of the Liberation as well — three brothers in an order that numbers only one thousand and thirty-eight. He lies in Division 10 with his grandfather, the ponts et chaussées engineer Louis Séraphin Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, who died in 1886.
The grave
The grave is that of the Chobert family: nothing in its architecture signals a Companion of the Liberation. The inscription that concerns him is as brief as his career was long — “General Baron d'Astier de la Vigerie, ambassador of France G.O., 1886-1956” — and keeps the diplomatic title rather than the command of 1940. His grandfather, Louis Séraphin Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie (1818-1886), an engineer of bridges and roads, rests in the same vault: it is this family's presence in Division 10 that long caused a grave in Père-Lachaise to be wrongly attributed to his brother Emmanuel.
On site, do not miss
A sober stone in the name of another family, the Choberts, where the general's inscription fits on one line: “ambassador of France”.
Visitors' questions
Where is General d'Astier de la Vigerie's grave?
In Division 10, Avenue Latérale Sud, second row. The stone is plain and bears the name of the Chobert family; the Guatemalan writer Miguel Ángel Asturias rests in the same division, on Chemin Méhul.
General GobertWhat was his role in 1940?
An air corps general, he led the air battle of France in May and June 1940. He was relieved of his command after proposing that the French air force withdraw to North Africa rather than be destroyed on the ground.
Marshal DavoutHow many of the d'Astier brothers were Companions of the Liberation?
Three: François, Henri and Emmanuel. It is a unique case of three brothers within an order that counts one thousand and thirty-eight Companions in total. Emmanuel, founder of Libération-Sud, is not buried here but at the Arronville cemetery.
Marshal LefebvreWhat did he do after the war?
He served as France's ambassador in Rio de Janeiro until 1946, having helped prepare French military participation in the 1944 landing operations. He later campaigned for General de Gaulle's return to power.
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