Opening Moves

Unlike many of his countrymen, Christophe Lavalle had fought long and hard, never surrendered, and had preserved his nations once-proud military tradition at a time when it lay in the dust and was trampled by jackbooted feet.

Initially serving with 1st Regiment Étrangère Infanterie in the hot and unfriendly surroundings of a frontier fort in Algeria, he distinguished himself sufficiently in the desert skirmishing to be promoted to Lieutenant. On the declaration of war, he was transferred to the mainland to provide experienced officer leadership for the brand-new 11th Regiment Étrangère Infanterie.

His military career nearly ended when, as a Capitaine in the 11th REI, Stuka dive-bombers attacked his convoy on its way forward in 1940. Unlike many of his men, Lavalle escaped to join his Regiment, just in time for it to be savaged and retreat once more as German columns raced around any pocket of resistance.

During one brief rearguard action, Lavalle had been felled by an explosion and was left for dead by his comrades. Coming to, dazed, disorientated and behind enemy lines, he gathered his wits and what supplies he could find on the battlefield and moved towards the nearest positions in which he believed friendly forces were positioned.

With immense determination, and not a little luck, he reached British lines and had his wounds tended. His arrival preceded yet another Stuka attack and in the subsequent German infantry assault, he was pressed into action alongside the men of a famous Scottish infantry regiment as he could still hold a rifle.

On one occasion, he personally rallied a group of six men and counter-attacked, retaking a machine-gun that was brought back into play with great effect. Two hours of sustained fighting saw him wounded once more, so he was packed off with some retreating medic’s and successfully evacuated across the channel to fight another day with De Gaulle’s Free French. The British officer commanding the jocks found time to record Lavalle’s actions on that day and so he found himself invested with the Military Cross by his allies. Not to be outdone, his own superiors honoured him with the Croix de Guerre.

It was at this time that he was given a transfer into the newly formed 13th Demi-Brigade, Légion Étrangère and, despite a negative start, he never looked back, leading his troops through many bloody campaigns.

Still recovering from his wounds, he developed a severe chest infection and so was considered unfit for full duty, missing the excursion of 13th D.B.L.E. into the Arctic waters around Norway. On the Legion’s return, he heard tell of the fighting qualities of the German paratroopers and mountain troops before the collapse of resistance elsewhere in Norway had forced the Legion to escape back to England.

In December 1940, 13th DBLE arrived in the French Cameroons, and then moved onto East Africa to assist the British at the battles of Keren and especially Massawa.

It was perhaps one of the war’s most tragic episodes that the Legion brigade to which Lavalle belonged was pitted against the Vichy 6th REI in the Syrian hills at Damas. Here, legionnaire killed legionnaire in extremely fierce fighting, despite many men knowing each other as former comrades and friends. 13th DBLE triumphed and at the end of the campaign many former 6th REI members volunteered to form a third battalion in Lavalle’s unit.

For his valour in this awful action, Lavalle received the Croix de Guerre’s Silver Star citation

In May 1942, Capitaine Lavalle led his legionnaires in defence of Bir Hakeim in the western desert, resisting the advances of the Italian Armoured Division “Ariete” and winning the Medaille Militaire for his leadership and personal tally of four Italian M13/40 tanks. All four vehicles were stopped just in front of his command bunker with a Boyes anti-tank rifle taken from a dead legionnaire.

Supporting RAF bombers mistakenly attacked the wrecked Italian vehicles on May 29th, thinking they were in fact live, and Lavalle was wounded in the head by a bomb fragment. He was unable to be evacuated because of the siege nature of the battle and, despite medical protestations, he continued to lead his unit in fierce fighting, particularly against the 90th Leichte Afrika Division. Lavalle finally withdrew his unit in good order on the 11th June, along with the rest of the Brigade. It was generally accepted that the defence of Bir Hakeim enabled the later successes, starting at El Alamein.

Lavalle excelled in combat, both personally and in a command role, and was considered a natural leader; a man who would be followed anywhere by the professionals he led. This was recognised by his superiors and a further step up the Croix de Guerre ladder came with the award of the Bronze Palm and he was promoted to the rank of Commandant. His promotion was welcomed by every man who served under him, for fighting soldiers like to be led by competent men.