Georges Bergé: Difference between revisions

|bornbirth_date= {{Birth-date|January 3, January 1909}}

|dieddeath_date= {{deathDeath-date and age|September 15, September 1997|January 3, January 1909}}

|placeofbirthbirth_place=[[Belmont, Gers|Belmont]], [[Gers]], [[France]]

|placeofdeathdeath_place=[[Mimizan]], [[France]]

|allegiance={{flagiconflag|Free France}} [[Free France]]<br>{{flagiconflag|France}} [[France]]

|branch=[[List of French paratrooper units|French ArmyAirborne]]

|serviceyears=1929-19301929–1930<br>1933-19621933–1962

|commands=1ère Compagnie de Chasseurs Parachutistes (1e CCP), <br>[[1st Airborne Marine Infantry Regiment|French Squadron SAS]], <br>14e Régiment d'infanterie parachutiste de Choc (RIPC)

'''Georges Roger Pierre Bergé''' (3 January 1909 – 15 September 1997) was a [[French Army]] general who served during [[World War II]]. He enlisted in the [[Free French Forces]], where he took command of the ''1re compagnie de chasseurs parachutistes'' (1st Parachute Chaser Company). He is mentioned by [[David Stirling]] as one of the co-founders of the [[Special Air Service]] (SAS). In Great-Britain and Egypt, he organised the training for Allied agents sent to [[France]] and led the first airborne mission in occupied France, named [[Operation Savannah]]. He fought in [[Syria]] and [[Crete]]. After his capture by the [[Germans]], he was imprisoned in [[Colditz Castle]].

Georges Bergé was born on January 1909 in Belmont, in the [[Gers]] département, [[France]]. He iswas drafted in 1929, and incorporated in the 24th infantry regiment in [[Mont-de-Marsan]], where he is trained as a reserve officer. In April 1930, he is demobilizeddemobilised as a [[second lieutenant]]. In 1933, he eventually choosechose a military career and integrateintegrated ''l'école de l'Infanterie et des Chars'' (Infantry and tanks school) in [[Saint-Maixent-l'École|Saint-Maixent]]. He is madebecame a lieutenant in 1934.

*May. He fightsfought inon the frontline. On 18th, while leading a successful counter-attack near [[Bousies]] in the North, he iswas wounded twice and transported to [[Arras]]. After hospitalizationhospitalisation in [[Caen]], he iswas evacuated further south.

:17th.17 - While visiting his parents in [[Mimizan]], [[Landes (department)|Landes]], he hearsheard marshal [[Philippe Pétain|Pétain]]'s radiodiffusedradio-broadcast speech.

:21st.21 - Refusing the armistice, Georges Bergé embarksembarked on a polishPolish boat in [[Saint-Jean-de-Luz]] and sailssailed for [[England]].

:24th.24 - Joining the [[Free French forces]] in London, he meetsmet general [[Charles de Gaulle]] at Saint Stephen's House and suggestssuggested himthat tohe form an airborne battailonbattalion.

*He integratesintegrated the air force staff of the [[Free French forces]].

*September. The ''1re Compagnie d'Infanterie de l'Air'' or 1re CIA (1st Airborne Infantry regiment) iswas formed with Bergé as its commanding officer.

*He is trained in the Ringway school ([[Manchester]]).

*December. Bergé and his men arewere now paratroopers.

:15th.15 He- isHe parachuted in France as leader of the first [[Free French]] mission in occupied France, [[Operation Savannah]], planned by the [[Special Operations Executive|SOE]].

:22nd.22- He joinsjoined [[Mimizan]] and contactscontacted friends to form a resistance network.

*April. On the 5th, he comescame back to England by submarine. Mission Savannah iswas over.

*Under the supervision of the [[Deuxième Bureau]] (then the [[Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action]], the [[Free French]] external [[military intelligence]] agency) and the SOE, he establishesestablished a special agents school -– 36th station of the SOE, Inchmery House, New Forest -– where most of the agents sent in France in 1941 and 1942 will bewere trained.

*July. On the 25th, with the 1re CIA, he iswas allocated in [[Damascus]] (Meze airfield)

*January. Allocated in Kabret in the Combined Training Center, west bank of the [[Suez Canal]], he formsformed the [[1st Airborne Marine Infantry Regiment|French SAS squadron]]. As the SAS expanded, the French squadron would be the first of a range of units to be 'acquired' by [[David Stirling]].

*January. Transferred in [[Colditz Castle]] (Oflag IV-C), he findsfound there Major Stirling, captured in a 1943 raid in Tunisia, and captainCaptain Augustin Jordan.

*April. On the 16th16, he iswas releasedset free by [[George S. Patton|Patton]]'s]] army.

Lieutenant-colonel Bergé iswas successively allocated to the Parachute inspection administration, to the military cabinet of the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]], to the National Defense' staff. He iswas then the military attaché for the French ambassyembassy in Rome.

*'''August 1951- – July 1953'''. He commandscommanded the 14th Régiment d'infanterie parachutiste de Choc (RIPC) in [[Toulouse]].

*[http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/81.html Georges Bergé on the Order of the Liberation's website ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828185514/http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/81.html |date=28 August 2010 }}