A few meters from the place where Pierre Blanchet grew up, a car park has recently offered 47 parking spaces to Bollenois residents. At the same place where a former private materials warehouse was demolished. The development, intended for cars, motorcycles and bicycles, soon equipped with two electric charging stations, was carried out by the Braja company for €158,000.
This Wednesday, after the May 8 ceremony, civil and military personalities and flag bearers gathered around the mayor, Anthony Zilio, to inaugurate the parking lot which now bears the name of Pierre Blanchet, this child from the village who fell at the front. “I did not know my father, since he died in combat on June 18, 1944 in Radicofani, Italy, three months before my birth. But I know he didn’t like honors. General de Gaulle told me that after the battle of Bir-Hakeim, he had refused the Cross of Liberation on the grounds that if it was given to him, it would have to be given to his entire company. This is why it was only awarded to him posthumously.“, said, moved, France Boyon, her daughter.
Graduate of HEC
Son of an officer, Pierre Blanchet was born in 1907 in Bollène. He studied at the Avignon high school then in Marseille and took the Polytechnique entrance exam. Admitted orally, he was unable to attend due to illness but ultimately passed the HEC entrance exam. Called for military service in October 1929, he attended the Reserve Officers’ School before being posted to Tunisia. He returned to civilian life with the rank of second lieutenant.
In 1931, a young graduate of HEC, he had to join the Bank of Indochina when his brother-in-law, Colonel Louis Fabre, director of the police of the French concession of Shanghai, offered him to take command of the municipal guard. Pierre Blanchet accepts and leaves for China. He commands the guard there whose mission is to maintain order. Placed on special assignment when war was declared, he insisted on being mobilized there in May 1940. He was named commander of the Poulo Condorre garrison, but the armistice of June 1940 prevented him from reaching France. Demobilized at his request, he returned to Shanghai a few weeks later. He then resumed his position as commander of the guard and, shortly after, replaced his brother-in-law as head of the Shanghai police, where he was the victim of an attack.
Married, just father of a little boy, Pierre Blanchet refuses defeat. In 1941, he reached Manila where, thanks to the British embassy, he was able to join the Free French Forces in the Middle East. Assigned to Marching Battalion No. 1, he took part in the Syrian campaign in June 1941.
Promoted to captain in September 1941, in April 1942 he joined the ranks of the Pacific Battalion with which he took part in the Libyan campaign and in particular in the battles of Bir-Hakeim. Wounded, he refused to leave his command. Two days later, he managed to bring almost his entire company back to the Allied lines at the time of the evacuation, on the night of June 10 to 11.
Killed in Radicofani attack
The day after Bir-Hakeim he left with his unit for the battle of Bir-Hakeim, then participated in the operations in Tunisia.
The fighting in Africa ended, in 1943 the Bollenois trained young recruits from Corsica to make them the 2nd company of the BIMP which he commanded during the Italian campaign. Wounded for the first time during the Girofano attack, he was not evacuated until several days later. Quickly treated, he spontaneously took over command of the 2nd company.
On June 18, 1944, during the last offensive of the 1st Free French Division, Captain Pierre Blanchet was killed by a shell during the attack on Radicofani (Italy). He was buried in the French military cemetery in Rome.
J.B.
#French
