Pirot, Charles

Early Service

Born in the town of Champlit in the Upper Sona Department. Father - Charles Pirot Sr., a brewer; mother - Marie Matilda Bogley ^[2] . On August 30, 1926 he married Odette Marie Mayo ( French Odette Marie Maillot ). He served in the French Foreign Legion. In 1940 he became a holder of the Legion of Honor, on December 30, 1948 he was awarded the order with the rank of commander ^[3] . Member of the Second World War and the battles of the Italian campaign. He commanded the 41st colonial artillery regiment.

Travel to Vietnam

After the end of World War II, he served in Indochina, having arrived there in October 1945 with the rank of major in the army under the command of Philip Leclerc . Initially, he served as an infantryman, since the army required infantrymen, not artillerymen ^[4] . He showed his commanding qualities in the battle for Tudamot when he commanded units in the area of ​​Tudamot, north of Saigon ^[5] . On December 17, 1946, Pirot was wounded as a result of an Vietnamese attack from an ambush. His left arm was amputated without anesthesia ^[5] , he himself was sent to France for treatment. A year later he returned to the French units, but in 1950 he was dismissed from his command post by the decision of General de Tassigny .

Dienbienf

At the end of 1953, he became the artillery commander of the Northwest Operational Group in Dienbienfu, commanded by Christian de Castries . At the disposal of the French troops there were only 30 medium and heavy guns, although a huge amount of ammunition was delivered to the war zone by the French. De Castries considered such use of artillery unreasonable, but Pirot said that if the Vietnamese could drag the artillery over the hilly terrain covered with the jungle, then only a small number of it, and then its artillery, if properly positioned, could control the course of the battle and quickly destroy the enemy ^[6] . He said that to defeat the Vietnamese troops he even had more guns than necessary, and that the Vietnamese would not have time to make three shots before they were found and destroyed ^[7] . He told his colleagues that as soon as the Vietnamese open fire, they will find themselves, and the artillery will have to deal with them within five minutes ^[8] .

During the first four months, Pirot’s predictions came true, as the French held in the valley. However, the Vietnamese took advantage of the lull to secretly transport a large amount of artillery through the jungle, place it at heights and use it to fire at all French positions. The numerical superiority of the French was already nullified, since it was unrealistic to provide fire support to the scattered parts of the Legion. The battle began with a three-day shelling of French positions by Vietnamese artillery under the command of General Vo Nguyen Zyap . French artillery could not help ground units defend fortified positions on the Gabriell and Beatrice hills, which were occupied by the Vietnamese. Pirot fell into depression, realizing that his artillery could not help the defenders ^{[9] [10]} .

Death

On March 15, 1954, Pirot ran into his bunker, pulled a check from a grenade and put it on his chest, committing suicide in order to avoid shame ^[10] . He was secretly buried in a bunker, but a few days later unknown sources spread the news of the death of a lieutenant colonel ^[10] . The commander's successor was Lieutenant Colonel Guy Velian, who arrived on March 20, 1954 in a medical service airplane, one of the few that successfully landed during the battle ^[10] .

• Charles Jean Clément Piroth, base MémorialGenWeb, association des contributeurs et administrateurs de MémorialGenWeb. (fr.)