Joseph de La Porte du Theil (29 May 1884-5 November 1976) was a French Army General who commanded the French 7th Army Corps during World War II.
Biography[]
Joseph de La Porte du Theil was born in Mende, France on 29 May 1884, and he served as chief of a French Army artillery squadron during World War I. From 1919 to 1930, he served as an artillery school instructor, and he also became involved in the scouting movement due to his interest in the supervision and training of French youths. On 2 July 1940, after Marshal Philippe Petain took control of the government, La Porte du Theil was given charge of implementing further youth workshops under Vichy France, and he was one of the ministers to sentence Charles de Gaulle to death on 2 August. He then abandoned all military functions to head the Chantiers youth organization, and he excluded young French Jews from construction programmes. On 8 November 1942, during Operation Torch, he remained loyal to the Vichy government and escaped to metropolitan France rather than join the Vichy forces in North Africa in joining the Allied forces. On 4 January 1944, he was removed from office and arrested after protesting at the deportation of his workers to German work camps, and he was interned in Austria until his liberation and recapture by French forces on 4 May 1945. After the war, he was acquitted of wrongdoing during the war.