Portrait photographique dédicacé et signé de Jean de Lattre de Tassigny

Photographic three-quarter bust portrait of Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in uniform.

Slight foxing.

Autograph inscription signed by Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in faded blue ink in the upper right corner: "To my friend Pauchant, President of Rancourt-Verdun, most cordially and faithfully... Verdun 1937 - Colmar 1947." (our own translation)

On February 2, 1947, Inspector General of the Army Jean de Lattre de Tassigny presided over ceremonies marking the second anniversary of the liberation of Colmar in Alsace, accompanied by American General Millburn. It was almost certainly following this event that the French general sent his inscribed portrait marked "Colmar 1947" to the Rancourt-Verdun Association, composed of veterans of the 351st and 151st Infantry Regiments. The latter regiment was founded at Belfort, not far from Colmar.

"Verdun 1937" represents another significant date, both for Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and for the Rancourt-Verdun Association. In January 1937, Lattre de Tassigny was colonel of the 151st Regiment when the regiment's World War I veterans presented the fourragère to new recruits. It was also de Lattre de Tassigny who in 1945 reconstituted this same regiment, which had been dissolved during World War II.

Famous image of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny aboard the ship taking him to the beaches of the Provence Landing, enhanced by a "commemorative" inscription to the Rancourt-Verdun Association.