Philippe Erulin


Philippe Louis Edmé Marie François Erulin was a senior officer in the French Army. He came from a family of renowned officers and military traditions.
He is best known as the Colonel Commandant of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 2e REP, who directed the military intervention in Zaïre against the Katanga rebels responsible for several massacres. It was the success in the Battle of Kolwezi which resulted in the liberation of the majority of the Katanga rebels' hostages. However, Erulin was later accused of having used torture during the Algeria War; an accusation that remains unsubstantiated and controversial.

Biography

Family

His grandfather, Lieutenant-colonel Louis-Joseph Erulin, as well as his father, Lieutenant-colonel André Erulin, were both officers, both having graduated from Saint-Cyr, having each served in a World War. His father received the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945, Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures, Resistance Medal with rosette, and the Commandeur of the Legion of Honour, then died in Indochina in 1951 at the head of Mobile Group 4 under the orders of Général Jean de Lattre de Tassigny who stated while presiding over pronouncing the Military Honours:
His brother Dominique stated that his parents gave them a very strict education, and that at the death of his father, Philippe Erulin inherited a part of the family responsibilities.

Military career

Officer of the 1er RCP

Engaged for 8 years at the ESMIA promotion « French Union » on September 29, 1952, Philipe Erulin followed the course of the school of infantry application until January 1955. He was assigned to the 1e RCP from 1954 to 1959 at Bône then Philippeville with the rank of lieutenant.
He was assigned to the 6th company of the 153rd Motorized Infantry Regiment 153e RIM at Bône Algeria and assumed the commandment of that latter on June 1, 1962. The 153e RIM, repatriated from Algeria became mechanized and garrisoned at Mutzig on January 4, 1963.
He participated at the corps of this regiment to the Algerian War and Operation Musketeer. In Algeria, he directed a section which combat engaged notably in the Aurès and in Kabylie. He was wounded twice out of which one was serious, and was cited 4 times. He was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor at the age of 26.
He participated to the Battle of Algiers in which his regiment was engaged in 1957. He was with André Charbonnier, one of the two officers that stopped Maurice Audin, Algerian militant communist whose party was engaged in the armed struggle with the FLN, on June 10, 1957.
On July 1, 1964, he joined the general staff headquarters of the 6th Mechanized Brigade.
Destined for a tour deployment overseas, he was assigned as a quality chief at the operations bureau of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment 3e REI at Diego Suarez on August 2, 1966, as well as the general staff headquarters of the regiment.
He was promoted to the rank of chef de bataillon on July 1, 1968.
Repatriated by end of tour on August 12, 1968, he was assigned to the ninth administrative regional company.
In November, he joined the inspection of the infantry then integrated the 84th promotion of the Superior War School on September 1, 1970.

Controversy on assumed acts of torture

, a communist militant, director of Alger républicain, stopped right after Audin in the same operation, accused Charbonnier and Erulin of having tortured him under the orders of Captain Roger Faulques. He published in 1958 La Question, a testimony denouncing torture during the Algerian war of independence. On the services which were applicable on him, Henri Alleg talked about a « torturing lieutenant », trying to refer to Philippe Erulin.
Pierre Vidal-Naquet reported the testimony of Georges Hadjad, another communist militant, who was trying to confirm having seen « lieutenant Erulin » and other officers with Audin in the space where the latter was tortured. All denied torture.
In 1978, the guest of the television broadcast Les Dossiers de l'écran, René Andrieu, also editor chief of L'Humanité, profited from the resounding of Operation Kolwezi, to accuse Philippe Erulin to have been the torturer of Henri Alleg, the latter, still insisting as mentioned in his book. The Ministre de la Défense Yvon Bourges, announced in a statement that he was scandalized by the behavior of René Andrieu, while the rescue intervention in Shaba was still on going in action. A little later, Jean Planchais profited from the death of Colonel Philipe Erulin to criticize the amnesty and silence on the torture during that war. René Andrieu was condemned for defamation, and the affair inspired the film A Captain's Honor. The family of Colonel Erulin launched accordingly several legal accusations while winning some.
In 2014, Jean-Charles Deniau, who obtained the undisclosed topics of général Paul Aussaresses confirmed that Audin and Alleg were tortured, but did not cite or mention Philipe Erulin as a torturer of these last two.

Commandant of the 2e REP

On July 9, 1976, Philipe Erulin assumed the command of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment at Calvi with the designated rank of Colonel.

Battle of Kolwezi

On May 17, the President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing decided on an operation on Zaïre where Katanga rebels were committing massacres and apprehending hostages.
Making his way out of Calvi with his regiment on May 19, 1978, after a transit in Kinshasa, he jumped spearheading 700 paratroopers organized in two waves on Kolwezi. The town which consisted of 2000 European civilians, was liberated after violent combats with the rebels. The regiment endured the loss of 5 men, twenty legionnaires being wounded. On June 6, the President of Zaïre Mobutu Sese Seko gave the accolade to colonels Yves Gras and Philippe Erulin: the Franco-Belge intervention equally permitted to consolidate his regime.
On June 7, they returned to Calvi. The following week, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing rendered them a visit to congratulate the operation during an arms ceremony at Bastia. Under his orders, during this battle, served notably Benoît Puga, Bruno Dary and Ante Gotovina, who according to L'Humanité,also served to drive Erulin. The same journal confirmed that his brother Dominique participated to the battle, while the latter had already left the army, following the Algerian War.
Assigned to the general staff headquarters of the French Army EMAT on July 1978, he died on September 26, 1979 in Paris.

Hommages to the operation of Kolwezi

Thirty years later, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing returned to Calvi and confirmed that the operation of Kolwezi has become a reference, a school for all, military and political directors, which would have to prepare what is referred today as exterior operations. The operation of Kolwezi is actually taught in military schools. For Jean Guisnel, this operation also marked the end of defiance of the political power towards the French Foreign Legion following the general's putsch.

Citations and homages

Philipe Erulin was cited at the orders of the Armed forces, on July 17, 1978:
The Commandeur of the Légion d’honneur was personally awarded to him on September 29 19789 by the President of the Republic Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.
On May 21, 2008, the President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy pronounced the following at the occasion of a commemorative arms ceremony marking 30 years of exterior operations in the Honor courtyard of the Invalides:
The extract by Général de division Jeannou Lacaze, Inspector of the Infantry, and future Chef d'état-major des armées during the pronunciation of Colonel Erulin's Military Honors:

State of service