CULTURAL CHRONICLE SEPTEMBER 7, 1985: DEATH OF ÉMILE RAYBAUD | Forteresse Europe

CULTURAL CHRONICLE
SEPTEMBER 7, 1985: DEATH OF ÉMILE RAYBAUD
#HonorVictisGloriaMortis

Raybaud was born on 19 May 1910 in Trans in the Var.

He studied at the Saint-Cyr military school between 1930 and 1932. After becoming a second lieutenant in the infantry, he was assigned to the 20th battalion of mountain troops (Chasseurs Alpins) in Antibes.

On 1 April 1940, he was promoted to captain. Two months later, he was in the Somme with his division (the 40th "chasseurs" division), fighting the Germans.

He was accepted into the armistice army after the defeat of France.

Although not very interested in politics, Raybaud was a fervent supporter of Marshal Pétain's National Revolution.

After the dissolution of the armistice army, he joined the French Militia. In April 1943, he became the deputy director of the Militia's executive school in Uriage.

He then worked with Jean De Vaugelas, as chief of staff of the Francs-Gardes, in February-March 1944 to fight against the Glières maquis in Haute-Savoie.

Raybaud remained above all a soldier and a career officer, just like his friend Victor De Bourmont.

In June 1944, he succeeded De Vaugelas as commander of the forces of law and order in Limousin. Then, on 25 July 1944, he gave up his post to be appointed deputy to Dr Rainsart, the head of the Franc-Garde in the northern zone.

Having taken refuge in Germany, he arrived in Wildflecken at the head of the first cohort of militiamen at the beginning of November 1944.

At the end of December 1944, Raybaud was appointed commander of the Waffen-Grenadier-Regiment der SS 58, following the departure of Eugène Marie-Jean Bridoux.

Promoted to the highest rank on 20 February 1945, before the rise to the front, he continued to wear the insignia of Hauptsturmführer, considering that there was more urgent need than finding new insignia.

SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg entrusted him with the formation and direction of the marching regiment of the reorganised Charlemagne Division on 1 March 1945, which Raybaud managed to form in only two hours.

He was seriously wounded on 3 March 1945 by shrapnel in the thighs of both legs, while studying the situation of his troops, near a bridge over the Persante river, west of Kôrlin.

He was evacuated by Doctor Paul Durandy, then taken by Claude Platon to Kolberg.

Raybaud was nominated for the higher rank and awarded the Iron Cross 1st class. He did not learn of his promotion until many years later, in 1970, from a former secretary of the divisional staff.

He was repatriated to France after the defeat of Germany, and imprisoned in Limoges, where he was almost killed by former maquisards who had invaded the prison to take justice into their own hands.

Amputated of a leg, he was sentenced to death by the court of justice of Haute-Vienne in 1946.
Pardoned, he was finally released in 1951.

He published his book anonymously with Etheel in 1955: Vérité réconciliée... pour la Milice, justice!
The book was republished in 2007 by Editions du Lore with a modified title: For the honour of the Militia.

https://jeune-nation.com/kultur/histoire/emile-raybaud-19-mai-1910-7-septembre-1995