Erwan Bergot (27 January 19301 May 1993) was a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

officer and author; he served in the

during the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

and

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

Biography

Born to a Breton family in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, Erwan Bergot volunteered to serve in Indochina after completing his mandatory military service in 1951. He served in the 6th Colonial Parachute Battalion under Major

Marcel Bigeard Marcel Bigeard (; February 14, 1916 – June 18, 2010), personal radio call-sign "Bruno", was a French military officer and politician who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. He was one of the commanders in the ...

, after that he commanded the heavy mortar company of the 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. He was taken prisoner and experienced the hell of the

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a Communist Party of Vietnam, communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1 ...

internment camps; he was among the few that survived. In 1955, Bergot was recalled to serve in Algeria in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment and 11e Choc. He was seriously wounded in his right eye during a clash at Constantine in 1961, leaving the frontline to write and report. He became the first editor of the magazine of the French Army in 1962, writing his first book in 1964, ''Deuxième classe à Dien-Bien-Phu'', which achieved immediate success. He then dedicated himself completely to writing, which resulted in around fifty books and additional notoriety. He received numerous literary awards including the prize of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and the Claude Farrère prize. The French Army annually awards an Erwan Bergot prize.

Bibliography

* ''Deuxième classe à Dien-Bien-Phu'', La table ronde, 1964 * ''Mourir au Laos'', France-empire, 1965 * ''Les petits soleils'', France-empire, 1967 * ''Prenez-les vivants'', Balland, 1972 * ''La Légion'', Balland, 1972; translated as ''The French Foreign Legion'', Allan Wingate, 1975 * ''L'Afrikakorps'', Balland, 1972; translated as ''The Afrika Korps'', Allan Wingate, 1976 * ''Vandenberghe, le pirate du delta'', Balland, 1973 * ''Les héros oubliés'', Grasset, 1975 * ''La Légion au combat, Narvik, Bir-Hakeim, Dièn Bièn Phu'', Presses de la cité, 1975 * ''Le dossier rouge, services secrets contre FLN'', Grasset, 1976 * ''L'homme de Prague'', Presses de la cité, 1975 * ''Bataillon Bigeard, Indochine 1952-1954, Algérie 1955-1957'', Presses de la cité, 1976 * ''Les Cadets de la France Libre'', Presses de la cité, 1978 * ''Commandos de choc en Indochine, les héros oubliés'', Grasset, 1979 * ''Les 170 jours de Dien Bien Phu'', Presses de la cité, 1979 * ''La 2e D.B.'', Presses de la Cité, 1980 * ''La guerre des appelés en Algérie 1956-1962'', Presses de la cité, 1980 * ''Les sentiers de la guerre'' (fiction) ** V.1 : ''Les sentiers de la guerre'', Presses de la Cité, 1981 ** V.2 : ''Frères d'ames'', Presses de la Cité, 1982 ** V.3 : ''Le flambeau'', Presses de la Cité, 1983 * ''La Coloniale du Rif au Tchad, 1925-1980'', Presses de la Cité, 1982 * ''Bataillon de Corée, les Volontaires Français, 1950-1953'', Presses de la Cité, 1983 * ''Le régiment de marche de la Légion'', Presses de la Cité, 1984 * ''L'héritage'', Presses de la Cité, 1985 * ''Gendarmes au combat, Indochine 1945-1955'', Presses de la Cité, 1985 * ''11e Choc'', Presses de la cité, 1986 * ''Convoi 42, la marche à la mort des prisonniers de Dien Bien Phu'', Presses de la Cité, 1986 * ''La bataille de Dong Khê, la tragédie de la R.C.4, Indochine, mai-octobre 1950'', Presses de la cité, 1987 * ''Bigeard'', Perrin, 1988 * ''Bir Hakeim : février-juin 1942'', Presses de la Cité, Paris, 1989 * ''Sud lointain'' (fiction) ** V.1 : ''Le courrier de Saïgon'', Presses de la Cité, 1990 ** V.2 : ''La Rivière des Parfums'', Presses de la Cité, 1990 ** V.3 : ''Le maître de Baotan'', Presses de la Cité, 1991 * ''Indochine 1951, l'Année de Lattre, une Année de Victoires'' * ''Opération Daguet'', Presses de la cité, 1991 (with Alain Gandy) * ''Les Paras'' *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergot, Erwan 1930 births 1993 deaths Writers from Bordeaux French military personnel of the First Indochina War French military personnel of the Algerian War 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers French people of Breton descent Military personnel from Bordeaux