Philippe Erulin

Philippe Louis Edmé Marie François Erulin (5 July 193226 September 1979) 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.

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 was appointed a Commandeur of the Legion of Honour.

He was killed 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:

"He left us a big example. Because he was not only the one whom one can immediately trust, he was one of those rare men who are totally true - who give confidence in man's greatness, in his virtue."

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.

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 (École d’application de l’infanterie) until January 1955.

He was assigned to the 1e RCP from 1954 to 1959 first at Bône, then at Philippeville, with the rank of lieutenant.

He served with the 1e RCP in the Algerian War (guerre d'Algérie) and Operation Musketeer (Opération Mousquetaire).

In Algeria, he commanded a section which served mainly in the Aurès and in Kabylie.

He was wounded twice, once seriously, and was cited 4 times.

He was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor at the age of 26.

He participated in the Battle of Algiers (bataille d'Alger) in which his regiment was engaged in 1957.

He was with André Charbonnier, one of the two officers that arrested Maurice Audin (Maurice Audin), Algerian militant communist whose party was engaged in the armed struggle with the FLN, on June 10, 1957.

He published in 1958 La Question (La Question), a testimony denouncing torture during the Algerian war of independence (torture pendant la guerre d'Algérie).

On the services which were applicable on him, Henri Alleg talked about a « torturing lieutenant », trying to refer to Philippe Erulin.

Pierre Vidal-Naquet (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.

He was assigned to the 6th company of the 153rd Motorized Infantry Regiment 153e RIM at Bône in Algeria and assumed command of the company on June 1, 1962.

The 153e RIM was repatriated from Algeria and became mechanized and garrisoned at Mutzig on January 4, 1963.

On July 1, 1964, he joined the general staff headquarters of the 6th Mechanized Brigade.

Destined for a 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.

Henri Alleg (Henri Alleg), a communist militant, director of Alger républicain (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.

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

On May 17, the President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (Valéry Giscard d'Estaing) decided on an operation on Zaïre where Katanga rebels were committing massacres and apprehending hostages.

In 1978, the guest of the television broadcast Les Dossiers de l'écran (Les Dossiers de l'écran), René Andrieu (René Andrieu), also editor chief of L'Humanité (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 (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 (Jean Planchais) profited from the death of Colonel Philipe Erulin to criticize the amnesty and silence on the torture during that war (la torture durant cette guerre).

René Andrieu was condemned for defamation (without compensation for the offence of, the Court, establishing accordingly case-law (établissant ainsi une jurisprudence)), and the affair inspired the film A Captain's Honor (L'Honneur d'un capitaine).

The family of Colonel Erulin launched accordingly several legal accusations while winning some.

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 (Kolwezi).

The town which consisted of 2000 European civilians (principally Belgian and French), was liberated after violent combats with the rebels.

In 2014, Jean-Charles Deniau (Jean-Charles Deniau), who obtained the undisclosed topics of général Paul Aussaresses (Paul Aussaresses) confirmed that Audin and Alleg were tortured, but did not cite or mention Philipe Erulin as a torturer of these last two.