CATROUX, GEORGES

born Jan. 29, 1877, Limoges, Fr. died Dec. 21, 1969, Paris French general and diplomat, one of the highest-ranking officers in the Free French government of World War II. A graduate of the military academy at Saint-Cyr, Catroux served in World War I and then in various posts in the French colonial empire. Appointed governor-general of Indochina in 1939, he was dismissed by the Vichy government in 1940 and joined General Charles de Gaulle's Free French movement. As representative of the Free French in the Middle East, he proclaimed the independence of Syria and Lebanon in 1941. In 194344 he was governor-general of Algeria and in 1944 minister for North Africa in the French provisional government. He served as French ambassador to the Soviet Union in 194548.