Messmer, Pierre Joseph Auguste (1916–2007)

French conservative Gaullist politician, prime minister 1972–74. An important figure in the French Resistance Movement during World War II and a civil servant, mainly in the French colonies, he served as minister for the army 1960–69 under President Charles de Gaulle and as prime minister 1972–74 under President Georges Pompidou. He was a member of the conservative wing of the Gaullist party and a member of the French parliament until 1988, and president of the Lorraine regional assembly 1968–92.

Born in Vincennes, after graduating from the National School of Overseas France, he became a civil servant in the French colonial administration. During World War II he joined the Free French Forces and French Foreign Legion, fought at the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt, and took part in the 1944 Normandy landings. He was awarded the Croix de guerre (War Cross) for his actions. After World War II he served two months as a prisoner-of-war when captured by the Vietminh during the Indo-China War. In the 1950s he held posts in France's colonial administrations in Africa, serving as high commissioner of French West Africa 1958–59.