François Gérard Marie Lecointre (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa ʒeʁaʁ maʁi ləkwɛ̃tʁ]; born 6 February 1962) is a French army general who has served as Grand Chancellor of the Order of the Legion of Honour since 1 February 2023. He previously served as Chief of the Defence Staff between 2017 and 2021.[1][2]
The son of a naval officer, Lecointre joined the French Army in 1984. As a captain, with Lieutenant Bruno Heluin (platoon leader) as the company commanding officer, he led an assault at the Battle of Vrbanja Bridge in 1995 that was the latest fixed bayonet charge of the French Armed Forces.
François Lecointre was born on 6 February 1962 in Cherbourg[3][4] into a military family. His father, Yves Urbain Marie Lecointre (5 April 1932 – 17 July 1985), was a French naval officer and submariner who served as the commandant of the ballistic missile submarine SNLE Le Redoutable.[5][6] One of his grandfathers, an officer during World War II, was a prisoner in Germany and took part in the Liberation of France. One of his uncles, Hélie de Roffignac, was a cavalry officer who died in Algeria at the age of 23.[7] Another one of his uncles, Patrick Lecointre, a vice admiral, successively served as the commander of the frigate De Grasse (1987-1988), chief of the military staff of the Prime Minister (1991-1994), and commander of the Naval Action Force (1994-1996).[8]
A practicing Catholic, François Lecointre is married since 1986 and has four daughters.[9]
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Lecointre attended preparatory classes at the Prytanée National Militaire in La Flèche. He subsequently studied at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (Promotion Général Monclar)[4] from 1984 to 1987 and then at the Infantry School from 1987 to 1988.[10]
Lecointre joined the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment, where he served from 1988 to 1991.[11] Lecointre was promoted from lieutenant to captain in the marine infantry on 1 July 1991.[12]
From 1993 to 1996, he was a combat company commander of the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment in Vannes. As a captain, Lecointre was involved in the Opération Turquoise in 1994 in Rwanda. He commanded the 1st company of the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment (3e RIMa) in the Groupement Nord Turquoise.[13] Lecointre was also engaged with French forces under the command of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) during the Bosnian War. Under the orders of General Hervé Gobilliard and Colonel Erik Sandahl, Lecointre and Lieutenant Bruno Heluin led a bayonet charge to win the Battle of Vrbanja Bridge on 27 May 1995.[14] According to journalist Jean Guisnel, the episode turned the tide of the war and led to victory in Bosnia.[15]
From 1996 to 1999, Lecointre was an instructor at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in Coëtquidan, Morbihan where he trained student officers in military tactics. From 1999 to 2001, he was a trainee officer at the Joint Defense College (now École Militaire). He then served in the office of the Chief of Staff of the French Army in Paris at the crops bureau of system conception forces.[16]
From 2005 to 2007, Colonel Lecointre was the commanding officer of the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment in Vannes.
From 2007 to 2008, he studied at the Center of High Military Studies (CHEM)[17] and was an auditor at the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN) in Paris.[18]
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He was promoted to brigade general on 1 August 2011; he was in command of the 9th Marine Infantry Brigade in Poitiers until 2013.[19] Lecointre was later appointed as commander of the European Union Training Mission in Mali from January to July 2013.[20]
He rejoined the general staff headquarters of the French Army as a chargé de mission, becoming deputy-chief of the defence staff for "performance-synthèse" from 2014 to 2016. Lecointre was promoted to division general on 1 January 2015.
Head of the Prime Minister's military cabinet from August 2016,[21] Lecointre was elevated by a decree of President François Hollande from the first section of general officers to the rank of corps general on 1 March 2017.
On 20 July 2017, Lecointre was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff by President Emmanuel Macron, following the resignation of General Pierre de Villiers;[22] he was promoted to the rank of Général d'armée.[2] General Lecointre made his first official visit to the United States in February 2018, where he met with his American counterpart Joseph Dunford to discuss the ongoing War against the Islamic State and progress on the G5 Sahel.[23]
On 21 July 2021, Lecointre retired from active service and was succeeded by General Thierry Burkhard as Chief of Defence Staff. After a brief period outside the public eye, he was made Grand Cross and Grand Chancellor of the Order of the Legion of Honour per 1 February 2023, succeeding fellow retired General Benoît Puga.[1]
| Cadet[a] | Aspirant[b] | Second lieutenant[c] | Lieutenant[d] | Captain | Battalion chief |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 1984 | 1985 | 1 August 1986[24] | 1 August 1987[24] | 1 August 1991[25] | 1 December 1996[26] |
| Lieutenant colonel | Colonel | Brigade general | Division general | Corps general | Army general |
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| 1 December 2000[27] | 1 December 2003[28] | 1 August 2011[29] | 1 January 2015[30] | 1 March 2017[31] | 20 July 2017[2] |
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