René Cogny ( 25 April 1904 , Saint-Valery-en-Caux – 11 September 1968 ) was a French Général de division , World War II and French Resistance veteran and survivor of Buchenwald and Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camps . He was a commander of the French forces in Tonkin ( northern Vietnam ) during the First Indochina War , and notably during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu . His post-war private and legal conflict with superior General Henri Navarre became a public controversy . Known to his men as '' Le General Vitesse '' ( General Hurry-Up ) , and reputable for his military pomp , physical presence and skill with the press , Cogny was killed when Air France Flight 1611 crashed in the Mediterranean near Nice
Air France Flight 1611
Air France Flight 1611
René Cogny