Jean Delpech’s career from 1935 to 1950
In 2019, the Musée de l'Armée acquired a collection of over 700 drawings and prints by the artist, providing invaluable evidence of the Second World War: mobilized in 1938 in the Alpine hunters until the end of 1940, the painter, who lived in Paris during the Occupation, produced a quasi-ethnographic work on the war.
1945
Historical landmarks
4 to 11 February
Yalta Conference
30 April
Hitler’s suicide
8 May
Germany surrenders
5 June
France obtains an occupation zone in Germany
Jean Delpech’s career
February to June
Follows the 7th African Hunters Regiment (RCA) during the Alsace and German campaigns, with the rank of lieutenant
1st April
Crosses the Rhine at Spire with the 7th RCA
11 April
Première of King Lear at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre, sets and costumes by Jean Delpech
21-22 April
The 7th RCA fights in the Black Forest: clashes in Schönbuch Forest (Baden-Wurttemberg). Discovery of the Vaihingen concentration camp
22 April
Enters Stuttgart with the 7th RCA
11 May
Evokes the end of the war in a letter to his mother and says that he has made sketches at airfields, stating that he is thinking of coming to France in late May or early June (Delpech family archives)
July to August
In Saint-Nazaire, Nantes and Lorient for a reportage on submarine bases
August
Reportage on the Brest naval base and then on Toulon’s port
Works by Jean Delpech
https://collectionjeandelpech.musee-armee.fr/en/chronology/1945