Exhibition: “Jean Gabin, la guerre c’est pas du cinéma

Jean Gabin becomes Jean Moncorgé again

After shooting The Imposter at the request of General De Gaulle, a propaganda film for the Leclerc army in Africa, his wish was finally granted. He then became a second master in the marine fusiliers under his real name: Jean Moncorgé. An instructor in Algeria during 1944, he finally managed to integrate the Armored Regiment of the Marine Fusiliers, under the direction of General Leclerc, with whom he landed in Brest in January 1945. For the few months of the war that remained, Jean Moncorgé, claustrophobic and pyrophobic, commanded the Souffleur II tank and took part in the fighting in Alsace-Moselle, in the Royan pocket, and then in the capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, in Berchtesgaden.

After the war, discretion is key

This episode of the actor’s life is very little known to the general public, even to his fans. Indeed, only a few weeks after the war, when he was invited to parade on the Champs-Elysees alongside his comrades in arms, Gabin declined and preferred to stand back. He did not want what he considered to be simply a duty done to be elevated to heroism. He will cultivate until the end of his life this modesty about the events that, by his own admission, gave him his first white hair.

80 years later, it is important to highlight the role of those who, like Jean Gabin, refused to take the easy way out, and were ready to put their lives on the line to liberate their country. Because definitely, “War ain’t no cinema”.