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Born at Mouilleron-en-Pareds (during the time of Georges Clemenceau, who was also born there), he graduated from school in 1911, and fought in World War I. He specialized in cavalry, and was made head of the French War College in 1935. When war was declared in 1939, he became the youngest general in French history, and commanded the French 14th Infantry Regiment until the armistice with the Axis troops.
He remained on active duty, commanding Vichy French forces in Tunisia in 1941. He took charge of the 16th Division in 1942, but began organizing an anti-German force, which led to his arrest and 10-year jail sentence. He escaped, though, to Algiers, where he took command of the French 1st Army. He landed in Provence, southern France on August 16, 1944, and his troops began marching and liberating through France.
De Lattre organized French Resistance forces into his army, and joined with Lieutenant General Alexander M. Patch to form the 6th Army Group (de Lattre was a general at this time). His army marched through Germany, and he represented France at the German surrender on May 9, 1945. He commanded French troops in Indochina until 1951, when illness forced him to return. He died in Paris, and was posthumously made Marechal de France.