Si Chérif Ben el Arbi, Yves (X 1887 ; 1867-1939)

Chérif ben Larbi Cadi was born in north-eastern Algeria in 1867. At Souk Ahras primary school in the late 1870s, Chérif Cadi was an awakened student. One of the teachers takes charge of him to make up for his delay to the point that in two years Chérif completes all of the primary schooling. Chérif Cadi is the first Muslim to join the École Polytechnique. Shortly before the Great War, he was posted to Algeria: first to Algiers in 1893, then to Bougie in Great Kabylia. In 1915 and 1916, Chérif ben Larbi Cadi fought in the Somme. For his conduct in fire, he received the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre with palm. He was then responsible for protecting Fort Douaumont in February 1916, during the Battle of Verdun, which earned him the status of an Order of the 11th Army in Verdun. Both a diplomat and a soldier, Chérif Cadi was appointed in the summer of 1916 to join the French military mission in Hedjaz, in the heart of present-day Saudi Arabia, accompanied by two captains of spahis and a lieutenant of goumiers. He became a military adviser to Mecca sheriff Hussein Ibn Ali to help him fight against the Ottomans. He left the army with the rank of colonel. Chérif Cadi continued to promote relations between France and Algeria until his death in Bône, on the eve of the new conflict in 1939.