Born on June 29, 1857, in Ribeauvillé in the department of Haut-Rhin in Alsace, he was sent as an officer to French Sudan (today Mali).

He participated to the long war against the local ruler Samory Touré, and was in 1892 the Chief of staff of Colonel Louis Archinard, governor of French Sudan.

[1] Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was made chief administrator of Timbuktu; he held this position when he met there in 1898 Captain Paul Voulet, commander of the Voulet–Chanoine Mission marching to Lake Chad, whom he provided with 70 Senegalese Tirailleurs and 20 spahi cavalry (both colonial troops recruited in West Africa).

He also found the corpses of the expedition's guides—those that had displeased Voulet had been strung up alive in a position where the foot went to the hyenas and the rest of the body to the vultures.

On July 10, after a pursuit of over 2000 kilometers, Klobb arrived at Damangara, near Zinder, where the villagers informed him that Voulet and his men were just a few hours' march ahead.