DE GAULLE AND HIS
A
factual account of
MURDERERS
of contemporary history
ANTHONY GIBBS & PHILLIPS
JOACHIM JOESTEN
TIMES PRESS
••
a
dramatic piece
the latter at the Court of Appeal, whereas the sentences of of sentences the whereas Appeal, of Court the at latter the
court was in the truest sense of the phrase a matter of life life of matter a phrase the of sense truest the in was court The new court was to begin functioning on 25th February. February. 25th on functioning begin to was court new The
the Military Court were final. final. were Court Military the whether their case would be conducted entirely before the the before entirely conducted be would case their whether
and death. An appeal can be lodged against the sentences of of sentences the against lodged be can appeal An death. and Military Court or would be transferred from it to the new new the to it from transferred be would or Court Military
not, however, be legally established until 15th January, 1963. 1963. January, 15th until established legally be however, not,
the Military Court. Court. Military the
judicature, the composition and competence of which could could which of competence and composition the judicature,
expectation was not sentenced to death on 23rd May, 1962, 1962, May, 23rd on death to sentenced not was expectation Organisation, General Raoul Salan, who contrary to to contrary who Salan, Raoul General Organisation,
other O.A.S. terrorists. Directly after the case against the the against case the after Directly terrorists. O.A.S. other
but merely to penal servitude for life, a new order dissolved dissolved order new a life, for servitude penal to merely but try the generals involved in the revolt in Algiers, and then then and Algiers, in revolt the in involved generals the try
action brought before the Supreme Military Court. Court. Military Supreme the before brought action
leader of the revolt and Supreme Chief of the Secret Army Army Secret the of Chief Supreme and revolt the of leader
is so often unpredictable in France. The case against against case The France. in unpredictable often so is
Bastien-Thiry and his companions was, in fact, the last last the fact, in was, companions his and Bastien-Thiry
powers conferred on it by Parliament. Its purpose was to to was purpose Its Parliament. by it on conferred powers
expectancy was the interplay of politics and justice, which which justice, and politics of interplay the was expectancy by President de Gaulle's Government by virtue of the special special the of virtue by Government Gaulle's de President by
22nd August, 1962, had made an almost successful attempt attempt successful almost an made had 1962, August, 22nd
on President de Gaulle's life in the suburb of Petit-Clamart, Petit-Clamart, of suburb the in life Gaulle's de President on to the south of the capital. capital. the of south the to
hall of Fort-Neuf at Vincennes, near Paris, of the eagerly eagerly the of Paris, near Vincennes, at Fort-Neuf of hall awaited case against the group of assailants who, ' on on ' who, assailants of group the against case awaited
1963, the great court drama of Vincennes, which had held held had which Vincennes, of drama court great the 1963,
all France in suspense for five weeks, came to an end. end. an to came weeks, five for suspense in France all
lU lU
For the defendants at Vincennes the question as to to as question the Vincennes at defendants the For
Its place was to be taken by a Supreme Court of of Court Supreme a by taken be to was place Its
That Military Court had been set up on 27th April, 1961, 1961, April, 27th on up set been had Court Military That
One of the main reasons for this atmosphere of tense tense of atmosphere this for reasons main the of One
The 28th of January had marked the opening in the great great the in opening the marked had January of 28th The
DE DE
CAULLE AND HIS MURDERERS MURDERERS HIS AND CAULLE
sentences of the Military Court, the fate of the three three the of fate the Court, Military the of sentences
about the end of the trial, on 22nd February, was not not was February, 22nd on trial, the of end the about
involved in the attack, Gyula Sari, who was not arrested till till arrested not was who Sari, Gyula attack, the in involved
considered with the rest. As there was no appeal against against appeal no was there As rest. the with considered
Ducasse for three. The case case The three. for Ducasse Constantin was sent to prison for seven years, years, seven for prison to sent was Constantin
Pascal Bertin were given fifteen years' years' fifteen given were Bertin Pascal
forbidden to reside reside to forbidden
the Hungarian Laszlo Varga was given ten years years ten given was Varga Laszlo Hungarian the
to different terms of of terms different to
sentenced to death. Three ether death sentences were were sentences death ether Three death. to sentenced Serge Bernier and Lajos Marton. Gerard Buisines, Louis de de Louis Buisines, Gerard Marton. Lajos and Bernier Serge
were condemned to penal servitude for life. life. for servitude penal to condemned were Conde and Jean-Pierre Naudin (the last two are are two last (the Naudin Jean-Pierre and Conde
passed on accomplices still at large, namely, Georges Watin, Watin, Georges namely, large, at still accomplices on passed
followed in essence the demands of the the of demands the essence in followed
Bougrenet de la Toenaye and Jacques Pre vest, were were vest, Pre Jacques and Toenaye la de Bougrenet
three main defendants, defendants, main three immediately afterwards from the Senate had no effect. As a a As effect. no had Senate the from afterwards immediately adopted it by a large majority, and the protest which came came which protest the and majority, large a by it adopted
result, the proceedings against Bastien-Thiry and his fellow- his and Bastien-Thiry against proceedings the result,
conspirators were concluded before the Military Court. Court. Military the before concluded were conspirators
pending were concluded. concluded. were pending
of the Military Court could be extended until all cases cases all until extended be could Court Military the of
new Bill to Parliament, by means of which the competence competence the which of means by Parliament, to Bill new
endeavoured to prolong the proceedings beyond 25th Feb- 25th beyond proceedings the prolong to endeavoured
through these tactics, however, and hastened to submit a a submit to hastened and however, tactics, these through
expire before the verdict was reached. The Government saw saw Government The reached. was verdict the before expire
ruary, so that the competence of the Military Court would would Court Military the of competence the that so ruary,
The other defendants, all of them present, were sentenced sentenced were present, them of all defendants, other The
The verdict, which was announced on 4th March, March, 4th on announced was which verdict, The
In the middle of February, the National Assembly Assembly National the February, of middle the In
So, from the first day of the case onwards, the defence defence the onwards, case the of day first the from So,
ONLY ONE WAS WAS ONE ONLY
in France for ten years; Alphonse Alphonse years; ten for France in
imprisonment. Pierre Magade Magade Pierre imprisonment.
jean
against a second Hungarian Hungarian second a against
-
Marie Bastien Marie
mann mann
TO TO
penal servitude servitude penal
LLD LLD
prosecution. The The prosecution.
-
Thiry, Alain Alain Thiry,
and Etienne Etienne and
still at at still
and was was and
large) large)
each; each;
and and 11 11 THE O.A.S.
one occasionally read at the time that the O.A.S. was a " Fascist " organisation. But that was not quite correct. Among the O.A.S. leaders known by name there were indeed a number of dyed-in-the-wool Fascists, for example, the young theorist of the organisation Jean-Jacques Susini or the Chapter 5 rebel Ortiz, who had already been cashiered. And the THE O.A.S. methods of the O.A.S. were certainly very like those of the Fascists. BEFORE we deal with the first would-be assassin of de Gaulle But the leading men of the O.A.S., i.e., the group of high- whose name has been made public, Henri Manoury, and his ranking officers who staged the revolt in Algiers on 22.ncl companions and those who have sought to emulate him, it April, 1961 and were then " symbolically " condemned to is necessary to go briefly into the early history and develop.. death, were not really politically minded. Although they ment of that secret terrorist organisation which was behind could not indeed be classed as supporters of free democracy, it all. they did not subscribe to purely Fascist ideals. The O.A.S., as we have mentioned already, rose out of a What inspired Salan and Gerdy, Godard and Gerdes and secret alliance between the staunch supporters of French all the others, those refractory generals and colonels, what colonial dominion in North Africa, the so-called " Ultras," impelled them to commit ever more crimes was misguided and those others, mainly high-ranking officers who, more for patriotism. It was their desire to keep Algeria, which had prestige reasons than for self-interest, were also resolved belonged to France for over 130 years, French for ever. with all the means at their command to prevent Algeria The O.A.S., created by them, did not therefore endeavour from becoming independent. to set up a despotic Fascist regime, although the possibility The O.A.S. was established in February, 1961 as a kind of could not be excluded that its development might have been parent association for different small terrorist groups already in that direction if there had been a successful revolt. It in existence at a secret session in Madrid in which two pursued two main ohects: firstly, to fight to the bitter end groups conspiring against de Gaulle's Government took part. the F.L.N., the dominant organisation among the Moslem On the one hand there was the group of emigrants under population of Algeria, using the very same terrorist methods the leadership of Ortiz and Lagaillarde who had manned as they did, and, secondly, to " punish " all French people the barricades in Algiers at the beginning of 1960 and had who advocated the so-called " politique de l'abandon," i.e., subsequently sought asylum in Spain. And on the other the gradual relinquishing of Algeria. hand there were the representatives of the then secret If we want to find an historical precedent for the O.A.S. " Fronde " or insurrection against de Gaulle within the army, we must go back to the secret societies in Germany in the under the leadership of General Raoul Salan. twenties. Then, as is now the case in France, the alleged In the French, and to some extent in the foreign, Press supporters of a " politique de l'abandon" were the target. 30
Then as now the watchword was: The Society will deal
were, the conspiracy against President de Gaulle formed, as it Algeria, Raoul Salim, who bore the not over-modest code- with traitors. . . . The elite of the organisation consisted of a group of five members from the start. Some joined only as time went on. name of " Soleil (Sun) in the O.A.S.
been Inspector-General of the Foreign Legion generals, namely, the former Supreme Commander in
time. •
Foot " in this exalted company. He commanded the O.A.S. second-in-command of the Maquis in Haute-Savoie) and who had been born in Algeria and was the only " Black important part in the O.A.S. groups in the Oran area until his arrest.
after the War he served for a number of years in Indonesia in and Algeria. He had, moreover, been trained at the famous He won his spurs in the Resistance (for two years he was the important of the O.A.S. ringleaders, but did not play the leading role expected of him after all. consisting of the following men:
military academy of St. Cyr.
Commander of the 10th Paratroop Division in Algiers,
Lieutenant-General Jacques Massu. In the following year
Arranged according to rank, the senior officers who joined
His second-in-command, General Paul Gardy, who had
Colonel Godard was an old soldier experienced in battle.
The two generals Maurice Challe and Andre Zeller, Ives Godard (51), who was long assumed to be the most General Edmond Jouhaud (code-name " Compagnon ")
Around this leading group came the circle of colonels,
In 1956 Godard was assigned as Chief of Staff to the then
spite
a
of their illustrious past in the army, did not play an
series of concentric circles. Not all of them were
DE
GAULLE AND IIIS
MUUDEILEItS
for a long
who,
he staged the great military and police action against
Casbali, afterwards called the " Battle of Algiers" because
it struck a decisive blow at the power of the F.L.N. in the .
Algerian capital.
ruary, 1961 —Godard was Chief of the Security Police in
the bitter end after he left their service.
Algiers, the very organisation that he said he would fight to
had conducted psychological warfare against the insurgents.
Chief of the 5th Bureau with the General Staff in Algiers,
self and his life in one of the later chapters.
this book. There
22nd April, 1061), Pierre Chateau-Johert, who did not join Henri Dufour (Commander of the 1st Paratroop Regiment
which played a leading part in the Generals' Revolt of
the O.A.S. till the beginning of 1962, and finally Colonel
whom k Lacheroy.
part :
General Staff " of the O.A.S. in France itself. later rewarded with the designation Argoud and worked in close co-operation with him and was
departments of the O.A.S., namely, O.R.O. Organisation
renseignemcnt et d'operation, i.e., the Intelligence Service Argoud,
of the O.A.S.).
officer, described by the new sp, per Le onde in ari ccount
For nearly three years — from 17th May, 1953 to Feb-
Colonel Jean Gardes (born 4th October, 1914) who,
Colonel Antoine Argoud, whom we shall often meet in
There were also Colonels Roland Vaudrey, Joseph Brc.
Then came th circle
.L:12
Ren6. Serpent who was in the confidence of Colonel
Jean-Marie
.
21er
_21_22.uars_f32),
who directed one of the most important special
lowing in particular have played an important
Curutchet,
will be
a detailed account of the man him- TILE O.A.S.
also an immediate colleague of
atairls
e
llt.fennLajil;ths1
of
" Chief of the
-
iizat,
-
the
, of
31
as
de 32 DE GAULLE AND IIIS MURDERERS of his 1 ifep Craventure (so10-ier. of fortune). =ally we must mention a number of civilians who also played an important part in the formation or subsequent development of the O.A.S. A They included, apart from Georges Bidault who will be Chaptei 6 • dealt with in some detail in a later chapter, above all the former Governor-General of Algeria (in 1955) Jacques THE "THIRD MISSION " PLOT Soustelle who was Minister of Information (1058-59) in de Gaulle's first Cabinet after his return to power. There was also a certain Dr. Jean-Claude Perez, leader for / hit giving up the fight for Algeria in June, 1562, shortly many years of the French Ultras in Algeria, who looked after before it was declared independent, the O.A.S. turned their the Civilian Intelligence Service of the O.A.S., main attention to France itself. The terrorists who were And the former Sub-Prefect Jacques Achard, described by resident there or had come flooding back from Alzeria (they the weekly Candide on 7th March, 1963 as being in the are also called " Activists " in France) were combined in opinion of the police " the most dangerous man of all and two main groups, termed " Mission II " and " Mission III." perfectly capable of carrying out an attempt on de Gaulle's The head of Mission III, made.up mainly of civilians (in- life single-handed. . . " cluding many students, was the manufacturer Andre Canal, forty-eight years of age, former owner of a metal firm in Algiers. Canal, who has a glass eye which he used to hide with a darkened monocle, bore the nickname — and it was also his code-name — of " The Monocle." He was arrested on 5th May, 1962 and was condemned to death on 17th September, but his sentence was soon afterwards commuted to penal servitude for life by de Gaulle. His " adjutant," the unsuccessful student Jean-Marie Vincent, had the same severe sentence meted out to him. The main task of Mission III was to organise the plastic bomb attacks in Paris and the provinces. Among these incidents the " blue night " of I7th January, 1962, during which the bursting of bombs could be heard all night long in Paris, is particularly well known. These attacks were carried out by groups who called themselves " Alphas " (Alpha 1, 3, 4, etc.).
a THE RESISTANCE COUNCIL 47.
were the men of straw, whilst the two younger men, Sous- telle and Argoud, were the men of action. The key personality in the Council, at least latterly, was Colonel Argoud, at any rate as far as the actions directed against de Gaulle's regime in France are concerned, carried out under the code-name of " Mission II." Chapter 9 And what of Bidault ? A clever, cultured man who in his younger days had made a name for himself as the cour- THE RESISTANCE COUNCIL ageous leader of another underground movement — at that time he led, with de Gaulle, the first, and real, " Conseil AFTER Bastien-Thiry had made up his mind to join the National de la Resistance " against the German army of Murderers of de Gaulle Club," he secretly got in touch at occupation in France. Today he certainly does not have in the end of March, 1962 with the leaders of the so-called him the stuff of which the leader of a subversive movement "National Resistance Council (C.N.R.—" Conseil National is made. de la Resistance ") which had been formed a short time De Gaulle, his friend and fellow-campaigner in the years before under the chairmanship of the former Prime Minister 1940-45, has never made any secret of his contempt for the Georges Bidault. " chief opponent" of later days. This is shown, amongst The composition of that Council, which then took over other things, by two biting remarks made by the General command of the underground movement against President and lmoven only to his intimate friends. de Gaulle's Government from the O.A.S., which had been When at the end of March, 1962 the President learned seriously discredited by the events in Algeria, has never that Bidault had taken over the chairmanship of the been a secret — at any rate not as far as the men at the top National Resistance Council, he made the following com- are concerned. ment : " Well, good news at last." And when after the The actual Executive Committee was made up of four attack made on 22nd August it was reported to him that people: Bidault who was the Chairman and " Shadow Bidault had declared abroad that he had been responsible Premier;" Jacques Soustelle, former Governor-General in for it, de Gaulle remarked drily, " He certainly flatters him- Algeria and Minister of Information in de Gaulle's Govern- self." ment (195S-59); ex-General Paul Gardy, former Inspector- The actual fact of the matter is that Bidault was respon- General of the Foreign Legion and, since the arrest of Salan, sible for the action of 22nd August only in his capacity as the highest-ranking officer in the O.A.S.; also ex-General nominal chief of the C.N.R. None of the prisoners tried at Antoine Argoud, Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme Vincennes disputed the fact that the attempt had been Commander in Algiers, General Jacques Massu. carried out on behalf of that Council. On the contrary most Of the two politicians and two soldiers named, it was in of them, including Bastien-Thiry, made a point of confirming both instances the elder (namely, Bidault, who is sixty-three this. years of age, and the sixty-one-year-old General Gardy) who 43 " On 22nd August, 1062 at 8.30 p.m. a detachment of the 1st wards it published an "official communique," which stated:
itself the responsibility for the attack. Immediately after- dent of the Republic on National Highway 309 (the correct Special Duty Regiment attacked the motorcade of the Presi- number is 303 - J.J.) near the Petit-Clamart cross-roads with sub-machine guns and machine-guns. That operation was
1903). carried out on the orders of the Supreme Military Command Committee of the C.N.R." (cf. for France in keeping with the directives of the Executive " General de Gaulle was on 3rd July, 1062 condemned to
French Press in envelopes bearing the stamp of the National
Assembly. A communication was also enclosed, stating that death in absentia for high treason by sentence of the cennes that the " Military Court " appointed by the C.N.R. Thiry made the interesting statement at the trial at Vin- The " sentence " was passed on the very day on which he referred again and again to justify his action, Bastien- Military Court." consisted of two generals and four colonels on
munique" the Resistance Council committed a grave tactical violation of the constitution and high treason. was considered by the O.A.S. and C.N.R. people as a serious de Gaulle proclaimed the independence of Algeria, which error for which they were to suffer later on. In the " official "
the orders of the Supreme Military Command for France." organiser of the attempt at Petit-Clamart was ex-Colonel This was certainly an indirect indication that the actual text it was stated that the attempt had been carried out " on
Moreover, the Resistance Council formally took upon
The text of that " communiqué " was supplied to the
In connection with this curious "death sentence," to which
With the publication of the above-mentioned " com-
DE GAULLE AND II1S
Le Monde
'MURDERERS
of 2nd February,
active service.
pointer. his interview with
Antoine Argoud. For those in the know it was a clear
sieur Georges Bidault. the following about the composition of the C.N.R.: " At the head of the Council is a committee whose Chairman is Mon-
Committee 1 myself deal with France.
bouring states."
Minister Jacques Soustelle to provide the liaison with neigh-
beginning of March, 196.3, after Argoud had been kidnap-
in October, 1962. In the light of this fact a further remark
by Argoud becomes highly signiiicant : ". . . I was also in ped from Munich, it is known to have taken place away back
about the time that the attack at Petit-Clamart was France in the last few months." That is to say, he was there organised.
who had really pulled the strings it was provided by the
trial at Vincennes. During the proceedings on 27th February siding Judge: " Who was your leader ? Was it Argoud ? - Bastien-Thiry, in answer to a direct question from the Pre-
admitted frankly : " Yes, it was Argoud."
barely two weeks before, and again it was shown that the chain of commands stretched back to the " Supreme Corn-
mander " for France who was then spending his last days of
freedom in Germany and Italy.
Argoud. It was the only way to prevent French Secret Service made every effort to lay hands on Mission II
In this connection
Although that interview was not published until the
If further evidence were needed that Argoud was the man
The third attempt on de Gaulle's life had been foiled
Only someone knowing all this will understand why th
on
the President's life.
TILE
it
Spiegel
RESISTANCE COUNCIL
may be remembered that Argoud in
Within the ranks of the Executive
(November 10th,
And it is the task of
a
further attempt by
1ck:3)
said
4'i
e
.
.
the barracks of Baden-Baden and Rastatt, was to meet his his meet to was Rastatt, and Baden-Baden of barracks the
doom at at doom manner. And so Colonel Argoud, who had found asylum at at asylum found had who Argoud, Colonel so And manner.
not do so, but left it to the Secret Police to hand the elusive elusive the hand to Police Secret the to it left but so, do not traitor over to the French authorities in a highly illegal illegal highly a in authorities French the to over traitor exercise full jurisdiction at their own camps. But they did did they But camps. own their at jurisdiction full exercise
arrested the fugitive ex-officer legally at any time as they they as time any at legally ex-officer fugitive the arrested
French military authorities in Germany could of course have have course of could Germany in authorities military French
tion until very recently in areas controlled by France. The The France. by controlled areas in recently very until tion
suspicious is the fact that a man for whose arrest warrants warrants arrest whose for man a that fact the is suspicious had been sent out, was able to move almost without restric- without almost move to able was out, sent been had
which was carried out in violation of international law, so so law, international of violation in out carried was which
who were in danger in Algeria to safety in Europe Europe in safety to Algeria in danger in were who
Monde, Monde,
O.A.S. O.A.S.
French control. This had the twofold aim of smug of aim twofold the had This control. French
Boufarik, to the south of Algiers, which was still under under still was which Algiers, of south the to Boufarik,
orncers in sympathy with him, stationed in the Federal Federal the in stationed him, with sympathy in orncers
Republic, organised a secret air link with the airfield of of airfield the with link air secret a organised Republic,
Algeria Algeria
lift to Algeria. Algeria. to lift
had done in the spring), but also to organise a kind of air- of kind a organise to also but spring), the in done had
order to incite the officers to rebel against de Gaulle (as he he (as Gaulle de against rebel to officers the incite to order
unmolested from one garrison to another, not merely in in merely not another, to garrison one from unmolested
thing happened again in September. Again Argoud travelled travelled Argoud Again September. in again happened thing
54 54
adopted by the Minister of Defence, Messmer, the same same the Messmer, Defence, of Minister the by adopted
What makes the kidnapping of Argoud from Munich, Munich, from Argoud of kidnapping the makes What
In actual fact, incredible as this may sound, because because sound, may this as incredible fact, actual In
But the joke is that in spite of all the disciplinary measures measures disciplinary the all of spite in that is joke the But
agents and weapons into Algeria and bringing friends friends bringing and Algeria into weapons and agents
a a
26th September, 1962). 1962). September, 26th
was independent by that time, Argoud and the the and Argoud time, that by independent was
peaceful Munich hotel. hotel. Munich peaceful
DE GAULLE AND HIS MURDERERS MURDERERS HIS AND GAULLE DE
gling gling
(Le (Le
IT was learned from Bastien-Thiry's own lips that the con- the that lips own Bastien-Thiry's from learned was IT
nection between himself and the National Resistance Coun- Resistance National the and himself between nection
defendants at Vincennes stated again and again he was not not was he again and again stated Vincennes at defendants
cil was established via a so-called " Study Group," whose whose Group," Study " so-called a via established was cil
to be hauled before a military court, in some secret place place secret some in court, military a before hauled be to
for high treason, and finally executed. executed. finally and treason, high for going to be killed, but merely kidnapped. After that be was was be that After kidnapped. merely but killed, be to going that was well guarded, and condemned to death once more more once death to condemned and guarded, well was that
task it was to arrange attacks on the President. As the the As President. the on attacks arrange to was it task a vital effect on the composition of the assault detachment detachment assault the of composition the on effect vital a
let us merely state that that argument played an important important an played argument that that state merely us let
believed will be examined carefully later on. At At on. later carefully examined be will believed
and on the way in which the various plans to attack him him attack to plans various the which in way the on and
Study Group were, but the French police believe they !mow !mow they believe police French the but were, Group Study
were worked out. out. worked were
succeeded Argoud as chief of Mission II. II. Mission of chief as Argoud succeeded
Staff," and the other a man who worked in close collabora- close in worked who man a other the and Staff,"
Jean Carutchet, the first of whom was Argoud's " Chief of of Chief " Argoud's was whom of first the Carutchet, Jean
tion with him. It is said, moreover, that Carutchet has now now has Carutchet that moreover, said, is It him. with tion Argoud himself, also two ex-captains, Rene Sergent and and Sergent Rene ex-captains, two also himself, Argoud part at Vincennes and that the aim to kidnap de Gaulle had had Gaulle de kidnap to aim the that and Vincennes at part
the names of different people who belonged to it. First of all, all, of First it. to belonged who people different of names the
Jean Rend Solikre, Solikre, Rend Jean
Whether or to what extent this kidnapping theory is to be be to is theory kidnapping this extent what to or Whether
Bastien-Thiry did not reveal who the members of the the of members the who reveal not did Bastien-Thiry
THE ASSAULT DETACHMENT DETACHMENT ASSAULT THE
who is now livine now is who
Chapter 11 11 Chapter
, ,
in in
Snain sc sc Snain
ex
this point point this
c- c-
- cantain cantain D6 DE GAULLE AND IIIS MURDERERS ASSAULT DETACIIMENT 57 to have plavcd ading part in planning the attack at mother was a variety artiste. So the boy grew up in the 11(.717717177:7='r atmosphere of music-hall and cabaret life and received a ""=e7e7Truth there may be in all this, it is a definite poor education. He was a sentimentalist and idealist in the fact that Bastien-Thiry was instructed by the Study Group opinion of one psychological expert. " Yes, but he is also a to form an assault party. Its members were to be, above all, man who ponders over problems very carefully," added good shots and possess various technical abilities (as, for another. example, motor mechanics, electricians, etc.). A characteristic act on the part of Pr6vost was to shield Let us now look at the individual members of the detach- one of his fellow-defendants at the risk of his own life. When ment, in so far as their lives and personalities have been the Public Prosecutor asked for a death sentence to be pro- revealed by the trial at Vincennes. nounced on Gch.ard Buisines, a former Foreign Legionary, The second most important man in the undertaking was because he had shot at de Gaulle's car, but demanded only Alain Bougrenet de In Tocnaye, scion of an old and noble penal servitude for life for Pr6vost, the latter declared. " I family from Brittany which, as he himself put it in Court, gave Buisines the order to shoot. So if the death sentence is had given " France crusaders, robber knights and officers." required, it must be passed on me, and not en Buisines." The defendant himself was one of those officers, but at The Court did as he asked and condemned him to death, the age of thirty-six he had only reached the rank of whilst Buisines was let off with a life sentence. lieutenant, whilst his friend Bastien-Thirv, who was one year If our criterion for measuring the relative importance of younger, was already a lieutenant-colonel. the individual members of the assault detachment is the Bougrenet de la Tocnaye, a small, slight figure, bald and severity of the sentence passed on each, then the men who sullen, indulged in passionate outbursts before the Court come next must be Georges \Vatin, Serge Bernier and against the Head of State whom he had vainly tried to kill. Lajos Marton who were all condemned to death in their Jacques Pi'2vost was a man of a quite different stamp and absence. Of the three, we have details only about \Vatin. WaS the second deputy leader of the detachment. He was a The fugitive Georges Watin is undoubtedly a highly dan- former paratrooper and belonged to the narrow circle of gerous man. He was involved also in the attack planned for soldats perdus." He had been present at the ditbacle of February, 1963, which we shall discuss later. This uncouth, Dien Bien Phu and later on had fought for another lost bull-necked man with crew-cut black hair looks sinister. And cause in Algeria. he is. Although agriculture was his real line, \Vatin, aged But his behaviour was certainly not that of a soldier of about forty, ran a flourishing restaurant in Algiers. There he fortune. On the contrary, he was modest, almost gentle, and joined a terrorist group made up of Ultras and is supposed perhaps a little naïve. He seemed the most likeable of all the to have played a part in the attack made with anti-tank guns defendants. on the then Supreme Commander, General Salan, in 1957, In contrast to Bastien-Thiry and Bougrenet de In Tocnaye, a matter that has never been properly cleared up. In Decem- PrtIvost came from quite a humble home. Thirty-two years ber, 1960 \Vatin was expelled from Algeria on the orders of age, he lost his father when he was quite young. His of the Government in Paris and thereupon returned to his --/-* • • • t• • ; V.,— • ." - • , ` • • •..I
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THE RISE AND FALL OF MOISE TSHOMBE
A .Biography by Ian Colvin
LESLIE FREWIN : LONDON
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forgiven.' Tshombe thought so little of this offer that he since described it to the Spanish police as a trap. since just al5):.1.2kL33.tt haritirc trrmccl anent as readily as Tshombe didi thc.y feared that he might be‘ ,ve rrl - assassin--ated ;IT3m Khicie.r the Alcrerian politician shot irt We re .:0_RiairkcLthes.detectives. Madrid, despitethemccs lic_c_of_tal. .illing rraillTilladrid and get him away from there to Africa did not seem physically possible; but by ill luck a utu in mercenary officer had advised Tshombe that his more im- of the portant conferences about a return to the Congo — a subject ims of 5 in which the Central Intellic!ence Agency was intensely, if ory of unfuourably. interested — could be held with less risk of uction if he would make trips to supervision by that zealous body sion to the holiday island of Majorca. It was there in Palma that and M.2jor Hoare had seen him in December 1966 and Major lose of John Peters, despite his disruptive role in the Tshombe coup ." st'. of 1966, was another visitor. He was due to meet Tshombe s, and there late in June 1967. Tshombe had come to like the 7ds the luxurious Hotel de Mar in Palma. It appealed to the 1 non- European facets of his chaz-acter. There was an elegant arning clientele of holidaymakers. He liked the vast view of the parat- Mediterranean from the secluded windows of his suite. It t. The was a quiet place in which to scheme out his Congo plans. ;alised The advice given to him may have been quite sincere, but it abiriet was also true. that only 240 miles of open sea lay between dcd to Palma and the inhospitable coast of Algeria. avian- back ht for lizarrc
tetl to 1967. • Ilonde :ongo. ;olese all is 237
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