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At 9 o’clock on the morning of July 5, 1984, a ceremony was held to carry the remains of General Saran near the Val-de-Grâce military hospital in Paris. The military honors recalled the importance of the deceased in the country’s recent history. But not only that: a quick glance at the audience of the participants in the memorial service can also remind us History of French Algeria.
French Algeria cast
Those present included General Edmond Jouhaux; One of four rebel leaders of the Organization of American StatesJacques Soustelle, ethnologist who later became Governor-General of French Algeria (1955-1956); Michel de Saint-Pierre, writer and journalist, one of the most ardent writers on French Algeria; Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancourt, lawyer, tireless defender of Algeria and Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the National Front, when he was a young radical deputy correct, In 1956 he left the National Assembly to join the paratroopers.
This casting gives us an idea of how, among General Saran’s many exploits, the most memorable was his time in Algeria.
In December 1955, General Saran, who had received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor three years earlier, was appointed General of the Army in French Algeria. Its mission could not be clearer: to put an end as soon as possible to what the then President of the Council, Pierre Mendes France, and his government, still defined as rebellion, unrest in the French overseas departments. “On November 1, the Resident Minister urged me to speed up the pace of operational activities in the shortest possible time. possible, In order to achieve significant results at the military level, which is a prerequisite and necessary condition for resolving the political problems in Algeria. “Raoul Salan pointed out in his memoirs.
“Decapitation of internal rebellion”
The eagerness of the French authorities in Paris and especially in Algiers can be explained by the huge commitments they made, as measured by the number of soldiers coming from mainland France or from the two neighboring protectorates of Morocco and Tunisia. But 1957 did not start well for General Saran: on January 16, an assassination attempt was made on him. Philippe Castille aimed a bazooka at him. The general escaped unscathed, while his closest collaborator succumbed. In any case, this act showed that the French people in Algeria did not trust him: they considered him a “sellout.” The assassination attempt This is This did not in any way change the approach taken by Saran, whose main objective remained the ruthless harassment of FL-N armed groups throughout the territory and the systematic destruction of their military and political infrastructure.
A year later, it was clear that this approach had failed. Algerian rebels were leading an increasingly active guerrilla war against the French army. Raoul Salan wrote to General Elie in a letter dated September 23, 1957: “In many places, certain known bands appear to be diluted in the population and in the caches of weapons (…) I ask you to emphasize the efforts made in the area of rebel infrastructure (…) You will work to eliminate the rebellion from within, especially in the cities, by weakening the capacity of leaders, commissioners and officials. of Authority. »
Police privileges
In other words, General Saran asked his subordinates to lead the police in the fight against the insurgents. Historians Mohammed Habib and Benjamin Stola confirmed this in their works Algerian War (2004): “In this ‘specific level’ outside the military sphere, which General Raoul Saran has tried to define more precisely, ‘conventional means and methods of warfare’, such as ‘tanks, planes, machine guns’, are ineffective. ” On the other hand, the ‘texts of codes, laws, decrees, orders, instructions’ constitute the real ‘weapons’. Dismantling these networks requires the work of the police and, ultimately, the convictions of the courts. »
In short, General Saran perfected the French Army’s rules of engagement on the ground by granting them police privileges. “This process culminated in 1958 when (Il) With full civilian power. As for the police, from May 15, 1958, the appointment of Colonel Yves Godard as Director of the Algerian National Security Service marked the complete control of the military authorities over this civilian service. ” Stola and Habib continued.
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The Algerian War would become political. The return to power of General Charles de Gaulle in 1958 and his policy towards Algeria caused a heated debate. The fact that the first president of the Fifth Republic had opened the door to a possible independence for Algeria was far from satisfying the defenders of French Algeria, whoever they were. In October 1959, the National Assembly voted for a policy of self-determination, lighting the fuse. Parts of the French army, including Raoul Salan, and of Politicians like Jacques Souster are in smooth sailing.
From soldier of the Republic to leader of the Organization of American States
This discontent found concrete expression during the week of roadblocks in Algiers at the end of January 1960. The protests became more radical. On February 11, 1961, a decisive turn took place with the creation of the Organization of American States (OAS), a far-right paramilitary organization. It loudly declared that Algeria was French, and to this end it did not hesitate to resort to acts of terror in Algeria and on the French mainland. However, during this turmoil, Raoul Salan was excluded from the race and replaced by General Challe. Everything was hastily put into motion after Charles de Gaulle’s decolonization speech on April 11, 1961.
The evil wind of “military coup” started on the 22nd Avril Lavigne 1961 (…) The civil and military authorities of Algiers were arrested during the night by the mutinous elements. At dawn, Generals Challe, Jouhaux and Zelle created the Algerian High Commission (…) In mainland France, we learned of the coup with surprise, “remember Benjamin Stola and Mohamed Habib. And where was General Saran in all this? After being replaced by Challe, he was given the honorary post of Inspector General of Defense and served as Military Governor of Paris in early 1959, before retiring from active service in June 1960. Always committed to the principles of French Algeria, he then settled in Algiers with his family despite the ban imposed on him by Paris.
The coup caused chaos
In 1961, Sharon was no longer an active general. of Changes in the Republic: he assumed the post of head of the OAS in Algiers. In order to give the organization a more acceptable face, he proposed a “Saran Amendment” that would reduce military service but in return mobilize the French in Algeria. However, three days later, on April 25, the coup was quashed! The generals were arrested.
Saran went into semi-secrecy. It was a time of targeted assassinations, indiscriminate attacks, machine gun fire on cafes, mortar bombing of city public squares. Commandos even tried to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle. Saran did not back down. He escaped the police pursuing him and even mocked the Republic, according to an article in the Daily News. world September 9, 1961: “The former general personally initiated the 28 possible An “Appeal” in which it was stated, inter alia, “I, General Raoul Sallan, am spearheading the great national renewal movement… I have decided to bring together all patriots on a single front, under the motto: : “French Algeria or Death”, which will guide our actions, elevate our egos and our resolve. » »
Sentenced in absentia to death in July 1961, he was finally arrested in Algiers on April 20, 1962. After his transfer to mainland France, the High Military Tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment. Raoul Saran was imprisoned in Toul with the mutinous generals and, like them, was pardoned by General de Gaulle in 1968. It was as if the wind of protest that blew that year had carried away those evil deeds. of story.
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