Organisation armée secrète
Secret Army Organisation | |
---|---|
Organisation armée secrète (in French) | |
Leader | Raoul Salan, Edmond Jouhaud, Yves Godard, Jean-Jacques Susini, Jean-Claude Perez |
Dates of operation | 11 February 1961 | – 1962
Motives | Opposition to Algerian independence from France |
Active regions | France
Spain Portugal |
Ideology | French colonialism French nationalism |
Political position | Far-right |
Notable attacks | Algiers putsch of 1961 Battle of Bab El Oued Attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle |
Status | Inactive |
Size | 3,000 members |
Flag |
The Organisation armée secrète (OAS, "Secret Army Organisation") was a
Its motto was L’Algérie est française et le restera ("Algeria is French and will remain so").The OAS was formed from existing networks, calling themselves "counter-terrorists", "self-defence groups", or "resistance", which had carried out attacks on the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) and their perceived supporters since early in the war. It was officially formed in Francoist Spain, in Madrid in January 1961, as a response by some French politicians and French military officers to the 8 January 1961 referendum on self-determination concerning Algeria, which had been organised by President de Gaulle.
By acts of bombings and targeted assassinations in both metropolitan France and French Algerian territories, which are estimated to have resulted in 2,000 deaths between April 1961 and April 1962, the OAS attempted to prevent Algerian independence. This campaign culminated in a wave of attacks that followed the March 1962
The OAS still has admirers in French nationalist movements. In July 2006, some OAS sympathisers attempted to relight the flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the Oran massacre on 5 July 1962.[5]
History
The OAS was created in response to the January 1961
Resistance against Algerian independence commenced in January 1960, with further violence breaking out in 1961 during the General's Uprising. Daniele Ganser of the ETH Parallel History Project claims that Gladio stay-behind networks, directed by NATO, were involved, but no definitive proof has been found.[7][8] Both of these insurrections were swiftly suppressed and many of the leaders who had created the OAS were imprisoned.
By acts of
In October 1961 Pierre Lagaillarde, who had escaped to Francoist Spain following the 1960 barricades week, was arrested in Madrid, along with the Italian activist Guido Giannettini.[9] Franco then exiled him to the Canary Islands.
The Delta commandos engaged in indiscriminate killing sprees, on 17 March 1962; against cleaning-ladies on 5 May; on 15 March 1962 against six inspectors of the
The OAS attempted several times to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle. The most prominent attempt was a 22 August 1962 ambush at Petit-Clamart, a Paris suburb, planned by a military engineer who was not an OAS member, Jean Bastien-Thiry.[12] Bastien-Thiry was executed in March 1963 after de Gaulle refused to grant him amnesty. A fictionalised version of this attack was recreated in the 1971 book by Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal, and in the 1973 film of the same name.
The OAS use of extreme violence created strong opposition from some
March 1962 Evian agreements and the struggle of the OAS
The main hope of the OAS was to prove that the FLN was secretly restarting military action after a ceasefire was agreed in the
In April 1962, the OAS leader,
By 1963, the main OAS operatives were either killed or in jail.
Legacy
Many OAS members later took part in various
The Argentine admiral
The financial crime expert Veit Buetterlin named the OAS as an example of a terror group which committed bank robberies to finance its operations. In a CNN interview, Buetterlin mentioned the attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle as a historic example and related it to cases of the recent past where sanctioned parties are conducting cyber attacks on banks to acquire funds illegally.[23]
Organisation
Chain of command
The secret army was a three-part organisation, each segment having its own action commando squads.[24]
Section (Divisions) | Role | Director | Squads |
---|---|---|---|
ODM Organisation-Des-Masses Mass Organisation |
OAS recruitment | Colonel Jean Gardes Michel Leroy |
none |
APP Action-Psychologique-Propagande Psychological Warfare & Propaganda |
OAS propaganda | Jean-Jacques Susini | -Commandos Z (Z for Jean-Marcel Zagamé, founder) |
ORO Organisation-Renseignement-Opération Organisation, Intelligence & Planning -BCR Intelligence Central Bureau -BAO Operational Action Bureau |
OAS field ops planning | Jean-Claude Perez Jean Lalanne (BCR) Roger Degueldre (BAO) Albert Dovecar (Delta 1) |
-Commandos Delta (D for Roger Degueldre, founder) Delta 1 Delta 2 Delta 3 |
French Algerian branch
Oranie district
- General Edmond Jouhaud
- Commander Pierre Guillaume
- aide
- civilian
- Colonel Dufour
- replacing Gen. Jouhaud
- General Gardy
- Capitaine Pierre Sergent
- Revolutionary Directory member
- Christian Léger
- Revolutionary Directory member
- Jean-Marie Curutchet
- Revolutionary Directory member
- Denis Baille
- Revolutionary Directory member
- Jean-René Souètre
- Revolutionary Directory member
Algérois district
- Colonel Vaudrey
- Pierre Delhomme
- in charge of El-Biar, near Algiers
Constantinois district
- Colonel Pierre Château-Jobert
- Robert Martel
Metropolitan French branch
OAS-Métropole
- Captain Pierre Sergent
- Chief of Staff
- Lieutenant Daniel Godot
- ODM-Métropole Director
- APP-Métropole
- Captain Jean-Marie Curutchet
- ORO-Métropole
France-Mission III
- aka the Monocle
Spanish branch
OAS-Madrid
Short living dissident group claiming the organisation's direction.
- Colonel Antoine Argoud
- Colonel Charles Lacheroy
- Commander Pierre Lagaillarde
Commanding officers
- General Raoul Salan
- aka Soleil ("Sun" surname for Louis XIV of France)
- Chief of Staff
- General Paul Gardy
- Chief of Staff
- Colonel Yves Godard
- Chief Aide
- Doctor Jean-Claude Perez
- ORO Director
- Captain Jean-Marie Curutchet
- ORO Director, replacing Dr. Perez on 1 January 1962
- Colonel Jean Gardes
- ODM Director
- APP Director
Notable members
- Antoine Argoud
- Bertrand de Perseval
- Jean-Pierre Cherid
- Roger Degueldre
- Albert Dovecar
- Paul Gardy
- Yves Godard
- Yves Guérin-Sérac
- Pierre Guillaume
- Roger Holeindre
- Edmond Jouhaud
- Pierre Lagaillarde
- Jean-Pierre Maïone-Libaude
- Claude Piegts
- Raoul Salan
- Albert Spaggiari
- Jean-Jacques Susini
- Dominique Venner
- Jacques Soustelle
In popular culture
The OAS is referenced in
OAS graffiti appears outside a bakery approximately eight minutes into the 1963 film The Bakery Girl of Monceau. Two minutes later, following the second appearance of the exterior, similar graffiti appears to have been removed from the facade of the bakery.
The OAS featured prominently in Jack Higgins' 1964 novel Wrath of the Lion, in which the organization fictionally manages to suborn the crew of a French Navy submarine and use it for missions of revenge.
The OAS features prominently in the 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, and its film adaptation. The story deals primarily with a fictional assassination plot against Charles de Gaulle, where the organisation hires a British contract killer (the Jackal) to kill de Gaulle. Bastien-Thiry and the Petit-Clamart plot figure prominently in the early sections of the story. Forsyth also mentions the OAS in his 1974 novel The Dogs of War, with several of its protagonists having joined the movement. The fictional Colonel Rodin from Jackal is also alluded to.
The OAS is referenced in the Oliver Stone film JFK, as suspected conspirator Clay Shaw (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is alleged to have business connections with them. The plot to assassinate De Gaulle at the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart[25] is also mentioned several times in the film.
The 2002 movie Legion of Honor is about an Englishman who joins the Foreign Legion and is set in Algeria shortly before their independence and "OAS" is mentioned numerous times as well as shown in graffiti outside a number of structures.
The OAS is referred to in the 2008 film Mesrine: Public Enemy No.1 (L'Instinc de Mort), describing the life of French criminal Jacques Mesrine. The character of Guido (played by Gérard Depardieu) is a member of OAS. Guido mentions OAS multiple times and together with Mesrine he assassinates another OAS member, who in his last moments declares: "De Gaulle killed us".
Subsequent groups with ties to OAS
In November 2016, an extreme right-wing terrorist cell calling itself the Organisation d’armées sociales (OAS) emerged in France.[26] The acronym was a nod to the original Organisation Armée Secrète. It was inspired by Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik and consisted of 9 people led by former Action Française activist Logan Nisin.[27] The cell had planned attacks against kebab shops, places of worship (especially mosques), drug dealers and politicians: Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Christophe Castaner were specific targets.[28] The group was taken down by French authorities in November 2017 before it was able to accomplish any attacks.
See also
- Front Algérie Française, an earlier pied-noir nationalist group
- La Main Rouge, a similar organisation established earlier, sponsored by French intelligence agencies
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1317677031.
- ISBN 978-1-4426-3066-6.
- ISBN 978-94-012-0592-4.
- Encyclopaedia Universalis. Kindle Edition. Quote: "La dernière année de l’Algérie française est marquée, des deux côtés de la Méditerranée, par la folie meurtrière de l’O.A.S. dirigée par Salan. Plasticages en série, exécutions de personnalités jugées trop «libérales» et d’Algériens musulmans ..." Translation: "The last year of the French Algeria is marked, on both sides of the Mediterranean, by the murderous folly of the OAS led by Salan. Serial bombings, executions of personalities judged too 'liberal' and of Algerian Muslims ..."
- ^ Les nostalgiques de l'Algérie française ont la dent dure, in Le MatinDZ, 13 October 2007 (in French)
- ^ a b c Evans, M. Algeria: France's Undeclared War. Oxford: OUP, p. 306
- ^ Chronology from The Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact Archived 18 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, ETH Zurich Institute.
- ^ Daniele Ganser, Operation Gladio. Terrorism in Western Europe, Franck Cass, London, 2005.
- ^ René Monzat, Enquêtes sur la droite extrême, Le Monde-éditions, 1992, p. 91. Monzat quotes François Duprat, L’Ascension du MSI, Edition les Sept Couleurs, Paris, 1972
- ^ Ligue des droits de l'homme(LDH, Human Rights League), article based on sources from Benjamin Stora, Histoire de la guerre d'Algérie, La gangrène et l'oubli and Sylvie Thénault, Histoire de la guerre d'indépendance algérienne (in French)
- Encyclopaedia Universalis. Kindle Edition. Quote: "En un an, d’avril 1961 à avril 1962, les attentats de l’O.A.S. font 2 000 morts et le double de blessés."
- ^ Gordon, David C. (1966). The Passing of French Algeria. London: ?.
- ISBN 0-275-92791-1
- ^ Harrison (1989), p. 120
- ISBN 0871961792
- ^ Fleury, G. (2002) Histoire secréte de L'OAS. Grasset, pp. 1020–1032. (in French)
- ORTF, 1 July 1962, National Audiovisual Institute
- ISBN 2-87027-542-0. (in French)
- ^ ISBN 950072684X) (Presentation)
- ^ a b Horacio Verbitsky in The Silence, extract transl. in English made available by openDemocracy: Breaking the silence: the Catholic Church in Argentina and the "dirty war" Archived 22 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine, 28 July 2005
- ^ "l'Disparitions: un ancien agent français mis en cause" (in French). Le Figaro. 6 February 2007.
- Página/12(in Spanish). 2 February 2007.
- ^ Wise, Hannah. "Fighting the war against terrorist financing". www.cnnmoney.ch. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020.
- ^ Buscia, Gilles; Zehr, Patrice (1980). Au Nom De l'O.A.S. (in French). preface by Col. Argoud. Alain Lefeuvre Editions.
- Time. 9 October 1973. Archived from the originalon 14 December 2008.
- ^ Nicolas, Lebourg (January 2021). "Extreme Right Terrorist Radicalization in post-2015 France". Illiberalism Studies Program Working Papers (3): 11. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
- ^ "Groupe d'ultradroite "OAS": la plupart des suspects remis en liberté" [Far-right group "OAS": Most suspects released from prison]. Le Figaro (in French). 18 April 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
- ^ "Projets d'attentats : huit personnes de l'ultra-droite mises en examen" [Planned attacks: eight ultra-right-wingers under investigation]. France Info (in French). 22 November 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
Further reading
- Aussaresses, General Paul. The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955–1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 978-1-929631-30-8.
- Harrison, Alexander. Challenging De Gaulle: The O.A.S and the Counter-Revolution in Algeria, 1954–1962. New York: Praeger, 1989 (in English).
- Henissart, Paul. Wolves in the City: The Death of French Algeria. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970.
- Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace:Algeria 1954–1962, New York: New York Review Books, 1977
- ISBN 2707141631. translation(in Spanish).
External links
Media related to Organisation armée secrète (OAS) at Wikimedia Commons