Raoul Salan

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Raoul Salan
File:Generaal Salan, Bestanddeelnr 909-5643.jpg
Birth name Raoul Albin Louis Salan
Born (1899-06-10)10 June 1899
Roquecourbe, France
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Paris, France
Allegiance  France
23x15px Organisation armée secrète
Service/branch French Army
Years of service 1917–1959
Rank Général d'Armée
Commands held 6th Senegalese Tirailleur Regiment
14th Infantry Division
French Far East Expeditionary Corps
French forces in Algeria
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
First Indochina War
Algerian War
Algiers putsch of 1961
Awards Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
Other work Leader of the OAS

Raoul Albin Louis Salan (French pronunciation: ​[ʁaul salɑ̃]; 10 June 1899 – 3 July 1984) was a French Army general. He served as the fourth French commanding general during the First Indochina War. He was one of four retired generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation.[1] He was the founder of the Organisation armée secrète and the most decorated soldier in the French Army at the end of his military career.

World War I

File:Jacquot elie 1945 14DI défilé paris 18 juin 1945.jpg
Raoul Salan parading on the Champs-Élysées at the head of the 14th Infantry Division, 18 June 1945. (fr)

Salan was born on 10 June 1899 in Roquecourbe, Tarn.[1] Enlisted in the French Army for the duration of the war on 2 August 1917, he was accepted in the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr[1] on 21 August 1917, being assigned to the cadet student platoon of the 16th Infantry Regiment stationed at Montbrison, as part of the promotion "de Saint-Odile et de La Fayette" (1917-1918).[2][3] Salan graduated as an aspirant on 25 July 1918, and was assigned to the 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment (5e RIC) in Lyon on 14 August 1918.

As a platoon leader in the 5e RIC's 11e Compagnie, he took part in the fighting in the Verdun region (Saint-Mihiel, Les Éparges, Fort de Bois-Bourru, Côte de Oie, Cumières-le-Mort-Homme). He was mentioned in the Order of the Brigade by Order dated 29 December 1918.

World War II

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Until France's surrender in World War II, Colonel Salan commanded a battalion of Senegalese troops. At first he sided with the Vichy Government, but when the tide turned to the Allied side, he campaigned hard and successfully in southern France with General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny's troops. [4] Between the world wars he was attached in various capacities to the Ministry of Colonies, and in 1941–43 he served with the Free French forces in French West Africa. After participating in the Allied invasion of France in 1944, he went to Indochina in 1945 and was commander in chief there during 1952–53. [5]

Indochina and Algeria

Salan served as the commander of French forces in Vietnam from 1945 to 1947.[6] By 1948, he was commander of all French land forces in East Asia, and after the death of Jean de Lattre de Tassigny in 1952, Salan became the commander-in-chief in Indochina.[6]

French General Salan and the Lao Prince Sisavang Vatthana in Luang Prabang, 4 May 1953

Salan served as commander-in-chief of French forces in French Algeria in 1956.[6] In 1958, Salan called for the return to power of Charles De Gaulle, believing that the latter would protect French Algeria.[6] He retired shortly after, first moving to Spain, then to mainland France.[6] He was banned from entering Algeria in 1960.[6]

Nevertheless, Salan returned to Algeria to organize the putsch on 21 April 1961 with André Zeller, Edmond Jouhaud and Maurice Challe.[6] After the failure of the putsch, he became the chief of Organisation armée secrète (OAS), which attempted to disrupt the April 1962 Peace Evian Accords.[6] He was arrested in April 1962.[6] Salan was charged with treason and sentenced to death.[7] However, his death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. He was pardoned in 1968.[1][8]

Death

File:Tombe du général Salan, pierre tombale, cimetière de Vichy.jpg
Grave.

Salan died on 3 July 1984. Every year, former members of the OAS bring flowers to his tomb on his death anniversary.[9]

Decorations

Salan was the most decorated soldier in the French Army.[6][10]

File:Salanb10.jpg
A ribbon bar featuring all decorations received by General Salan

French and Colonial Decorations

Foreign Decorations

Bibliography

  • Mémoires Fin d’un empire (4 volumes), Editions Presses de la Cité, 1970–74
    • Le sens d’ un engagement, 1970
    • Le Viêt-minh mon adversaire, 1971
    • Algérie française, 1972
    • L'Algérie de Gaulle et moi, 1974

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Silence in the Dock TIME Magazine Friday, 25 May 1962
  8. ↑ To the guillotine TIME Magazine Friday, 27 Apr 1962
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

  • Alexander, Martin S., and John FV Keiger, eds. France and the Algerian War, 1954-1962: Strategy, Operations and Diplomacy (Routledge, 2013)
  • General Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 978-1-929631-30-8.

External links

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