(Redirected from Organisation de l\'Armée Secrète)The 'Organisation de l'armée secrète' ('OAS' — or 'Organisation armée secrète', lit. "Organization of the Secret Army" or "Secret Armed Organization") was a short-lived,
French far-right nationalist militant and underground organization during the
Algerian War (1954-62). The OAS used
armed struggle in an attempt to prevent Algeria's independence. The OAS's motto was "Algeria is French and will remain so" (''L’Algérie est française et le restera'').
It was formed in
Franquist Spain, in Madrid in January 1961, as a response by some French politicians and
military officers to the
January 8, 1961 referendum on self-determination concerning Algeria, which had been organized by
General de Gaulle.
After the March 1962
Evian agreements, which granted independence to Algeria and marked the beginning of the exodus of the ''
pieds-noirs'' (European settlers), the OAS attempted to prevent the on-going political process by a campaign of
assassinations and
bombings. This campaign culminated in
Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry's
August 22,
1962 assassination attempt against president
Charles de Gaulle in the Paris suburb of
Le Petit-Clamart.
The OAS still has followers among the far right movement. In July 2006, some OAS nostalgics lighted up the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier's flame to commemorate the
Oran massacre on
5 July 1962.
[1]
History
Organization's emblem
The OAS was created in response to a referendum on self-determination for Algeria. It was founded in Spain, on
3 December 1960, by former officers,
Pierre Lagaillarde (who led the
1960 Siege of Algiers), General
Raoul Salan (who took part in the 1961
Algiers putsch or "Generals' Uprising") and
Jean-Jacques Susini, along with other members of the
French Army, including
Yves Guérin-Sérac, and former members of the
French Foreign Legion from the
First Indochina War (1946-54). ''OAS-Métro'', the branch in
metropolitan France, was led by captain
Pierre Sergent.
There was resistance against Algerian independence in January 1960 by the
settlers and ''
Pieds-Noirs'' who again took up arms in April 1961, during the Generals' Uprising, with some of the Algerian Jews siding with the OAS after
synagogues were attacked by the
National Liberation Front (''Front de libération nationale'', FLN) in Algeria. 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.
[2][3] Both of these insurrections were swiftly suppressed and many of the leaders who had created the OAS were imprisoned.
Operations
By acts of
sabotage and
assassination in both metropolitan France and French Algerian territories, the OAS attempted to prevent Algerian independence. The first victim was Pierre Popie, attorney and president of the
People's Republican Movement (''Mouvement Républicain Populaire'', MRP), who stated on TV that "French Algeria [was] dead" (''L’Algérie française est morte''). Roger Gavoury, head of the French police in
Algiers, was assassinated by
Roger Degueldre, leader of the OAS Delta Commando, and
Albert Dovecar on
May 31,
1961 (both Degueldre and Dovecar were executed by a firing-squad on
June 7,
1962).
The Delta commandos engaged in undiscriminate killing sprees, on March 17, against cleaning-ladies on 5 May, on 15 March 1962 against six inspectors of the
National Education Ministry, who directed the "Educative Social Centres" (''Centres sociaux éducatifs''), including
Mouloud Feraoun, an Algerian writer, etc.
[4]
The OAS attempted several times to assassinate French president
Charles de Gaulle. The most prominent attempt was a 1962 ambush at Petit-
Clamart, a
Paris suburb, planned by a military engineer who was not an OAS member,
Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry. Bastien-Thiry was executed in March 1963 after de Gaulle refused to grant him amnesty. A fictionalized version of this attack was recreated in the 1973 film ''
The Day of the Jackal''.
The 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
Evian agreements of March 19, 1962 and the referendum of June 1962; over 100 bombs a day were detonated by the OAS in March in pursuit of this end. On March 21, the OAS issued a
flyer where they proclaimed that the French military had become an "occupation force.
" It organized
car bombings: 25 killed in Oran on 28 February 1962, 62 killed in Algiers on May 2, etc.
The following day, they took the control of
Bab el-Oued and attacked French soldiers, killing six. The French military then surrounded them. The battle killed 35 and injured 150.
On March 26, the leaders of the OAS proclaimed a
general strike in Algiers and called for the European settlers to come to Bab el-Oued in order to break the blockade by military forces loyal to de Gaulle and the
Republic. A detachment of ''
tirailleurs'' (Muslim troops in the French Army) fired on the demonstrators, killing 54, injuring 140, and traumatising the settlers' population in what is known as the "gunfight of the Rue d'Isly".
In April 1962 the OAS leader,
Raoul Salan was captured. Along with other OAS members, he would be defended by
Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour, who then presented himself as a
far right candidate for the
1965 presidential election. Despite the OAS bombing campaign, the FLN remained resolute in its agreement to the ceasefire and on
June 17,
1962 the OAS also began a ceasefire. The Algerian authority guaranteed the security of the remaining Europeans, but in early July 1962 occurred the
Oran massacre of 1962: hundreds of armed people came down to European areas of the city, attacking European civilians. The violence lasted several hours, including lynching and acts of torture in public places in all areas of
Oran by civilians supported by the
ALN—the armed wing of the FLN, at the time evolving into the
Algerian Army— resulting in 3,000 missing people :
[5].
The OAS was effectively eliminated by 1963.
Roger Degueldre,
Claude Piegts and
Albert Dovecar were executed by
firing squad on June 7, 1962.
Bastien-Thiry, who had attempted the Petit-Clamart assassination on de Gaulle, but was not formally a member of the OAS, was also executed. All others penal sentences were amnestied by a July 1968 act. Putschist generals still alive in November 1982 were reintegrated into the Army by another amnesty law: Raoul Salan, Edmond Jouhaud, and six other generals benefited from this law.
Legacy
Many OAS members later took part in various
anti-communist struggles around the world. Following the dismantlement of the organization, and the execution of several of its members, the OAS
chaplain,
Georges Grasset, organized the flight of OAS members, from a route going from Paris to
Franquist Spain and finally to Argentina.
[6][7] Grasset arrived in 1962 in Buenos Aires to take charge of the Argentine branch of the
Cité Catholique, a
Catholic fundamentalist group formed by
Jean Ousset, the personal secretary of
Charles Maurras, as an off-shoot of the monarchist ''
Action Française''. This anti-communist religious organization was formed of many Algerian war veterans and close to the OAS.
Charles Lacheroy,
Colonel Trinquier, who theorized the systemic use of
torture in
counter-insurgency doctrine in ''Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency'' (1961), were members of it. Along with Colonel
Jean Gardes, who had first theorized counter-insurgency tactics during the
Indochina War (1947-1954), Jean Ousset developed the concept of "
subversion" referring to an essential enemy threatening the existence of
Occident itself. Gardes arrived in Argentina in 1963, a year after the end of the Algerian War. There, he delivered counter-insurgency courses at the
ESMA, the Navy Mechanics Schools, which became infamous during the "
Dirty war" in the 1970s for being used as an
internment and torture center. Soon after Gardes met
Federico Lucas Roussillon, an Argentine naval lieutenant commander, the Cadets at the ESMA were shown the film ''
The Battle of Algiers'' (1966) by
Italian communist Gillo Pontecorvo, during which then Colonel
Marcel Bigeard and General
Jacques Massu made a systemic use of
torture,
block warden system, and
death flights (dubbed "''Crevettes Bigeard''", or "Bigeard's Shrimps").
The Argentine admiral
Luis Maria Mendia testified in January 2007 that a
French intelligence agent,
Bertrand de Perseval, had participated in the "disappearance" of the two French nuns,
Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon. Perseval, who lives today in Thailand, denied any links with the abduction, but did admit being a former OAS member who escaped to Argentina after the Evian agreements.
[8][9]
Organization
Chain of command
The secret army was a three-part organization, each segment having its own action commando squads.
[10]
| Section (Divisions) | Role | Director | Squads |
|---|
'ODM'
Organisation-Des-Masses
''Mass Organization'' | 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
''Organization, 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 |
Commanding officers
★ General
Raoul Salan
:aka ''Soleil'' ("Sun" surname for
Louis XIV of France)
:Chief of Staff
★ General
Paul Gardy
:Chief of Staff
★ Colonel Godard
:Chief Aide
★ Doctor
Jean-Claude Perez
:ORO Director
★ Captain
Jean-Marie Curutchet
:ORO Director, replacing Dr. Perez on January 1st 1962
★ Colonel
Jean Gardes
:ODM Director
★
Jean-Jacques Susini
:APP Director
French Algerian branch
Oranie district
★ General
Edmond Jouhaud
:Commander
Guillaume
:aide
★
Charles Micheletti
: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
:aka the ''chouan de la Mitidja'' ("
chouan of the
Mitidja")
Metropolitan French branch
OAS-Métropole
★ General
Paul Vanuxem
:aka
Verdun
★ Captain
Pierre Sergent
:Chief of Staff
★ Lieutenant
Daniel Godot
:ODM-Métropole Director
★
Jacques Chadeyron
:APP-Métropole
★ Captain
Jean-Marie Curutchet
:ORO-Métropole
France-Mission III
#
André Canal
:aka the ''
Monocle''
Spanish branch
OAS-Madrid
Short living dissident group claiming the organization's direction. All members were arrested by the
Guardia Civil military police.
★ Colonel
Antoine Argoud
★ Colonel
Charles Lacheroy
★ Commander
Pierre Lagaillarde
Notes
1. Des nostalgiques de l'OAS sur la tombe du soldat inconnu?, in ''L'Humanité'', July 3, 2006
2. Chronology from the The Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact, ETH Zurich Institute.
3. Daniele Ganser, ''Operation Gladio. Terrorism in Western Europe'', Franck Cass, London, 2005.
4. 26 mars 1962, la fusillade de la rue d’Isly à Alger, ''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''
5. ''Cinq Colonnes à La Une, rushes: interview Pied-Noir'', ORTF, July 1st, 1962, National Audiovisual Institute
6. Marie-Monique Robin, ''Escadrons de la mort, l'école française'', 453 pages. La Découverte (15 Sep 2004). Collection : Cahiers libres. (ISBN 2707141631) Transl. ''Los Escuadrones De La Muerte/ the Death Squadron'' 539 pages. Sudamericana (Oct 2005). (ISBN 950072684X) (Presentation)
7. Horacio Verbitsky in ''The Silence'', extract transl. in English made available by Open Democracy: Breaking the silence: the Catholic Church in Argentina and the "dirty war", July 28, 2005
8. Disparitions : un ancien agent français mis en cause, ''Le Figaro'', February 6, 2007
9. “Impartí órdenes que fueron cumplidas”, ''Página/12'', February 2, 2007
10. ''Au Nom De l'O.A.S.'', Gilles Buscia & Patrice Zehr (preface by Col. Argoud ), Alain Lefeuvre Editions, 1980
Further reading
★
Harrison, Alexander. ''Challenging De Gaulle: The O.A.S and the Counter-Revolution in Algeria, 1954-1962''. New York : Praeger, 1989 .
★
Alistair Horne, ''A Savage War of Peace:Algeria 1954-1962'', New York: New York Review Books, 1977
★
Marie-Monique Robin, ''Escadrons de la mort, l'école française'',La Découverte (15 Sep 2004). Collection : Cahiers libres. (ISBN 2707141631) (transl. in Spanish)(
Presentation)
See also
★
Alfredo Astiz (
[1])
★
Cité catholique, a Catholic fundamentalist group which included OAS members and had an important role in teaching
counter-insurgency doctrines to the
Argentine Armed Forces
★
Yves Guérin-Sérac, one of the founder of the OAS
★
Albert Spaggiari, who would later work with the
Pinochet's
DINA, was an OAS member.
★
Jean-Marie Le Pen, current head of the
National Frontl (FN), was
Tixier-Vignancourt's campaign director in 1965, and some OAS members, including some condemned to life imprisonment in the trial after attempted assassination on de Gaulle, are now part of his party.
★
Roger Holeindre, former OAS activist and current vice-president of the FN
★
Jacques Bompard, former OAS supporter, member of the FN since its 1972 creation, and member since December 2005 of
Philippe de Villiers'
Movement for France (MPF)
★
Enrico Mattei, communist head of the Italian
Agip oil company and supporter of Algerian independence was threatened by the OAS. He died in an airplane accident in October 1962.
★
Jacques Mesrine
★ ''
Le Petit Soldat'', a film by
Jean-Luc Godard about an OAS supporter fleeing from France.
★
Jean-Pierre Maïone-Libaude, former member of the OAS Delta commando who allegedly assassinated
Pierre Goldman in 1979 on behalf of the ''
Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación'' (GAL) and may also have killed
Henri Curiel in 1978 (Curiel took part in the
Jeanson network which supported the
FLN)
★
Jean Pierre Cherid, OAS member who then took a central part in the organization of the Spanish GAL
★
Frederick Forsyth's novel, ''
The Day of the Jackal'' centers on an assassin hired by the OAS.
★
Front Algérie Française An earlier extremist group
External link
★
OAS veterans official website
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