1911, December 21 | Born, Saint Maixent, France |
1929 | Baccalauréat, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Strasbourg |
1932 | Graduated from the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr (military academy); sous-lieutenant, 27th Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins (Alpine Infantry) |
1937 | Champion de France militaire de ski (military ski champion) |
1939 | Member, French military mission to Poland |
1940 | Captain; captured by German forces, June 16, at Maizières, France |
1940-1944 | Prisoner of war (Oflag 10, Montwy, Poland); escaped to France via Germany disguised as a Spanish laborer |
1944 | Battalion chief, 27th Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins; commander of the Armée Secrète de Haute-Savoie (Secret Army of Resistance Fighters of Haute-Savoie) |
1945-1948 | Occupation duty in Austria |
1948-1952 | Commander of the 11th Bataillon de Choc (Special Forces) |
1952-1955 | Duty in Indochina; commander of the Groupement Mobile Nord of the Forces Terrestres du Laos (combined French and Laotian forces); attempted to relieve the siege of Dien Bien Phu; lieutenant colonel |
1955-1957 | Adjutant to General Massu, commander of the 10th Division Parachutiste (Paratroop Division); commander of the Algiers-Sahel military sector; active role in the "Battle of Algiers"; colonel |
1958-1960 | Directeur général de la Sûreté Nationale en Algérie (director of police) |
1960-1961 | Adjutant in the subdivision of Nevers, France |
1961 | Participant in the April putsch in Algeria; condemned to death in absentia |
1961-1962 | Organizer and chief of intelligence of the O.A.S. (Organisation Armée Secrète) in Algeria |
1965-1975 | Manufacturer, Papignies, Belgium |
1972 | Author, Les Paras dans la ville (Paratroops in the City), vol. I of Les Trois Batailles d'Alger (The Three Battles of Algiers) (Paris: Librairie Arthème Fayard) |
1975, March 3 | Died, Lessines, Belgium |
Subjects and Indexing Terms