Raoul Salan
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Raoul Albin Louis Salan (June 10, 1899 - July 3, 1984) was an officer in the French Army, and the fourth French commanding general in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. Salan was one of four Generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation, and then founded the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) terrorist group.
After the Second World War, Salan became commander of French forces in Tonkin and signed agreements regarding the disposition of French troops within Vietnam. 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 became the commander in chief in Indochina. His seeming powerlessness to deal with the Viet Minh revolutionaries, particularly the failure to stop their invasion of Laos in 1953, led to his early removal in favor of Henri Navarre.
Salan was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. On January 16, 1957, while commander of the 10th military area, and of the interarmy commander in Algiers, Salan was the target of an assassination attempt using a bazooka, resulting in the death of a French major. The attackers were Algierians (French residents of Algiers) who wanted to replace Salan with General René Cogny, who they saw as a more energetic leader. The group's leader blamed the influence of French Prime Minister Michel Debré as inspiration for the assassination attempt, but did not present any proof to support the claim, and an investigation did not produce any definite answers about the attack.
[edit] Prominent Milestones in Salan's Life
| From. | To | Role/Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| 1941 | 1943 | Head of 2nd Bureau French West Africa |
| 1943 | 1944 | Head of 2nd Bureau North Africa |
| 1944 | 1944 | Commanding Officer 6th Senegalese Regiment |
| 1944 | 1945 | Commanding Officer Infantry 9th Colonial Division |
| 1945 | 1945 | General Officer Commanding 14th Division |
| 1945 | 1946 | General Officer Commanding French Forces in Tonkin & China |
| 1946 | 1948 | General Officer Commanding Northern Indochina |
| 1948 | 1950 | Commander in Chief Far East Land Forces |
| 1950 | 1950 | Director of Colonial Forces |
| 1950 | 1950 | Commander in Chief Far East Land Forces |
| 1950 | 1951 | General Officer Commanding Tonkin Operational Zone |
| 1950 | 1951 | Acting Commissioner of North Vietnam |
| 1951 | 1951 | Assistant High Commissioner of Indochina |
| 1951 | 1951 | Commissioner of South Vietnam |
| 1952 | 1953 | Commander in Chief Indochina |
| 1953 | 1956 | Inspector-General for the Defence |
| 1956 | 1958 | General Officer Commander in Chief Algeria |
| 1958 | 1959 | Inspector-General for National Defence |
| 1959 | 1960 | Military Governor of Paris |
| 1960 | 1960 | Retired |
| 1961 | 1961 | Led a Mutiny in Algeria |
| 1961 | 1962 | Head of the OAS |
| 1962 | 1962 | Condemned to death as traitor in absentia |
| 1963 | 1963 | Sentenced changed life imprisonment when he was arrested |
| 1968 | 1968 | Released |
[edit] External links
- Association of Friends of Raoul Salan
- Raoul Salan, a colonial General by Madeleine Rebérioux
Note: the above links are written in French.
