Marcel Bigeard
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| Marcel Bigeard | |
|---|---|
| 14 February 1916 - | |
 Colonel Bigeard on parade in 1957 |
|
| Nickname | Bruno |
| Place of birth | Toul, France |
| Allegiance | France |
| Service/branch | French Army |
| Years of service | 1936-1938 1939-1976 |
| Rank | Général de corps d'armée |
| Unit | 3rd RPC |
| Battles/wars | World War II First Indochina War Algerian War |
| Other work | Author |
Marcel Bigeard (14 February 1916) is a French military officer who fought in World War II, Indochina and Algeria. He was one of the commanders in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and is thought by many to have been a dominating influence on French 'unconventional' warfare thinking from that time onward. He is one of the most decorated soldiers in France[citation needed].
Bigeard has recently become drawn into the controversy in France around the use of torture in the Algerian war. The admission by senior military people who were involved of the long accepted belief that torture was used systematically has put the spotlight on all figures involved. He has justified the use of torture during the Algerian War as a "necessary evil" in Le Monde newspaper, and confirms its use. He also claimed that he had not personally used torture [1].
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[edit] Early life
Marcel Bigeard was born in Toul, Lorraine on 14 February 1916, the son of an employee of the French railway, he was called up for military service in 1936. He served on the Maginot Line at Haguenau, Alsace. He left the French Army after two years with the rank of Caporal-chef.
[edit] World War II
In 1939 he was recalled to active duty and served, initially as a sergeant, with the 79e Régiment d'Infanterie de Forteresse (79th Fortress Infantry Regiment) in the fortified sector of Hoffen.
Bigeard rose quickly through the ranks and reached the position of adjutant, but in June 1940, during the Battle of France he was captured and made a prisoner of war. After two unsuccessful attempts he managed to escape from a German POW camp on November 11, 1941. Bigeard eventually made his way to Africa to join with the Free French. In 1943 he was commissioned as an officer with the rank of Second Lieutenant. In 1944, after special service training by the British, he was parachuted into occupied France as part of a team of four with the mission of leading the resistance in the Ariège département close to the border with Andorra. One of these audacious ambushes against superior German forces gained him the British DSO. His nickname of "Bruno" has its origins in his callsign of this period. By the end of the war he had attained the rank of captain.
[edit] Indochina
Bigeard was first sent to Indo-China in October 1945 to assist with French efforts to reassert its influence over the former French colonies. His commanded a French company and then locals in their interdiction of Viet Minh incursions around the Laos border along the 'road' R.C. 41 (Route Coloniale). In 1947 he returned to France and commanded a company in the newly forming 3rd RPC (Regiment Parachutiste Chasseur). He returned to Vietnam in 1948 for combat duty in the Tonkin delta with the 3rd RPC then the Thai 3rd Batallion and finally back to the Tonkinese highlands in command of an Indochinese batallion. In July 1952 (his third Vietnam posting) as a major commanding the 6th BPC (Battalion of Colonial Parachutists) with whom he established his fame and reputation. He seems to have been a keen self-publicist which assisted his cause to get the materials needed to help him succeed. This unique style included creating the famous 'casque Bigeard' cap from the 'excess' material of the long shorts in the standard uniform. He participated in many operations including a combat drop on Tu-Lê in November 1952.
On November 20, 1953 Bigeard and his unit took part in Operation Castor,the opening stage of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Bigeard and the 6th BPC returned to Dien Bien Phu on March 16, 1954, parachuting in to reinforce the now besieged garrison. He acted as deputy to Pierre Langlais, who along with other members of the "parachute mafia" took over the effective management of the battle from General Christian de Castries. Bigeard helped organize local counter-attacks. Bigeard was heavily involved in the fighting for strongpoints Eliane 1 and Eliane 2. Towards the end of the battle he was promoted (along with other commanders) to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. This was in some way seen as a thank-you for his valiant command of his troops before the expected massacre at the end of the battle. Bigeard entered captivity after the main garrison fell on May 7, 1954 and was repatriated 3 months later. Approximately 16500 French Union troops fought at Dien Bien Phu, Bigeard was one of the few (less than 3000) who returned.
[edit] Algeria
During the Algerian War of Independence, Bigeard, now a Colonel, was given command of the 3rd RPC (Regiment of Colonial Parachutists) part of Jacques Massu's 10th Parachute Division. Bigeard revitalized the unit by weeding out laggards and the uncommitted and then put the remainder through an intense training regime. He led the 3rd RPC through numerous operations, the most famous being the the 1957 Battle of Algiers. During that battle the 3rd RPC was responsible for the Casbah, home to most of the native Algerian population and a stronghold of the FLN organization in Algiers. The parachutists were able to eventually identify and neutralize the FLN organization in Algiers through intelligence garnered by imposing a system of quadrillage (block warden) on the Algerian population. In his 1992 autobiography, General Schmitt, lieutenant during the war under the orders of Bigeard, described the battle and the systemic use of torture [2].
Quadrillage was used to identify suspects who were then subjected to interrogation and the systemic use of torture. Aside from breaking the FLN's local organization, the harsh methods used by the paras (and numerous instances of suspicious deaths while in the hands of the authorities) alienated the native Algerian population and many in France. Bigeard has accepted that Larbi Ben M’Hidi, a key leader at the time, had been assassinated, and his death disguised as a "suicide". Paul Teitgen, former General Secretary of the Algiers Police, who had been himself tortured by the Gestapo, resigned on September 12, 1957, in protest against the massive use of torture and extra-judiciary killings ordered by Generals Marcel Bigeard and Jacques Massu, who had received full powers during the 1957 Battle of Algiers to crush the insurgency by whatever means necessary. They threw out hundreds of prisoners into the sea, from the port of Algiers or by helicopter death flights (the victims became known as the "Crevettes Bigeard", or "Bigeard's Shrimps") [3][4][5][6].
In May 1957 Bigeard moved from Algiers and dispatched to the area near Agounennda to ambush a large force of djounoud led by Rabah Zerrari of Wilaya 4. The ensuing battle raged from 23 May to 26 May 1957, but resulted in a less-than-decisive victory with most of the insurgents escaping with their weapons[citation needed]. In May 1957 Bigeard was replaced as the commander of 3rd RPC with Roger Trinquier.
In 1958 Jacques Chaban-Delmas created the École Jeanne d'Arc in Philippeville (modern day Skikda) to provide field officers with a one-month training course in counter-insurgency techniques, and Bigeard was appointed its responsible [Bigeard, (1975)].
In 1959 Bigeard was given command of his own sector in Ain-Sefra. Bigeard, unlike many fellow officers who were closely associated with the war, did not take part in the Algiers putsch in 1961.
[edit] Post War Career
- 1967 Promoted to Brigadier General and placed in command of ground forces in Dakar Senegal
- 1975-1976 Appointed State Secretary in Ministry of National Defence by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
- 1976 Resigned from the army
- 1978-1988 Deputy for the region of Meurthe-et-Moselle served as a minister in the government of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
[edit] Decorations
- Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 and the Croix de Guerre TOE with a total of 25 citations, including 17 palms.
- Grand croix de la légion d'honneur
- Medaille des blessés (5 wounds)
- The British Distinguished Service Order
- Grand officier du Mérite Sénégalais
- Grand officier du Mérite Togolais
- Grand officier du Mérite Comorien
- Grand officier du mérite Saoudite
- Commander of the American Legion
- Officier du Million d'Eléphants du Laos
[edit] Influence on Counter-insurgency Doctrine
A key participant in the destruction of the FLN's organization in The Battle of Algiers 1956, Bigeard applied concepts of counter-insurgency warfare which he articulated in his work Manuel de l’officier de renseignement (Intelligence Officer's Handbook). Among these concepts was the acceptance of the use of torture against suspected insurgents to gain information[citation needed]. Many of these same concepts would later appear in the seminal book La Guerre moderne, by Roger Trinquier.
[edit] Popular Culture
The character of Colonel Mathieu, played by Jean Martin, in the film The Battle of Algiers is widely believed to be a composite of Bigeard, Jacques Massu and other prominent officers.
The character of Pierre-Noel Raspeguy in the novels The Centurions and The Praetorians by Jean Larteguy is probably based on Bigeard.
[edit] Bibliography
During his career Bigeard authored or co-authored a number of books. In retirement he has continued to write, his latest work was published in 2006.
- Contre guérilla (English: Against guerilla), 1957
- Aucune bête au monde..., Pensée Moderne, 1959
- Piste sans fin (English: Tracks without end), Pensée Moderne, 1963
- Pour une parcelle de gloire (English: For a piece of glory), Plon, 1975
- Ma Guerre d'Indochine (English: My Indochina War), Hachette, 1994
- Ma Guerre d'Algérie (English: My Algerian War), Editions du Rocher, 1995
- De la brousse à la jungle, Hachette-Carrère, 1994
- France, réveille-toi! (English: France, awake!), Editions n°1, 1997 ISBN 2-86391-797-8
- Lettres d'Indochine (English: Letters from Indochina), Editions n°1, 1998-1999 (2 Volumes)
- Le siècle des héros (English: The Century of the Heroes), Editions n°1, 2000 ISBN 2-86391-948-2
- Crier ma vérité, Editions du Rocher, 2002
- Paroles d'Indochine (English: Words of Indochina), Editions du Rocher, 2004
- J'ai mal à la France, Edition du Polygone, 2006
- Adieu ma France (English: Good-bye my France), Editions du Rocher, 2006 ISBN 2-268-05696-1
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ GUERRE D'ALGÉRIE : le général Bigeard et la pratique de la torture, Le Monde, July 4, 2000 (French)
- ^ Lieutenant chez Bigeard pendant la bataille d'Alger, Le Monde, June 15, 2001 (French)
- ^ Film testimony by Paul Teitgen, Jacques Duquesne and Hélie Denoix de Saint Marc on the INA archive website
- ^ Henri Pouillot, mon combat contre la torture, El Watan, November 1, 2004
- ^ Des guerres d’Indochine et d’Algérie aux dictatures d’Amérique latine, interview with Marie-Monique Robin by the Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH, Human Rights League), January 10, 2007
- ^ Prise de tête Marcel Bigeard, un soldat propre ?, L'Humanité, June 24, 2000 (French)
[edit] References
- Alistair Horne 'A Savage War of Peace. Algeria 1954-1962' Macmillan, London 1996 ISBN 0-333-66951-7
- Bernard Fall 'Hell In a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu' Da Capo 1985 ISBN 0-306-80231-7
- Barnett Singer, John Langdon 'Contemporary Review; May98, Vol. 272 Issue 1588, p231, 7p
