In the articles "The Algerian War of the French Foreign Legion" and "The Battle of Algeria" it was told about the beginning of the war in this overseas department of France, its features and some of the heroes and antiheroes of those years. In this one we will continue the story of the Algerian War and talk about some of the famous commanders of the French Foreign Legion who were at the forefront of this bloody war.
Paratrooper Gregoire Alonso, who fought in Algeria, recalled:
“We had fantastic commanders. They treated us well. We were free, we talked to them, we didn't have to greet them all the time. Parachutists are different from the rest. Maybe it's the parachute. Or mentality. We did everything together."
In the novel by former legionnaire Jean Larteguy "Centurions", a certain sous-lieutenant says to the protagonist, Colonel Raspega (whose prototype was Marcel Bijart):
“The officers who know how to fight, command your people, they are with the parachutists, not with us. Not for us all these Raspegs, Bizhars, Jeanpierres, Bushu."
A little later we will return to Lartega, his novel and the film "The Last Squad", for now let's start talking about everything in order.
Pierre jeanpierre
In the photo below, we see a good friend of Jean Graziani (one of the heroes of the previous article). This is Lieutenant Colonel Pierre-Paul Jeanpierre - he walks through the Champs Elysees at the head of the famous First Parachute Regiment of the Foreign Legion in the Bastille Day parade in 1957:
This commander was a true legend of the Foreign Legion. He served in the French army since 1930 and joined the legion in 1936. During World War II, Jeanpierre refused to join both the Vichy government forces and de Gaulle's Free France. Instead, he became a member of the French Resistance (callsign Jardin), was arrested on January 9, 1944 and imprisoned in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.
Jeanpierre returned to serve in the legion (in the First Parachute Battalion) in 1948 and was sent to Indochina almost immediately. In October 1950, during the battle at Khao Bang, the Gratsiani combat unit defended the Tat Ke post, Jeanpier's battalion - the Charton stronghold. Like Graziani, the wounded Jeanpierre was captured, in which he spent 4 years, and after his release he was found in such a state that he was also ranked among the unofficial "detachment of the living dead".
Having recovered, he took command of the newly created First Parachute Battalion, which became the First Parachute Regiment on September 1, 1955. Together with him, he ended up in Port Fouad during the Suez crisis, and then fought in Algeria, where his callsign became Soleil (Sun). "Blackfoot" Albert Camus said about him:
"A hero with a generous heart and a disgusting character, a pretty good combination for a leader."
Jeanpierre was the favorite commander of the First Parachute Regiment and one of the most famous and respected commanders of the Foreign Legion.
In 1956, he received a shrapnel wound in his legs, but continued to fight, becoming a recognized master of organizing helicopter landing operations.
Jeanpierre and died in a helicopter providing fire support to the paratroopers - from a bullet fired by one of the rebels. It happened on May 28, 1958, and the phrase "Soleil Est Mort", "The sun is dead" (or "extinguished"), broadcast by the pilot on the radio, went down in history, becoming legendary.
The most striking thing is that Janpierre's funeral, which took place on May 31, was attended by 10 thousand Muslims - residents of the Algerian Helma, the road in this city was named after him. This clearly indicates who the ordinary Algerians (whom the FLN fighters imposed "revolutionary taxes" and massacred entire villages and families) considered the real heroes in that bloody war.
Jacques Morin
The deputy of the deceased Jeanpierre was Major Jacques Morin.
In 1942, he ended up at the Saint-Cyr military school, which was transferred to Eck-en-Provence, but managed to study for only 2 months - it was closed at the request of the Germans. After that, the 17-year-old Morin tried three times to cross the border with Spain in order to get from there to the territory controlled by the "Free French" - each time unsuccessfully. Joining one of the groups of the French Resistance, he was betrayed and in June 1944 ended up in the Gestapo, and then in the infamous Buchenwald concentration camp. He had to flee from this camp after his liberation by the Americans: fearing a typhus epidemic, the Allies, without hesitation, quarantined Buchenwald, fencing it with a fence with barbed wire. After completing his studies and taking a course in parachute jumping, Morin went to Indochina. Here, on April 1, 1948, at the age of 24, he became the commander of the very first parachute company of the Foreign Legion - there were no such units in the legion before. On March 31, 1949, the soldiers and officers of this company became part of Jeanpierre's First Parachute Battalion. In 1954, Morin became the Commander of the Legion of Honor, the youngest commander in history. Contrary to everyone's expectations, after the death of Jeanpierre Morin was not appointed regiment commander - he was transferred to the headquarters of the 10th parachute division, and later he was appointed an inspector of the air force. The story about Jacques Morena will be completed in the next article.
Elie Denois de Saint Marc
The new commander of the First Parachute Regiment of the Foreign Legion was Major de Saint Marc, who was the youngest (9th in a row) child in a provincial noble family from Bordeaux. During World War II, he studied at the Jesuit College, and in June 1941 he entered the Lyceum of Saint Genevieve in Versailles, which was considered the preparatory school of Saint-Cyr. However, as we remember, this military school was disbanded in 1942.
Since the spring of 1941, Saint Mark was a member of Jad-Amikol - one of the groups of the French Resistance (at that time he was 19 years old).
On July 13, 1943, a detachment of 16 people, which included Saint Mark, tried to cross the border with Spain at Perpignan, but was betrayed by the guide - everyone ended up in Buchenwald. Here Saint Mark met with his acquaintance, Jacques Morin, and then, in 1944, he was transferred to the Langenstein-Zweiberg camp (Harz region), where, according to eyewitnesses, it was even worse than in Buchenwald. As a result, Saint Mark, released in April 1945, weighed 42 kg and could not immediately remember his name.
Ironically, the father of his bride, Marie-Antoinette de Chateaubordo, was the commander of the Garz garrison in 1957, and our hero's wedding took place a few kilometers from the former concentration camp.
But let's go back to 1945: Saint Mark then managed to recover: he was trained in Koetkidan and in 1947 chose the Foreign Legion for service, which caused considerable bewilderment among his fellow students - because at that time a large number of hated Germans served in the legion …
Saint-Mark was "on business trips" three times in Indochina: in 1948-1949. he was the commander of a post on the border with China, in 1951 he commanded an Indo-Chinese company of the Second Parachute Battalion of the Foreign Legion, in 1954 he came to Vietnam after the defeat at Dien Bien Phu and spent only a few months there.
During his last stay in Indochina, he was injured after an unsuccessful parachute jump - back pain persisted throughout his life.
In 1955, Saint Mark begins service in the 1st Parachute Regiment. In 1956, he participated in the operation of his regiment to capture Port Fuad during the Suez Crisis.
After de Gaulle announced the "self-determination of Algeria", Saint Marc left the army: from September 1959 to April 1960 he worked in an electric company, but returned to work as deputy chief of staff of the 10th division. And in January 1961, Saint Mark led the First Parachute Regiment of the Foreign Legion. In just a few months, he will be in a French prison, and the prosecutor will demand that he be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Continuation of the story of Elie Denois de Saint Marc - in the next article.
Georges Grillot
In 1959, on the orders of Marcel Bijar, an unusual detachment was created in the Said sector, which got its name ("Georges") by the name of the commander - Captain Georges Grillot (you probably already guessed that he was also a member of the French Resistance and fought in Vietnam). This detachment was unusual in its composition - former fighters of the National Liberation Front of Algeria served in it, that is, it was a Harki unit (they were described in a previous article).
The first volunteers of this detachment arrived directly from the prisons, and Captain Grillot then, apparently, decided that "a terrible end is better than horror without end": on the very first day, he put a loaded pistol at the entrance to his tent and, showing it to the former militants, said, that they could use it tonight to kill him. The surprised Algerians did not shoot at Grillot, but they respected him very much and did not forget this demonstration of trust.
The number of soldiers of this detachment soon reached 200 people. They entered their first battle on March 3, 1959, together with the 1st company of the Eighth Infantry Regiment, with the general command of Marcel Bijar himself.
One of the then captured Algerians (Ahmed Bettebgor, who had fought on the side of the FLN since 1956) later received "an offer that cannot be refused": 15 years in prison or service with Grillot. He chose the Georges detachment and made the right decision: he rose to the rank of company commander and continued his service in the Foreign Legion with the rank of captain.
Under the command of Grillot, the former militants destroyed and captured about 1,800 of their former "colleagues" in three years and found thousands of caches of weapons, receiving 26 military orders and medals, as well as 400 commendations in orders.
But the end of this story was very sad: after the conclusion of the Evian agreements, the soldiers of the Georges squadron were offered to join the Foreign Legion and, leaving their families, go with him to France or return home, where they most likely faced death. Captain Grillot ordered to put in front of each of his fighters berets of different colors: red and black. The red beret, symbolizing the Foreign Legion, was chosen by 24 people out of 204 - it was the right choice, these soldiers were the most fortunate. Because by May 9, 1962, 60 of the Georges detachment Harki remaining in Algeria had been killed. Among them were three company commanders. Two of them, Riga and Bendida, were beaten to death after much abuse and torture.
Another commander, by the name of Khabib, was killed, forcing him to dig a grave for himself. Some of the Harki of the Georges squad ended up in Algerian prisons. Most of the rest, thanks to the efforts of General Cantarelle and Captain Grillot, were taken to French territory, where they ended up in two refugee camps, until the banker André Worms, who had previously served in the Said sector, bought a farm for them in the Dordogne.
Georges Guillot rose to the rank of general and wrote the book Die for France?
His deputy in the Georges detachment, Armand Benezis de Rotru, took part in the army mutiny in April 1961 (more on this in the next article), but escaped arrest: his superiors transferred him to a distant garrison in the department of Constantine, where he again commanded Harki … He retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Again about Bijar
In the last article we talked about the film "Battle for Algeria" by Gillo Pontecorvo. But in the same 1966, Canadian director Mark Robson made another film about the Algerian war - “The Lost Command”, in which the audience saw the stars of the first magnitude, including Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale.
The script was based on the novel "Centurions", written by Jean Larteguy, who during World War II fought as part of the First Commando Group of the Free French Army, after its completion he served in the Foreign Legion for 7 years, retiring with the rank of captain, then as military journalist visited many "hot spots" of the world, met with Che Guevara.
Both the novel and the film begin with a story about the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Returning from Vietnam, the main character (Pierre Raspegi) ends up in Algeria, where it is also not easy at all. The prototype of the Raspega was the famous legionnaire Marcel Bijar (we already talked about him and the battle at Dien Bien Phu in the article "Foreign Legion against the Viet Minh and the disaster at Dien Bien Phu"). Anthony Quinn, who performed this role, wrote on the photograph presented to Bijar:
"You were him, and I just played him."
Stills from the movie "The Lost Squad":
Alain Delon as Captain Esclavier and Anthony Quinn as Lieutenant Colonel Raspega - already in Algeria:
Foreign Legion Captain Esclavier (Alain Delon) and Arab terrorist Aisha (Claudia Cardinale):
If you read the article "Foreign Legion against the Viet Minh and the Dien Bien Phu Disaster," then remember that Alain Delon served in the Navy and was in Saigon in 1953-1956. If you haven't read it, open it and take a look: there are some very interesting photos.
This movie also came out pretty tough. It is shown, for example, how, having found killed colleagues on the road, legionnaires paratroopers with knives in their hands go to avenge them in the nearest village, not paying attention to Esclavier, who stood in their way with a pistol in his hands.
And this is a shot from the film "Close enemies", filmed in 1979 by Florent Emilio Siri - also Algeria, 1959:
Pierre Buchou
This officer in 1954 (the time of the beginning of the Algerian war) was already 41 years old. He graduated from the Saint-Cyr military school in 1935 and was sent to serve in Metz. In the military campaign of 1940, he commanded a sabotage group and managed to receive the Order of the Legion of Honor. After the surrender of France, he went to his grandmother's house and was betrayed by his neighbors. He was in captivity until April 7, 1945, when he was liberated by the units of the Red Army that entered Vienna. The French command promoted him to captain and assigned him to work at the Soviet headquarters: for 2 months he was helping French prisoners of war, for which he received the rank of officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor. In 1947, Bushu ended up in Indochina - he commanded the 2nd company of the First Parachute Battalion of the Foreign Legion: he participated in Operation Lea, the purpose of which was to capture Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap (neither one nor the other was captured then succeeded). After being wounded, Buchu returned to France, where he was engaged in teaching work, and on April 2, 1956, he received command of the Eighth Parachute Regiment. The Algerian war was going on, and Bush's subordinates were given the task of controlling the border from Tunisia, from where the militants trained in special camps were coming in a continuous stream. In late April - early May 1958, this regiment distinguished itself in the battles at Suk-Arase. In September 1958, Buchu was promoted to colonel, in January 1961 he became commander of the La Calle sector (after the name of the port city), and in April 1961 he was arrested in the case of a mutiny led by Raoul Salan. You can find out about his further fate by reading the following article.
Philip Erulen
Erulen, on the contrary, was very young (born in 1932) and therefore did not take part either in World War II or in the war in Indochina, but his father was a member of the French Resistance and died in Indochina in 1951. After graduating from the military school of Saint-Cyr, he from 1956 to 1959. served in Algeria, was twice wounded and awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor at the age of 26. Later, the French liberals accused him of torturing and murdering a member of the FLN armed group Maurice Aden in 1957, but they could not prove anything (which, in my opinion, speaks very well about their level of competence and ability to collect evidence). In July 1976, Erulen was appointed commander of the Second Parachute Regiment of the Foreign Legion, and Ante Gotovina, the future general of the Croatian army, who was convicted by the International Tribunal for crimes against the civilian Serb population, but later acquitted, became his personal driver.
Ahead of Erulen was the famous operation "Bonite" (better known as "Leopard") in Kolwezi, which is studied in military schools around the world as an example of "military professionalism and effective protection of fellow citizens." We will definitely talk about this operation in one of the following articles.
Philip Herulen's brother, Dominique, was also a paratrooper officer, but did not "work" with François Mitterrand, and therefore, leaving the service, headed the private security service of former President Giscard d'Estaing.
In preparing the article, materials from the blog of Ekaterina Urzova were used:
About Lartega's novel:
Parachutists' testimonies:
The story of Jeanpierre:
The story of Morena:
The Story of Saint Mark:
The story of Georges Grillot and Georges' detachment:
The story of Bijar (by tag): https://catherine-catty.livejournal.com/tag/%D0%91%D0%B8%D0%B6%D0%B0%D1%80%20%D0%9C%D0 % B0% D1% 80% D1% 81% D0% B5% D0% BB% D1% 8C
The story of Bushu:
The story of Erulene:
Also, the article uses quotes from French sources, translated by Urzova Ekaterina.
Some of the photos are taken from the same blog.
