Yves Godard

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Yves Godard (born December 21, 1911 in Saint-Maixent , France, † March 3, 1975 in Lessines , Belgium) was a French officer who fought in World War II , the Indochina War and the Algerian War. He later became a member of the right-wing terrorist organization OAS .

He graduated from Saint-Cyr Military School and Chasseur Alpin . He worked as a ski instructor in Poland until the outbreak of World War II and then returned to France, where he was taken prisoner of war in 1940 . He was detained in Germany and tried to escape several times, but only made it on the third attempt. He joined the Resistance in France. Between December 1944 and February 1946 he commanded the 27th Battalion Chasseurs alpins .

He was an occupation soldier in Austria until he took command of the 11e régiment parachutiste de choc parachute regiment in 1948 . He waged this during the First Indochina War.

In 1955 Godard became head of the paratrooper intervention group. Shortly afterwards this was converted into the 10th Paratrooper Division. Godard took part in the 1956 attack on Egypt during the Suez War . Godard took part in the battle for Algiers . He was the liaison officer between the army and the police. He was chief of staff under General Jacques Massu . Paul-Alain Léger suspects that Godard was the originator of the Bleus de chauffe system, in which soldiers disguised as workers entered the kasbah and arrested FLN fighters.

In the summer of 1959 he was appointed director general of the police ( Sûreté ) in Algeria. During the Barricades Week in January 1960, Godard sent Captain Yves de La Bourdonnaye to negotiate with Pierre Lagaillarde . La Bourdonnaye later admitted that he sympathized with the right wing rebels and did not do much to get them to surrender. In February, Pierre Messmer sent Godard to France, but the latter returned and took part in the 1961 generals' coup. When that failed, he joined the right-wing terrorist group OAS and organized them like his enemies, the FLN . He left Algeria in the summer of 1962 and remained underground until 1967. Godard was sentenced to death in absentia for his participation in the 1961 coup and his membership in the OAS . He fled to Belgium and did not return to his home country after the amnesty in 1968. He died in Belgium at the age of 63.

Honors

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Escadrons de la Mort, l'école française , Marie-Monique Robin , La Découverte / Poche, 2008, ISBN 978-2-7071-5349-4
  2. ↑ Escadrons de la Mort, l'école française , Marie-Monique Robin , op.cit. , P. 150
  3. ↑ Escadrons de la Mort, l'école française , Marie-Monique Robin , op.cit. , P. 185
personal data
SURNAME Godard, Yves
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French officer and terrorist in the OAS
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint-Maixent , France
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1975
Place of death Lessines , Belgium