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Feb 18, 2021 · La vraie bataille d'Alger. by. Massu, Jacques. Publication date. 1974. Publisher. Genève : Editions Famot, François Beauval) Collection. internetarchivebooks; inlibrary; printdisabled.
A notable gap exists in the historiography be-tween the publication of General Jacques Massu’s two memoirs in 1971 and 1972 and the body of work produced when debate about the Battle of Algiers. Philip M. Williams, Plots and Scandals in Post-War France (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1970), p. 192.
Jacques Émile Massu (French pronunciation: [ʒak masy]; 5 May 1908 – 26 October 2002) was a French general who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War, the Algerian War and the Suez Crisis.
On 6 January 1957 General Jacques Massu, the commanding officer of the l()lh Parachute Division (DP), left a meeting with the Tenth Military Region commander General Raoul Salan. Massu had just received his orders to move the 1()"' DP into Algiers to take over police functions. The Front de Liberation National
- Early Life
- World War II
- Indochina
- Egypt
- Algeria
- Later Life
- Decorations
- Quotations
- Bibliography
- Further Reading
Jacques Massu was born in Châlons-sur-Marne to a family of military officers; his father was an artillery officer. He studied successively at Saint-Louis de Gonzague in Paris, the Free College of Gien (1919–1925) and Prytanée National Militaire (1926–1928). He then entered Saint-Cyr and graduated in 1930 as a second lieutenant in the promotion clas...
He was serving in Africa when World War II broke out, and joined the Free French Forces. He took part in the battle of Fezzan with the armoured troops of General Leclerc. In 1941, he was in charge of the bataillon de marche du Tchad. He served as a lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd Armored Division(2e DB) until the end of the war.
In September 1945, he landed in Saigon and took part in the retaking of the city and of the South of Indochina.
In 1956, the 10th Parachute Division was sent in Egypt to take back the Suez canal during the Suez crisis.
A Brigadier General in June 1955, Massu commanded the groupe parachutiste d'intervention and from 1956 the 10e Division parachutiste. (Grando and Valynseele). France sent Massu and his division to Algeria in response to a wave of armed attacks and terrorist bombings coordinated by Algerian FLN. (Codevilla and Seabury). Massu ultimately won the Batt...
After his criticism of the policy of de Gaulle in 1960, Massu was fired from his positions of military governor of Algiers. In 1962 he became military governor of Metz and of the Sixth military region in France. He was promoted to général de corps d'armée (4 stars) in 1963. In March 1966, he became général d'armée (5 stars) and was made chief of th...
"Give me two divisions and tomorrow, you can take your breakfast on the boulevard Saint Germain" (to De Gaulle, about May '68)"I am a soldier, I obey"Charles de Gaulle : "So, Massu, still that stupid?"Codevilla, Angelo and Seabury, Paul. War: Ends and Means, Second Edition. Virginia: Potomac Books, 2006.Grando, Denis and Valynseele, Joseph. À la découverte de leurs racines. Paris: L'Intermédiaire des Chercheurs et Curieux, 1988.Aussaresses, General Paul, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957. New York: Enigma Books, 2010. 978-1-929631-30-8.
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Nov 22, 2019 · The task facing General Jacques Massu and his 10th Parachute Division (10 DP) in Algeria in 1957 was to take firm control of a city that was both a physical and a psychological capital as well as Metropolitan France’s second-largest city.
Civilian authorities gave full powers to General Jacques Massu who, operating outside legal frameworks between January and September 1957, eliminated the FLN from Algiers. The use of torture , forced disappearances and illegal executions by the French later caused controversy in France.
