The ''Organisation Armée Secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

French dissident

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

organisation during the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

. The OAS carried out

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an attempt to prevent Algeria's independence from French colonial rule. Its motto was ' ("Algeria is French and will remain so"). The OAS was formed from existing networks, calling themselves "counter-terrorists", "self-defence groups", or "resistance", which had carried out attacks on the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) and their perceived supporters since early in the war. It was officially formed in

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...

, in Madrid in January 1961, as a response by some French politicians and French military officers to the 8 January 1961 referendum on self-determination concerning Algeria, which had been organised by President de Gaulle. By acts of bombings and targeted assassinations in both metropolitan France and French Algerian territories, which are estimated to have resulted in 2,000 deaths between April 1961 and April 1962, the OAS attempted to prevent Algerian independence. This campaign culminated in a wave of attacks that followed the March 1962 Évian Accords, which granted independence to Algeria and marked the beginning of the exodus of the ''

pieds-noirs The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...

'', and in Jean Bastien-Thiry's 1962 assassination attempt against president de Gaulle in the Paris suburb of Le Petit-Clamart. Another prominent target was the existentialist philosopher

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...

, who supported the FLN. The OAS still has admirers in French nationalist movements. In July 2006, some OAS sympathisers attempted to relight the flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate the Oran massacre on 5 July 1962.

History

The OAS was created in response to the January 1961 referendum on self-determination for Algeria. It was founded in Spain, in January 1961, by former officers,

Pierre Lagaillarde Pierre Lagaillarde (; Courbevoie, 15 May 1931 – 17 August 2014) was a French politician, and a founder of the ''Organisation armée secrète'' (OAS). Lagaillarde was a lawyer at Blida in Algeria, a reserve officer of the paratroopers, and an el ...

(who led the 1960 Siege of Algiers), General Raoul Salan (who took part in the 1961 Algiers putsch or "Generals' Uprising") and

Jean-Jacques Susini Jean-Jacques Susini (30 July 1933 – 3 July 2017) was a French political figure, militant and cofounder of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS), a paramilitary organization opposing Algerian independence from France. Life Born in Algiers, Fre ...

, along with other members of the

French Army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

, including Yves Guérin-Sérac, and former members of the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army ...

from the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

(1946–1954). ''OAS-Métro'', the branch in

metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

, was led by captain Pierre Sergent. These officers united earlier anti-FLN networks such as the ''Organisation de Résistance de L'Algérie Française''. While the movement had a broadly anticommunist and authoritarian base, in common with the political outlook of many ''colons'', it also included many ex-communists and a number of members who saw its struggle in terms of defending fraternal bonds between Algerians and the ''colons'' against the FLN.Evans, M. ''Algeria: France's Undeclared War''. Oxford: OUP, p.306 In France the OAS mainly recruited amongst overtly fascist political groups. In Algeria its makeup was more politically diverse, and included a group of Algerian Jews, led by Jean Guenassia, who began armed resistance after a series of FLN attacks on the Jewish quarter in Oran. Some Algerian OAS members conceived of the conflict in terms of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, and in contrast to later Gaullist depictions of the movement, it included a number of former Resistance members in addition to

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

collaborators. Resistance against Algerian independence commenced in January 1960, with further violence breaking out in 1961 during the General's Uprising. Daniele Ganser of the ETH Parallel History Project claims that

Gladio Operation Gladio is the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU), and subsequently by NATO and the CIA, in collaboration with several European intelligence agencies during ...

stay-behind In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case an enemy occupies that territory. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement or act as sp ...

networks, directed by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

, were involved, but no definitive proof has been found.Chronology from The Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact
, ETH Zurich Institute. Both of these insurrections were swiftly suppressed and many of the leaders who had created the OAS were imprisoned. By acts of

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

and

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

in both metropolitan France and French Algerian territories, the OAS attempted to prevent Algerian independence. The first victim was Pierre Popie, attorney and president of the People's Republican Movement (''Mouvement Républicain Populaire'', MRP), who stated on TV, "French Algeria is dead" (''L’Algérie française est morte'').

Roger Gavoury Roger Gavoury (7 April 1911, Mello, Oise, Mello – 31 May 1961) was Commissaire de police, Divisional Commissaire of the National Police (France), French National Police and Central Commissaire of Algiers, in addition to duties associated with Fr ...

, head of the French police in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

, was assassinated at the direction of Roger Degueldre, leader of the OAS Commando Delta, with the actual killing done by Claude Piegts and Albert Dovecar on 31 May 1961 (Piegts and Dovecar were executed by a firing-squad on 7 June 1962; Degueldre on 6 July). The OAS became notorious for ''stroungas'', attacks using plastic explosives. In October 1961 Pierre Lagaillarde, who had escaped to

following the 1960 barricades week, was arrested in Madrid, along with the Italian activist

Guido Giannettini Guido Giannettini (August 22, 1930 – May 12, 2003) was an Italian secret agent. Activism Guido Giannettini was born August 22, 1930, in Taranto. In 1954 he joined the student association Young Italy (1954), Young Italy in Naples. He was active ...

. Franco then exiled him to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...

. The Delta commandos engaged in indiscriminate killing sprees, on 17 March 1962; against cleaning-ladies on 5 May; on 15 March 1962 against six inspectors of the National Education Ministry, who directed the "Educative Social Centres" (''Centres sociaux éducatifs''), including

Mouloud Feraoun Mouloud Feraoun (8 March 1913 – 15 March 1962) was an Algerian writer and martyr of the Algerian revolution born in Tizi Hibel, Kabylie. Some of his books, written in French, have been translated into several languages including English and Ge ...

, an Algerian writer, etc.''26 mars 1962, la fusillade de la rue d’Isly à Alger''
''

Ligue des droits de l'homme The Human Rights League (french: Ligue des droits de l’homme ''t du citoyen' or LDH) of France is a Human Rights NGO association to observe, defend and promulgation of Rights Man within the French Republic in all spheres of public life. The ...

'' (LDH, Human Rights League), article based on sources from Benjamin Stora, ''Histoire de la guerre d'Algérie'', ''La gangrène et l'oubli'' and Sylvie Thénault, ''Histoire de la guerre d'indépendance algérienne'' It is estimated that the assassinations carried out by the OAS between April 1961 and April 1962 left 2,000 people dead and twice as many wounded. The OAS attempted several times to assassinate French president

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

. The most prominent attempt was a 22 August 1962 ambush at Petit-

Clamart Clamart () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. The town is divided into two parts, separated by a forest: ''bas Clamart'', the historical centre, and ''petit Clamart'' with urbani ...

, a Paris suburb, planned by a military engineer who was not an OAS member, Jean Bastien-Thiry. Bastien-Thiry was executed in March 1963 after de Gaulle refused to grant him amnesty. A fictionalised version of this attack was recreated in the 1971 book by Frederick Forsyth, '' The Day of the Jackal'', and in the 1973 film of the same name. The OAS use of extreme violence created strong opposition from some ''

'' and in mainland France. As a result, the OAS eventually found itself in violent clandestine conflict with not only the FLN but also French secret services and with a Gaullist paramilitary, the ''Mouvement pour la Communauté'' (the MPC). Originally a political movement in Algiers, the MPC eventually became a paramilitary force in response to OAS violence. The group obtained valuable information which was routinely passed on to the French secret services, but was eventually destroyed by OAS assassinations..

March 1962 Evian agreements and the struggle of the OAS

The main hope of the OAS was to prove that the FLN was secretly restarting military action after a ceasefire was agreed in the Evian agreements of 19 March 1962 and the referendum of June 1962, so during these three months, the OAS unleashed a new terrorist campaign to force the FLN to abandon the ceasefire. Over 100 bombs a day were detonated by the OAS in March in pursuit of this goal. OAS operatives set off an average of 120 bombs per day in March, with targets including hospitals and schools. Dozens of Arab residents were killed at Place du Gouvernement when 24 mortar rounds were fired from the European stronghold of Bab el-Oued. On 21 March, the OAS issued a flyer where they proclaimed that the French military had become an "occupation force." It organized car bombings: 25 killed in Oran on 28 February 1962 and 62 killed in Algiers on 2 May, among others. On 22 March, they took control of Bab el-Oued and attacked French soldiers, killing six of them. The French military then surrounded them and stormed the neighbourhood. The battle killed 35 and injured 150. On 26 March, the leaders of the OAS proclaimed a

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coa ...

in Algiers and called for the European settlers to come to Bab el-Oued in order to break the blockade by military forces loyal to de Gaulle and the

Republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. A detachment of ''

tirailleurs A tirailleur (), in the Napoleonic era, was a type of light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns. Later, the term "''tirailleur''" was used by the French Army as a designation for indigenous infantry recruited in the French ...

'' (Muslim troops in the French Army) fired on the demonstrators, killing 54, injuring 140, and traumatising the settlers' population in what is known as the "gunfight of the Rue d'Isly". In coincidence with the uprising of Bab-el Oued, 200 OAS ''

maquis Maquis may refer to: Resistance groups * Maquis (World War II), predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance * Spanish Maquis, guerrillas who fought against Francoist Spain in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War * The netwo ...

'' marched from Algiers to Ouarsenis, a mountainous region between Oran and Algiers. They tried to overrun two French military outposts and gain support for local Muslim tribes loyal to France, but instead they were harassed and eventually defeated by Legion units led by Colonel Albert Brothier after several days of fighting. Some clashes between the French army and the OAS involving grenades and mortar fire took place at Oran as late as 10 April. At least one Lieutenant and one Second-Lieutenant were killed by the OAS during the fighting. In April 1962 the OAS leader, Raoul Salan was captured. Despite the OAS bombing campaign, the FLN remained resolute in its agreement to the ceasefire and on 17 June 1962 the OAS also began a ceasefire. The Algerian authority officially guaranteed the security of the remaining Europeans, but in early July 1962 the Oran Massacre occurred; hundreds of armed people came down to European areas of the city, attacking European civilians. The violence lasted several hours, including lynching and acts of torture in public places in all areas of

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

by civilians supported by the

ALN Aluminium nitride ( Al N) is a solid nitride of aluminium. It has a high thermal conductivity of up to 321 W/(m·K) and is an electrical insulator. Its wurtzite phase (w-AlN) has a band gap of ~6 eV at room temperature and has a potenti ...

—the armed wing of the FLN, at the time evolving into the

Algerian Army french: Armée nationale populaire , image = ANP.png , alt = , caption = People's National Army emblem , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 = , motto = ...

— resulting in 3,000 missing people: By 1963, the main OAS operatives were either killed or in jail. Claude Piegts and Albert Dovecar were executed by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...

on 7 June 1962, and Roger Degueldre on 6 July 1962. Jean Bastien-Thiry, who had attempted the Petit-Clamart assassination on de Gaulle, but was not formally a member of the OAS, was also executed, on 11 March 1963. With the arrest of Gilles Buscia in 1965, the organisation effectively ceased to exist. The jailed OAS members were amnestied by De Gaulle under a July 1968 act. Putschist generals still alive in November 1982 were reintegrated into the Army by another amnesty law: Raoul Salan, Edmond Jouhaud, and six other generals benefited from this law.

Legacy

Many OAS members later took part in various

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

struggles around the world. Following the disbandment of the organisation, and the execution of several of its members, the OAS

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...

, Georges Grasset, organised the flight of OAS members, from a route going from Paris to

and finally to Argentina. Marie-Monique Robin, ''Escadrons de la mort, l'école française'', 453 pages. La Découverte (15 September 2004). Collection: Cahiers libres. () Transl. ''Los Escuadrones De La Muerte/ the Death Squadron'' 539 pages. Sudamericana (October 2005). ()
Presentation

Horacio Verbitsky Horacio Verbitsky (born February 11, 1942) is an Argentine investigative journalist and author with a history as a leftist guerrilla in the Montoneros. In the early 1990s, he reported on a series corruption scandals in the administration of Presi ...

in ''The Silence'', extract transl. in English made available by

openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...

Breaking the silence: the Catholic Church in Argentina and the "dirty war"
, 28 July 2005 Grasset arrived in 1962 in Buenos Aires to take charge of the Argentine branch of the Cité Catholique, an integral Catholic group formed by

Jean Ousset Jean Ousset (28 July 1914 – 20 April 1994) was a French ideologist of National Catholicism born in Porto, Portugal. He was an activist of the ''Action française'' monarchist movement in the 1930s, and personal secretary of its leader, Charles ...

, the personal secretary of

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-parl ...

, as an offshoot of the monarchist ''

Action Française Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

''. This anti-communist religious organisation was formed of many Algerian war veterans and close to the OAS. Charles Lacheroy and Colonel Trinquier, who theorised the systemic use of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts ...

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...

doctrine in ''Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency'' (1961), were members, along with Colonel Jean Gardes, who had first theorised counter-insurgency tactics during the Indochina War (1947–1954), Jean Ousset developed the concept of "

subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms ...

" referring to an essential enemy threatening the existence of

Occident The Occident is a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Western world. It is the antonym of ''Orient'', the Eastern world. In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The term ''occidental'' is often used to ...

itself. Gardes arrived in Argentina in 1963, a year after the end of the Algerian War. There, he delivered counter-insurgency courses at the ESMA, which became infamous during the "

Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...

" in the 1970s for being used as an

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

and torture center. Soon after Gardes met Federico Lucas Roussillon, an Argentine naval lieutenant commander, the

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

s at the ESMA were shown the film ''

The Battle of Algiers ar, Maʿrakat al-Jazāʾir , director = Gillo Pontecorvo , producer = Antonio MusuSaadi Yacef , writer = Franco Solinas , story = Franco SolinasGillo Pontecorvo , starring = Jean MartinSaadi YacefBrahim H ...

'' (1966) by Italian director

Gillo Pontecorvo Gilberto Pontecorvo (; 19 November 1919 – 12 October 2006) was an Italian filmmaker associated with the political cinema movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for directing the landmark war docudrama ''The Battle of Algiers'' (19 ...

, during which the fictional Lieutenant-Colonel Mathieu and his paratroops make systematic use of

block warden system Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

, and death flights. The Argentine admiral Luis María Mendía testified in January 2007 that a French intelligence agent, Bertrand de Perseval, had participated in the "disappearance" of the two French nuns, Léonie Duquet and Alice Domon. Perseval, who lives today in Thailand, denied any links with the abduction, but did admit being a former OAS member who escaped to Argentina after the Evian agreements. The financial crime expert Veit Buetterlin named the OAS as an example of a terror group which committed bank robberies to finance its operations. In a CNN interview, Buetterlin mentioned the attempted assassination of Charles de Gaulle as a historic example and related it to cases of the recent past where sanctioned parties are conducting cyber attacks on banks to acquire funds illegally.

Organisation

Chain of command

The secret army was a three-part organisation, each segment having its own action commando squads.

French Algerian branch

Oranie district

* General Edmond Jouhaud :Commander Pierre Guillaume :aide * Charles Micheletti :civilian * Colonel Dufour :replacing Gen. Jouhaud * General Gardy :Capitaine :Revolutionary Directory member : Christian Léger :Revolutionary Directory member : Jean-Marie Curutchet :Revolutionary Directory member : Denis Baille :Revolutionary Directory member : :Revolutionary Directory member

Algérois district

* Colonel Vaudrey * :in charge of El-Biar, near

Constantinois district

* Colonel * :aka the ''chouan de la Mitidja'' ("

chouan Chouan ("the silent one", or "owl") is a French nickname. It was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution. Part ...

of the

Mitidja Mitidja, (Arabic: , Berber: Mettijet ⵎⴻⵜⵙⵉⵛⵝ) is a plain stretching along the outskirts of Algiers in northern Algeria. It is about long, with a width of . Traditionally devoted largely to agriculture and serving as the breadbasket ...

Metropolitan French branch

OAS-Métropole

* Captain Pierre Sergent :Chief of Staff * Lieutenant Daniel Godot :ODM-Métropole Director * Jacques Chadeyron :APP-Métropole * Captain Jean-Marie Curutchet :ORO-Métropole

France-Mission III

# :aka the ''

Monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...

Spanish branch

OAS-Madrid

Short living dissident group claiming the organisation's direction. * Colonel Antoine Argoud * Colonel Charles Lacheroy * Commander

Commanding officers

* General Raoul Salan :aka ''Soleil'' ("Sun" surname for

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

) :Chief of Staff * General Paul Gardy :Chief of Staff * Colonel Yves Godard :Chief Aide * Doctor

Jean-Claude Perez Jean-Claude Perez (born 31 March 1964 in Carcassonne) is a French politician, and was a member of the National Assembly. He represented Aude's 1st constituency from 1997 to 2017, as a member of the Socialist Party and of the Socialiste, radi ...

:ORO Director * Captain Jean-Marie Curutchet :ORO Director, replacing Dr. Perez on 1 January 1962 * Colonel :ODM Director *

:APP Director

Notable members

* Antoine Argoud * Bertrand de Perseval * Jean-Pierre Cherid * Roger Degueldre * Albert Dovecar * Paul Gardy * Yves Godard * Yves Guérin-Sérac * Pierre Guillaume * Roger Holeindre * Edmond Jouhaud *

* Jean-Pierre Maïone-Libaude * Claude Piegts * Raoul Salan *

Albert Spaggiari Albert Spaggiari (14 December 1932 – 8 June 1989), nicknamed Bert, was a French criminal chiefly known as the organizer of a break-in into a Société Générale bank in Nice, France, in July 1976. Early life Albert Spaggiari was born on 14 ...

* Dominique Venner *

Jacques Soustelle Jacques Soustelle (3 February 1912 – 6 August 1990) was an important and early figure of the Free French Forces, a politician who served in the French National Assembly and at one time served as Governor General of Algeria, an anthropologist s ...

In popular culture

The OAS is referenced in

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., an ...

's 1963 novel ''

On Her Majesty's Secret Service On Her Majesty's Secret Service may refer to: * ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (novel), a 1963 novel by Ian Fleming * ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (film), a 1969 film adaptation of the novel ** ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (sou ...

''.

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

's future father-in-law Marc-Ange, the head of a Corsican crime faction known as Union Corse, refers to the OAS in chapter 24, due to the OAS having a French military helicopter in their possession. Because of the OAS indebtedness to Marc-Ange and the Union Corse, the helicopter is loaned to the

MI-6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligen ...

– Marc-Ange/Union Corse coalition endeavoring to thwart

Ernst Stavro Blofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a character (arts), fictional character and villain from the James Bond series of novels and films, created by Ian Fleming. A criminal mastermind with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the Secret In ...

's plot to unleash biological warfare in the UK's agricultural industry. OAS graffiti appears outside a bakery approximately eight minutes into the 1963 film '' The Bakery Girl of Monceau''. Two minutes later, following the second appearance of the exterior, similar graffiti appears to have been removed from the facade of the bakery. The OAS featured prominently in Jack Higgins' 1964 novel '' Wrath of the Lion'', in which the organization fictionally manages to suborn the crew of a French Navy submarine and use it for missions of revenge.

Alain Cavalier Alain Cavalier (; born 14 September 1931) is a French film director. Biography Cavalier was born in Vendôme, Loir-et-Cher and studied film at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques. He won several awards, including the César Award ...

's 1964 film '' L'Insoumis'' stars

Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for h ...

as a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who joins the OAS on a kidnapping mission. The OAS features prominently in the 1971 novel '' The Day of the Jackal'' by Frederick Forsyth, and its

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

. The story deals primarily with a fictional assassination plot against

, where the organisation hires a British contract killer (the Jackal) to kill de Gaulle. Bastien-Thiry and the Petit-Clamart plot figure prominently in the early sections of the story. Forsyth also mentions the OAS in his 1974 novel '' The Dogs of War'', with several of its protagonists having joined the movement. The fictional Colonel Rodin from ''Jackal'' is also alluded to. The OAS is referenced in the

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

film '' JFK'', as suspected conspirator

Clay Shaw Clay LaVergne Shaw (March 17, 1913 – August 15, 1974) was an American businessman and military officer from New Orleans, Louisiana. Shaw is best known for being the only person brought to trial for involvement in the assassination of John F. ...

(played by

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' T ...

) is alleged to have business connections with them. The plot to assassinate De Gaulle at the Paris suburb of Petit-Clamart is also mentioned several times in the film. The 2002 movie Legion of Honor is about an Englishman who joins the Foreign Legion and is set in Algeria shortly before their independence and "OAS" is mentioned numerous times as well as shown in graffiti outside a number of structures. The OAS is referred to in the 2008 film '' Mesrine: Public Enemy No.1'' (''L'Instinc de Mort)'', describing the life of French criminal Jacques Mesrine. The character of Guido (played by

Gérard Depardieu Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, filmmaker, businessman and vineyard owner since 1989 who is one of the most prolific thespians in film history having completed over 250 films since 1967 al ...

) is a member of OAS. Guido mentions OAS multiple times and together with Mesrine he assassinates another OAS member, who in his last moments declares: "De Gaulle killed us".

Subsequent groups with ties to OAS

In November 2016, an extreme right-wing terrorist cell calling itself the ''Organisation d’armées sociales'' (OAS) emerged in France. The acronym was a nod to the original Organisation Armée Secrète. It was inspired by Norwegian far-right terrorist

Anders Behring Breivik Fjotolf Hansen (born 13 February 1979), better known by his birth name Anders Behring Breivik () and by his pseudonym Andrew Berwick, is a Norwegian far-right domestic terrorist, known for committing the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July 2011. On ...

and consisted of 9 people led by former

activist Logan Nisin. The cell had planned attacks against kebab shops, places of worship (especially mosques), drug dealers and politicians:

Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who was a member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône from 2017 to 2022. He led the ''La France Insoumise'' group in the Nation ...

and Christophe Castaner were specific targets. The group was taken down by French authorities in November 2017 before it was able to accomplish any attacks.

References

External link

{{Authority control Anti-communist organizations Far-right politics in France Rebel groups in Algeria Terrorism in Algeria Terrorism in France Far-right terrorism