Charles Lacheroy (22 August 1906 – 25 January 2005) was a

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

officer, theorist of

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) 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 ac ...

warfare, and member of the

Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation armée secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Army Organisation") was a far-right dissident French paramilitary and terrorist organisation during the Algerian War, founded in 1961 by Raoul Salan, Pierre Lagaillarde and Jean-Jacques S ...

Biography

Lacheroy was born to a military family. His father was a decorated infantry second lieutenant (

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

and ''

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

''), killed on 2 August 1916 at Fleury, next to

Douaumont Douaumont () is a former commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Douaumont-Vaux. History The village was a single street lying on an east-west axis and appe ...

fort. Lacheroy was raised by his grandfather, attended the Prytanée National Militaire, and graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1927 among the 20 best students of the promotion (promotion "Maroc-Syrie"). Lacheroy chose the Colonial infantry and obtained a commission as second lieutenant in the 3rd

Méhariste ''Méhariste'' is a French word that roughly translates to camel cavalry. The word is most commonly used as a designation of military units. French camel corps Origins France created a corps of ''méhariste'' camel companies (''Compagnies Méh ...

company in Levant at

Latakia Latakia (; ; Syrian Arabic, Syrian pronunciation: ) is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mar ...

, where he remained until 1935. Promoted to captain, Lacheroy served as instructor for the air group in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

from 1936. There, he met

Antoine Argoud Antoine Argoud (26 June 1914 – 10 June 2004) was a French Army officer specializing in counter-insurgency during the Algerian War of Independence. Argoud's opposition to Algerian independence from France resulted in his joining of the Organisati ...

. Lacheroy married in 1937. From 1941, Lacheroy served in the staff of General de Lattre de Tassigny in Tunisia. In 1951, he was sent to

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

, where he was tasked to protect a railroad to Saigon and secure the sector of

Bien Hoa Bien may refer to: * Bien (newspaper) * Basic Income Earth Network * Bień, Poland * "Bien", a song by Tini from ''Un Mechón de Pelo'' * Gertrud Bien Gertrud Bien (1881–1940) was an Austrian pediatrician and one of the first female medical stu ...

. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Lacheroy was transferred to Paris and made director of the Centre d'études asiatiques et africaines (CEAA). There, he developed a theory of

Counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) 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 ac ...

warfare, by then known as "psychological action".Charles Lacheroy, ''De Saint-Cyr à l'action psychologique. Mémoires d'un siècle'', Panazol : Lavauzelle, 2003, 203 p. In 1954, he served as adviser to Defence minister

Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury (19 August 1914 – 10 February 1993) was a French statesman and a member of the Companions of the Liberation. He served as President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) under the Fourth French Republic. ...

, and Defence minister André Morice in 1956. In 1958, Lacheroy was dismissed by

Jacques Chaban-Delmas Jacques Chaban-Delmas (; 7 March 1915 – 10 November 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. He was the Mayor of Bordeaux from 1947 to 1995 and a deputy for the Gironde ''d ...

and sent to the

Constantine Province Constantine () is one of the 58 provinces (''wilayas'') of Algeria, whose capital is the city of the same name, with 1 291 575 inhabitants, with a density of 460/km2 (1,200/sq mi) History In 1984 Mila Province was carved out of its territory. ...

. On 13 May, he was made director of information and psychological action services in Algiers. In December, he gave conferences at the

École supérieure de guerre École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, and later made director of the École supérieure des officiers de réserve spécialistes d'état-major. In the early 1960s, Lacheroy resigned his commission to organise a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

against President

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

. For seven years, he lived underground, along with Antoine Argoud,

Pierre Lagaillarde Pierre Lagaillarde (; Courbevoie, 15 May 1931 – 17 August 2014) was a French far-right politician, and a founder of the ''Organisation armée secrète'' (OAS), a clandestine militant organisation that sought to prevent Algeria's independence ...

and Jo Ortiz, and directed the OAS. He was sentenced to death ''

in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...

'' in April 1961. Lacheroy was amnestied in 1968. He returned to Paris, where he retired. Charles Lacheroy died on 25 January 2005 in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

Notes and references

External links

Service historique de la défense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacheroy, Charles 1906 births 2005 deaths People from Chalon-sur-Saône French Army officers French male non-fiction writers French military writers French military personnel of World War II French military personnel of the First Indochina War French military personnel of the Algerian War French torturers French war criminals Counterinsurgency theorists École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr alumni 20th-century French male writers OAS members convicted in absentia OAS members who fled to Spain People convicted of treason against France People sentenced to death in absentia by France Recipients of French presidential pardons War criminals of the Algerian War