Pierre Guillaume (11 August 1925 – 3 December 2002, also known as "'Commandant' Pierre Guillaume") was an officer of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. He took part in the

Algiers putsch of 1961 The Algiers putsch (french: Putsch d'Alger or ), also known as the Generals' putsch (''Putsch des généraux''), was a failed coup d'état intended to force French President Charles de Gaulle not to abandon French Algeria, along with the resid ...

and in the ''

Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation Armée Secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a far-right French dissident paramilitary organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an atte ...

'', which opposed what it regarded as

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 ...

's treacherous abandonment of Algeria to the FLN terrorists.

Biography

Born to a divisional General of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

, Pierre Guillaume graduated from the

École Navale École 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 * École, Savoi ...

in 1948. During 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 ...

, he was officer in an assault naval division (

Dinassaut The Dinassaut (, ''Division Navale d'Assaut'', "Naval Assault Division") was a type of riverine military unit employed by the French Navy during the first Indochina War. It's an example of Riverine artillery. The 'Dinassaut' were created by Ge ...

). In 1954, he was promoted to '' lieutenant de vaisseau''. He attempted to sail to France on a junk named ''Le Manohara''actually an 8-metre

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

but ran aground on the coasts of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

on 13 November 1956. In late 1956, Guillaume reached Paris where he learned of the death of his brother, Jean-Marie Guillaume, a paratroop lieutenant killed in the Algerian War. He requested and was granted a transfer to the Army, and took his brother's office, from 14 July 1957 to 12 March 1958. During the

, he was naval counselor to general Challe. After the putsch attempt failed, he was sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment. He joined the ''

'', was arrested in May 1962, and sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment in Tulle prison. He later worked as a naval security consultant in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and took part in operations with

Bob Denard Robert Denard (born Gilbert Bourgeaud; 7 April 1929 – 13 October 2007) was a French soldier of fortune and mercenary. He served as the Military Leader of The Comoros twice with him first serving from 13 May 1978 to 15 December 1989 and again ...

in Comoros. He also fought for the

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. He eventually took on living aboard a sailship, the ''Agathe'', moored in

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

harbour. He worked for Radio Courtoisie almost until he died. Guillaume was a close friend of

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

and interviewed him in several occasions for the radio.

In Popular Culture

After his death, his memoirs were published under the title ''Mon âme à Dieu, mon corps à la Patrie, mon honneur à moi'' ("My soul for God, my body for the Fatherland, my honour to myself"). Guillaume inspired the character of the "Drummer Crab" in the novel ''Le Crabe-tambour'' and the eponymous film by

Pierre Schoendoerffer Pierre Schoendoerffer (french: Pierre Schœndœrffer; 5 May 1928 – 14 March 2012) was a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician. He was ...

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillaume, Pierre 1925 births 2002 deaths French military personnel of the First Indochina War French Navy officers from Saint-Malo Far-right politics in France Members of the Organisation armée secrète