Lieutenant Roger Hercule Gustave Degueldre (19 May 1925 – 6 July 1962) was a French officer who was the leader of the

OAS OAS or Oas may refer to: Chemistry * O-Acetylserine, amino-acid involved in cysteine synthesis Computers * Open-Architecture-System, the main user interface of Wersi musical keyboards * OpenAPI Specification (originally Swagger Specification) ...

Delta Commandos in the last months of French rule in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Early life

There is some dispute about his origins but

Jonathan Meades Jonathan Turner Meades (born 21 January 1947) is an English writer and film-maker, primarily on the subjects of place, culture, architecture and food. His work spans journalism, fiction, essays, memoir and over fifty highly idiosyncratic tele ...

claimed that there was much 'disinformation' by the authorities to discredit him. For example there were allegations that he was a Belgian collaborator with the SS during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was born in

Louvroil Louvroil () is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. It lies adjacent to the southwest of Maubeuge. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord departm ...

, Nord, France, a few kilometres from the Belgian border, into a working-class family. His father was a railway worker. When the Germans invaded in 1940, the family fled to the south of France.

Career

In 1942 Degueldre clandestinely entered the occupied zone to join 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 ...

under Roger Pannequin and engaged the 10th German Motorized Infantry Division at Colmar in January 1945. He then joined

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

, under the name of Roger “Legueldre” with a claimed birth on 18 September 18, 1925 in Gruyeres in Switzerland. As a foreigner he would be eligible to join the Foreign Legion. His identity was formally corrected in 1955. He reached the rank of warrant officer in

Indo-China Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

and was received the Croix de Guerre des Théâtres d'Opérations Extérieures. After the battle of

Điện Biên Phủ Điện Biên Phủ (, meaning: ''Established Frontier Prefecture''), is a city in the northwestern region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Điện Biên Province. The city is best known for the decisive Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, which occu ...

, he transferred to the

1st Foreign Parachute Regiment The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment (french: 1er Régiment Etranger de Parachutistes, 1er REP) was an airborne regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army which dated its origins to 1948. The regiment fought in the First Indochina War as th ...

and was assigned to the Algerian conflict. He was made an officer and a knight of

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

(Legion of Honour). While defending French Algeria in 1960, he was suspected of having taken part in a failed plot against

General 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 Government ...

shortly after his visit in Algiers. He was transferred to the 4th Foreign Regiment. He became convinced of the need for an armed struggle and deserted to operate under cover gaining a reputation for ruthlessness. He recruited

Albert Dovecar Albert Dovecar (19 July 1937 – 7 June 1962) was a sergeant in the French 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment of the French Foreign Legion. He was executed by firing squad at the Fort du Trou d'Enfer for his part in the assassination of Frenc ...

as his lieutenant along with as many as 500 others. In 1961, he established a force called the Delta Commandos of 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 ...

(OAS). On 15 March 1962 the group attacked Chateau-Royale in

El-Biar El Biar (from Arabic "الأبيار", meaning "The Wells") is a suburb of Algiers, Algeria. It is located in the administrative constituency of Bouzaréah in the Algiers Province. As of the 1998 census, it has a population of 52,582 inhabitants ...

close to Algiers and shot six leaders of the Educational Social Centers of Algeria (three French and three Algerian) on the grounds that the centres were believed to be directing resistance to French rule. It is estimated that the group were responsible for 20 to 30 deaths.

Arrest and death

He was arrested on 7 April 1962, condemned to death on 28 June and 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 ...

in the Fort d'Ivry near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

on 7 July. Three officers appointed to command the firing squad refused and were demoted. In the event only one bullet from the 11-man firing squad hit him. The officer in charge emptied his revolver into Degueldre and had to get a second weapon to finish the execution. He is buried in the Gonards cemetery in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

. His partner, Nicole Gardy, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for her part in an escape plot but fled with her family to Argentina.

Homages and Memorials

In November 1978,

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 ...

, president of the

Front National The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: ...

, in his closing speech at the fifth congress of that movement, gave a homage to both Bastien-Thiry and Roger Degueldre. Bastien-Thiry was executed by firing-squad in 1963 for organising the attempted assassination of

. In

Marignane Marignane (; oc, Marinhana) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France. Geography It is a component of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, and the largest suburb of the c ...

there is a memorial to the members of the OAS terrorist organisation inaugurated on 6 July 2005, 33 years to the day after the execution of Roger Degueldre. In

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, in the municipal Alsace-Lorraine park, there is a plaque on a monument dedicated to French Algeria, inaugurated on 25 February 1973, in the presence of

Jacques Médecin Jacques Médecin (5 May 1928 – 17 November 1998) was a French politician. A member of the Gaullist party RPR, he succeeded his father Jean Médecin as mayor of the city of Nice, serving from 1966 to 1990. Under suspicion of corruption, he fled ...

, mayor of Nice, with the inscription "Roger Degueldre Symbole de l’Algérie Française"..

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Degueldre, Roger 1925 births 1962 deaths People from Nord (French department) Members of the Organisation armée secrète People of the Algerian War People executed by the French Fifth Republic French Resistance members Executed French people Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion French people convicted of murdering police officers People executed by France by firing squad Executed people from Nord-Pas-de-Calais People executed for murdering police officers