Roger Louis Faulques (14 December 1924 – 6 November 2011) René Faulques, was a

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 ...

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

, a graduate of the

École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (ESM, literally the "Special Military School of Saint-Cyr") is a French military academy, and is often referred to as Saint-Cyr (). It is located in Coëtquidan in Guer, Morbihan, Brittany. Its motto ...

, a paratrooper officer 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 ...

, and a mercenary. He fought in

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, 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 ...

, the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

, 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

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

, the

North Yemen Civil War The North Yemen Civil War ( ar, ثورة 26 سبتمبر, Thawra 26 Sabtambar, 26 September Revolution) was fought in North Yemen from 1962 to 1970 between partisans of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom and supporters of the Yemen Arab Republic. The ...

and the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...

. He is one of France's most decorated soldiers.

Early career

Faulques was a

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 ...

resistance fighter in 1944 and took part in the last battles of

in the

French First Army The First Army (french: 1re Armée) was a field army of France that fought during World War I and World War II. It was also active during the Cold War. First World War On mobilization in August 1914, General Auguste Dubail was put in the ch ...

. As a Corporal, he received the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''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 awa ...

at the age of 20. Noted for his fighting spirit and sense of command, he was admitted to the Military School of Saint-Cyr, which had changed its terms of recruitment to overcome the lack of officers in the French army at the end of World War II. In 1946 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned, at his own request, to the Foreign Legion, within the 3rd Régiment Etranger d'Infanterie (

3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment The 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (french: 3e Régiment étranger d'infanterie, 3e REI) is an infantry regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army. The regiment is stationed in French Guiana. Its mission includes the protection of the Ce ...

First Indochina War

Faulques served in the

as a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

with the 1^er BEP (1st Foreign Parachute Battalion) and participated in the struggles of this unit until its destruction in October 1950. On 26 February 1948, in command of a group of legionaries, Faulques was ambushed on Route Coloniale 3. Having lost half of his legionaries, Faulques led his men in hand-to-hand fighting until wounded in both feet by a machine gun bullet. His legionaries evacuated Faulques ''in extremis'' from the line of fire. Repatriated to the mainland for treatment, at the age of 23 Faulques was appointed a Chevalier of the

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 ...

and held five citations. After recovering from his wounds, Faulques saw action in the Battle of RC 4, when he was placed in command of the training platoon of 1^er BEP, which lost nearly 80% of its force during the evacuation of

Cao Bang Cao or CAO may refer to: Mythology * Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology Companies or organizations *Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO *CA Oradea, Romanian football club *CA Osasuna, Spanish football club * Canadian Asso ...

in September and October 1950. Seriously wounded four times during this battle (right shoulder shattered by bullets, chest opened by a volley, left elbow and right femur shattered by bullets), he lay on the ground for three days, left for dead. Having survived, Faulques was captured by the

Vietminh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

who, judging him mortally wounded, released Faulques to the French authorities with other gravely injured prisoners. Mentioned in dispatches Faulques was made an Officer of the

for exceptional services and was again repatriated to France. His injuries required him to spend several years in the Val-de-Grâce military hospital.

Algerian War

Ending the war in Indochina with six wounds and eight citations, Faulques then served in

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

as an intelligence officer of the 1^er REP during the Battle of Algiers. He was accused 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 ...

in Algeria and proved to be effective in the dismantling of several networks of the FLN.

Congo Crisis

Faulques and Captain Yves de La Bourdonnaye were given leave by army minister

Pierre Messmer Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (; 20 March 191629 August 2007) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under L ...

, and left to provide support to the Belgian-backed

Katangese Gendarmerie The Katangese Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie Katangaise), officially the Katangese Armed Forces (french: Forces Armées Katangaises, links=no), was the paramilitary force of the unrecognized State of Katanga in Central Africa from 1960 to 1963. ...

against the Republic of Congo-Leopoldville, joining hundreds of other British, Rhodesian, French, and South African mercenary and voluntary irregulars in replacing the 117 Belgian officers, and other white volunteers of Belgian descent. Especially notable among the French mercenaries were professional career soldiers who had fought in the

, which of course included Faulques. Following his deposition and kidnapping, Congolese-Leopoldville Prime Minister

Patrice Lumumba Patrice Émery Lumumba (; 2 July 1925 – 17 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic of the Congo) from June u ...

was assassinated by the Katangese with the direct support of Belgium, and the indirect support of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. Katangese military officer

Moise Tshombe Moise is a given name and surname, with differing spellings in its French and Romanian origins, both of which originate from the name Moses: Moïse is the French spelling of Moses, while Moise is the Romanian spelling. As a surname, Moisè and Mo ...

then declared himself president. Lumumba’s death resulted in mass protests, which were not only confined to the Congo. Indian PM

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

condemned the assassination as “an international crime of the first magnitude”, and urged greater UN involvement, deploying the 4,700 strong

99th Indian Infantry Brigade The 99th Mountain Brigade, formerly the 99th Indian Infantry Brigade, is an infantry formation of the Indian Army. The brigade was formed in April 1941 at Lucknow. The brigade was then assigned to the 34th Indian Infantry Division in October 194 ...

as UN peacekeepers in March in order to keep foreign combatants out of the country. Nehru’s Indian forces under the command of Brigadier-General Raja attacked the Katangan capital of Elisabethville on 13 September 1961 in Operation Morthor. During this attack Indian soldiers assaulted the lightly defended post office and killed all of its Katangan occupants. According to Ian Colvin who was an eyewitness, the attack was “needlessly brutal.” In response to this, serious fighting soon broke out as Katanga’s self-declared President

encouraged both Katangese civilians and foreign mercenaries to go on the offensive against UN forces. Prior to this on the 5 April 1961, UN Secretary-General

Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...

criticised Belgian mercenaries for their service in Katanga and condemned Tshombe for turning the Katangese public against the United Nations. The counterattack to Operation Morthor included the

siege of Jadotville In the Siege of Jadotville in September 1961, a small contingent of the Irish Army's 35th Battalion, designated "A" Company, serving as part of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (''Opération des Nations Unies au Congo'', ONUC) were b ...

led by Faulques, Michel de Clary, and Henri Lasimone. The siege of Jadotville lasted 5 days. At the end of the battle, 155 Irish soldiers under Commandant Pat Quinlan surrendered to Faulques and his 3000–5000 Katangan force on 17 September having run out of ammunition. During the action the UN forces had inflicted heavy casualties on the Katangans and their mercenary allies (300 dead, 1000 wounded), with only minimal casualties of their own (5 wounded).The True Story of the Heroic Battle That Inspired the New Netflix Film The Siege of Jadotville
''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'', JULY 27, 2016 In all, the failure of Operation Morthor was used in arguments both against the deployment of UN peacekeepers, and for the strengthening of such forces. On September 18, UN Secretary-General

's plane crashed over Zambia en route to negotiate a ceasefire between ONUC and the Katangese, prompting much speculation over the suspicious nature of his death, including the possibility that his plane was shot down by a fighter plane piloted by a Belgian mercenary working for self-declared President Tshombe. Hammarskjöld was succeeded by

U Thant Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...

. In December 1961, UN troops launched Operation Unokat in order to regain control of the situation, against which the defence strategy was designed by Faulques. Operation Unokat applied significant pressure on the rebel state, and eventually Tshombe relented and signed the Kitona Declaration. When in 1962 violence began to flare up again, Katangan gendarmes attacked peacekeeping forces in Katanga on 24 December in response to which, UN Secretary General Thant authorized the retaliatory offensive,

Operation Grandslam Operation Grandslam was an offensive undertaken by United Nations peacekeeping forces from 28 December 1962 to 15 January 1963 against the forces of the State of Katanga, a secessionist state rebelling against the Republic of the Con ...

. Swedish air support and heavy mortar fire engaged the mercenaries, after which

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

peacekeepers entered the Katangese capital Elizabethville, followed by the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

brigade of General Raja, defeating the Katangese forces and securing the capital by 28 December. After a year of guerrilla insurgency, Tshombe, realizing that his position was untenable, sued for peace on 15 January 1963. Two days later he signed an instrument of surrender and declared the Katangan secession to be over.

Other mercenary work

Faulques continued his mercenary career, alongside his friend

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 agai ...

, first being deployed in

North Yemen North Yemen may refer to: * Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (1918–1962) * Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a ...

from August 1963 to the end of 1964, in support of MI6 (British intelligence), then in

Biafra Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated f ...

on behalf of the French government. According to

David Smiley Colonel David de Crespigny Smiley, (11 April 1916 – 9 January 2009) was a British special forces and intelligence officer. He fought in the Second World War in Palestine, Iraq, Persia, Syria, the Western Desert and with Special Operations Ex ...

in ''Arabian Assignment '' (page 156), the French and Belgian mercenaries alternated in the early 1960s between the Yemeni and Congo theatres since in the Congo they had women and alcohol at will but were rarely paid, while in Yemen they were paid but were deprived of women and alcohol.

In popular culture

Faulques served as a model for certain characters in the novels of

Jean Lartéguy Jean Lartéguy (5 September 1920 in Maisons-Alfort – 23 February 2011) was the pen name of Jean Pierre Lucien Osty, a French writer, journalist, and former soldier. Larteguy is credited with first envisioning the " ticking time bomb" scen ...

, ''Les Centurions,'' ''Les Prétoriens'' (The Praetorians) and ''Les Chimères Noires'' (The Hounds of Hell) and in

Declan Power Declan Power is a former Irish Army soldier, defence analyst and writer. Power originally joined the Army Reserve (then ''FCÁ''), before serving in a variety of roles in the Defence Forces. He later had a number of appointments in Ireland and ...

's 2005 book “The Siege of Jadotville”. Faulques is portrayed by the French actor

Guillaume Canet Guillaume Canet (; born 10 April 1973) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, and show jumper. Canet began his career in theatre and television before moving to film. He starred in several films like '' Joyeux Noël'', '' Love Me I ...

in the 2016 film '' The Siege of Jadotville''. In 2010, Faulques was honoured at the Foreign Legion's Camerone ceremony.

Ribbons

Decorations

* Grand officier de la

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 ...

(Decree of 16 April 2004. Commandeur, 19 July 1960) *

Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

with 1 citation (bronze star) *

Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures The ''Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieurs'' (War Cross for foreign operational theatres), also called the ''Croix de Guerre TOE'' for short, is a French military award denoting citations earned in combat in foreign countri ...

(Croix de guerre for Theatres of External Operations) with 8 citations (5 bronze palm, two silver stars, bronze star) (Indochina) *

Croix de la Valeur militaire The Cross for Military Valour (french: Croix de la Valeur Militaire) is a military decoration of France. It recognises an individual bestowed a Mention in Dispatches earned for showing valour in presence of an enemy, in theatres of operations wh ...

with 3 citations (2 vermeil stars and silver star) (Algeria) *

Croix du combattant The Combatant's Cross (french: "Croix du combattant") is a French decoration that recognizes, as its name implies, those who fought in combat for France. The Poilus (French combat soldiers) of World War I worked toward recognition by the govern ...

Insigne des blessés militaires The Medal for the War Wounded (french: Médaille des blessés de guerre) was originally a mere insignia in the form of an ribbon awarded for wounds received in the line of duty while facing an enemy. The insignia was established by the law of 11 De ...

(Medal for wounded military) with 6 red stars *

Médaille coloniale The Colonial Medal (french: "Médaille Coloniale") was a French decoration created by the "loi de finances" of 26 July 1893 (article 75) to reward "military services in the colonies, resulting from participation in military operations, in a colon ...

with "EXTREME-ORIENT" campaign clasp (Indochina) * Médaille commémorative (Commemorative Medal) 1939-1945 * Médaille commémorative de la guerre d'Indochine (Commemorative Medal of the Indochina War) * Médaille commémorative des opérations de Suez (Commemorative Medal, Suez Operation) * Médaille commémorative des opérations de sécurité et de maintien de l'ordre en AFN (Commemorative Medal for security operations in North Africa (Algeria)

Foreign decorations

* Officer of the Lao Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol * Officer of the Taï Order of Civil Merit * Thai Military Merit decoration * Indochina Cross of Valour with 1 citation (bronze star)

References

* ''The Mercenaries 1960-1980'' Historia; Special Issue 406 bis (1980). * Pierre Lunel, ''Bob Denard, King of Fortune.'' First edition, 1991. Regarding Yemen, in this book the spotlight is given to the French while the essential role of the British, who were the organizers and contractors is obscured. So the colonel of SAS it appears as a simple "English radioman", and Colonel

is mentioned only once (page 244) (photographs). * Written by an officer who participated in the field, to British intervention on behalf of MI6, Oman (1958-1961) and Yemen (1963-1967). Notebook with photographs. * Colonel

''Irregular Regular'', Michael Russell, Norwich, 1994 (). * All MI6 operations are detailed. Chapter 19 is devoted to Albania ("Project Valuable"), chapter 30 deals with Oman and Muscat, Chapter 31 with Yemen
Index online

External links

* [http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/katanga-former-belgian-congo-mercenaries-katanga-septembre-news-photo/166559175?#katanga-former-belgian-congo-mercenaries-katanga-septembre-1961-lors-picture-id166559175 Mercenaries. Katanga, September 1961, Portrait of Colonel René FAULQUES, grenade in hand and cigarette in mouth. Getty Images. 1 September 1961] {{DEFAULTSORT:Faulques, Rene 1924 births 2011 deaths French mercenaries French military personnel Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) French Resistance members