René Imbot (17 March 1925 – 19 February 2007) was a French

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

. In 1983, he was appointed as . Two years later he reached the normal French army retirement age, but after the sinking of the ''Rainbow Warrior'' caused

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Pierre Lacoste to lose the position, Imbot took over as head of Overseas Intelligence (''"Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure"'' / DGSE).

Life

René Imbot was born into a military family in Roussillon, Vaucluse. When he was just 16 he joined the resistance Maquillards in the

Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...

department in central France. By that time he had already attended the military preparatory academy at Épinal and the Prytanée National Militaire, which he left in 1941. In September 1944, he joined the "marche de la Corrèze" regiment and took part in the liberation struggle in the Belfort region. Once the fighting was over he passed the entrance exam for the prestigious Saint Cyr special military academy, from which he later progressed to the Cherchell military academy in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. He first posting as an officer came in 1946 when he was given command of the 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) 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 th ...

. He served two terms. In January 1952, he was promoted to the rank of captain and assigned to the 4th Infantry Regiment of the Foreign Legion in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, where he remained till 1954. He then undertook Staff college training before returning to

, initially with the divisional staff at Meknes and then in command of the 26th Infantry Division at Fez. In 1958, he went off to undertake a further training at the

United States Army Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

at Fort Leavenworth in

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

(USA). Returning in 1959, he was assigned to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

(Atomic Planning Section) and sent to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

for the three years 1959-1962. Here he was promoted to Battalion leader. In 1964, Imbot emerged from a further training period at the War College as a major and took command as a Group Company Commander of the 51st Motorised Infantry Regiment based at Beauvais. He was promoted again in April 1966, now becoming a lieutenant colonel, and was assigned to the military personnel department of the

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 ...

(DPMAT). In 1969, now a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), 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 colon ...

, he took command of the 35th Mechanised Infantry Regiment at Belfort. When that command came to an end he returned to the DPMAT as Chief of the Infantry Office. In 1974, he took command of the First Mechanised Brigade at Saarburg in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. The next year he was promoted to brigadier general and the next year he took commande of the Infantry Academy at Montpelier. Made a divisional general in 1978, on 15 September 1979 he was appointed deputy military governor of Paris, taking on command of the 3rd Army Corps and of the 1st Military Region. In October 1980, he took over as director of personnel for the land army. He was made Army corps general in 1980, and promoted to

in March 1983. Later that year the Minister of Defence, Charles Hernu, appointed René Imbot Head of the Army (''"Chef d'état-major de l'Armée de terre"'' / CEMAT). Together, Hernu and Imbot created the Rapid Action Force (''"force d'action rapide "'' / FAR), designed for rapid intervention in Europe and overseas. He was succeeded in 1985 by Maurice Schmitt. He was now appointed Overseas Intelligence (''"Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure"'' / DGSE) by President Mitterrand. The appointment came amidst widesparead calls for reform of the service in the wake of the Rainbow Warrior affair which had triggered the resignation of his predecessor in the role, Pierre Lacoste. Imbot reorganised and modernised the DGSE, also reinstating the 11th Shock Parachute Regiment which had been dissolved back in 1963. The Rainbow Warrior affair was viewed by the political establishment as a public relations disaster, likely to do long term political and indeed economic damage to the national interest. In this context, René Imbot accepted an invitation to appear on French television on 27 September 1985. In a memorably forceful presentation he stated his determination to "cut off the rotten branches" (''"couper les branches pourries"''), having identified "a truly malign conspiracy to destabilise the ntelligenceservices" (''"une véritable opération maligne de déstabilisation de nos services"''). He retired from active service in 1988.

Freemasonry

In 2003, Imbot was a co-founder, together with others leading establishment figures including and General Jeannou Lacaze, of the "Grand Lodge of Cutler and Spirituality" (''"Grande Loge des cultures et de la spiritualité"'' / GLCS).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imbot, René 1925 births 2007 deaths Chiefs of the Staff of the French Army People from Vaucluse Directors of the Directorate-General for External Security French generals Officers of the French Foreign Legion French Freemasons French Resistance members Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures 20th-century French military personnel