Jacques Émile Massu, born May 5, 1908 in Châlons-sur- Marne and died on October 26, 2002 in Conflans-sur-Loing, is a soldier, general officer. Companion of the Liberation and former commander-in-chief of the French forces in Germany, he distinguished himself in particular in the Leclerc column and the 2nd Armored Division, during the Second World War and during the two colonial conflicts in Indochina and Algeria.
Origins and studies
Great-grandnephew of Marshal Michel Ney, Jacques Massu was born in Chalons-sur-Marne into a family of French military officers. He studied at the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Paris, at the Free College of Gien (1919-1925) then at the National Military Prytanée (1926-1928). Entered the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, he graduated in 1930 (Marshal Foch promotion) and began his military career as a second lieutenant in the colonial infantry, in the French colonies of Morocco, Togo and Chad.
World War II
He was a captain in Equatorial Africa, at the head of the 3rd company of the regiment of Senegalese skirmishers in Chad and the military subdivision of Tibesti, when in June 1940, Captain Massu answered the call of June 18, 1940 from General de Gaulle and joined Free France, alongside Governor Félix Éboué.
He participated in the Battle of Fezzan with the Leclerc column. Meharist in Tibesti, he transformed his "desert ship" into an "tanker" for a supply rendezvous with the trucks of Bagnold from the Long Range Desert Group which took Leclerc's Free French Forces (FFL) as passengers.
In 1941, he was at the head of the marching battalion of Chad. As a lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd DB, he participated in the battles of the Western European theater which led him to the heart of Nazi Germany after having participated in the liberation of Paris in August 1944.
Indochina War
In September 1945, Lieutenant-Colonel Massu was placed at the head of the advance detachment which landed in Saigon and participated in the clearing of the city and southern Indochina. On December 19, 1946, the Viet Minh captured Hanoi. General Leclerc then sent Colonel Massu's group to Tonkin, which recaptured the city after a very brutal action. He inflicted heavy losses on the Viet Minh who could not fight against a troop perfectly seasoned by its previous campaigns, the soldiers having for the most part already fought in the FFL or the Liberation Army during the Second World War. Emperor Bao Dai had demanded from Leclerc that the Massu group be sent back to Saigon and that the colonel – who had not bothered to take prisoners – be immediately repatriated to France.
Suez Expedition
Jacques Massu leaves Indochina to become a parachutist. He first took command of the 1st Colonial Parachute Commando Half Brigade in Brittany from 1947 to 1949. In 1951 he took command of the 4th AOF Brigade in Niamey where Fort Massu was built under his authority near Timia in the heart of Aïr. In 1954, he was posted to Tunisia as deputy to the commander of the 11th DI and then as commander of the northern operational zone, in Kef. In June 1955, becoming a brigadier general, he commanded the parachute intervention group then in 1956 the 10th parachute division, later known as the Massu division with which he landed on November 6, 1956 in Port Said (Egypt) , during the Suez operation. After taking the city, he fought alongside the British, whom he joined to take Ismailia. The operation is cut short following the recall of troops by the French and British governments under joint pressure from the United States and the USSR.
War in Algeria
He was then assigned with the 10th division in Algeria. On January 7, 1957, the minister resident in the French colony, Robert Lacoste, entrusted all police powers to the army in order to put an end to the activities of the National Liberation Front (FLN) in the Algerian capital. The four regiments of the 10th Parachute Division then crisscrossed the city, using all means to track Yacef Saadi's bomb network and find their caches. It is the battle of Algiers that he wins with brutal methods. At his direct orders officiated in particular Roger Trinquier (theorist of subversive warfare in his book La Guerre moderne) and Paul Aussaresses. The latter supervises the establishment of the intelligence system which includes the use of torture and summary executions. General Massu recounts having experienced the gene on himself.
On May 13, 1958, demonstrations broke out in Algeria following the execution of three French soldiers by the FLN. During the mob invasion of the seat of the general government, Massu is the only one, thanks to his popularity, who can make himself heard. Unable to stop the movement, he took the lead and founded a committee of public safety of which he named himself president4 and which demanded from President René Coty the creation of a government of public safety. This episode of the Algiers putsch will accelerate the return to power of Charles de Gaulle in order to put an end to the crisis of May 1958.
In July 1958 Jacques Massu received his division general stars and, in December, took charge of the Algiers army corps, simultaneously exercising the functions of regional prefect for the Algiers.
Having criticized the policy of the President of the Republic in Algeria, in an interview granted to the Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich, he was recalled to Paris. Although he denied the statements made, he was dismissed from his post as commander of the Algiers army corps in January 1960. The news provoked a violent reaction materialized by the week of barricades in Algiers.
In September 1961, he was appointed military governor of Metz and commander of the 6th military region.
In March 1966, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the French forces in Germany, residing in Baden-Baden where, on May 29, 1968, Charles de Gaulle came to consult him in the midst of the turmoil of May 68. His political role on this occasion was controversial. . In July 1969, he left his post in the active army and entered the 2nd section of general officers.
Massu and torture
Jacques Massu has been accused by former Algerian FLN combatants, in particular Louisette Ighilahriz, of having endorsed torture practices during the Algerian war and even of having participated in them. He confirmed most of his previous statements about the practices and the descriptions made in his book The True Battle of Algiers. In a television interview in 1971, he declared, “I officially said that I recognized the existence of the method and that I took it under my responsibility. “, as well as” the torture as I authorized it to be practiced in Algiers does not degrade the individual. To the question of the 4,000 disappeared between January and April 1957 under the responsibility of the French paratroopers listed by Paul Teitgen, the secretary general of the police of Algiers in 1957, Massu replied that the latter had made the mistake of vocation. He wrote in 2000 “that we could have done without it”. The end of the Algerian war was followed by a broad amnesty law for acts committed in connection with it, whether by the National Liberation Front (FLN), the Secret Army Organization (OAS) or French soldiers. This law was further supplemented in 1966, July 1968 and 1982.
Retirement
Living in retirement, from July 1969, in his Gâtinaise residence in Conflans-sur-Loing, Jacques Massu devoted many years to writing his memoirs. He died on October 26, 2002 at the age of 94.
Privacy
Jacques Massu has been married twice. He had three children, including a daughter from his first marriage (who died during his father's lifetime), and two children, adopted during his stay in Algeria.
Military career
1930:second lieutenant on leaving Saint-Cyr
1932:lieutenant
1939:captain
1942:commander
1944:lieutenant-colonel
1946:colonel
1955:brigadier general
1958:general division
1963:general of the army
1966:general of the army
Decorations
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
Companion of the Liberation by decree of July 14, 1941
Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (eight citations)
War Cross of External Theaters of Operations (three citations)
Military Valor Cross (two citations)
Combatant's Cross
Colonial Medal with "Morocco", "Free French Africa", "Fezzan", "Tunisia" and "Far East" clasps
Presidential Unit Citation (United States States)
Distinguished Service Order (Great Britain)
Grand Officer of the Order of Nichan el Anouar
Grand- Officer of the Order of the Black Star of Benin
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Quotes
Jacques Massu sometimes had strained relations with Charles de Gaulle, even if the two men respected each other. We lend them this apocryphal anecdote, which says a lot. Upon his arrival in Algiers in 1958, the general was welcomed by Massu, and told him:“So Massu, still so stupid? The latter's response:"Always a Gaullist, General!" »