Original subtitles

General Charles de Gaulle, France's redoubtable president, who led the Free

French against the Nazis in World War II, has just survived yet another

on his life.

But why had the iconic president become such a recurring target for Assafiq?

Why did so many people want him dead?

August the 23rd, 1962, Paris.

Charles de Gaulle, President of France, is back at work as usual, after having

survived the latest attempt on his life the previous day.

But he, and the men who guard him around the clock, know it won't be long before

someone tries again.

A haughty, unbending man, de Gaulle has made many enemies over the years.

But of all those who wish him ill, none is more dangerous than a secretive group

of ex -French army officers.

They hate and despise him for granting independence to the former French colony

of Algeria.

The officers see this as the ultimate betrayal.

Now they will not rest until they have put the man they regard as an arch

-traitor to France into the grave.

The North African state of Algeria has been colonized by the French since 1830.

With order largely maintained by the French Foreign Legion, it is one of

France's most valuable overseas territories.

However, by the late 1940s and the early 1950s, Algeria has also become their

most troubled.

with a great many native Algerians bitterly opposed to the continuing

occupation.

Resistance groups spring up all over the country.

The most formidable of these is the Front de Libération Nationale, better

as the FLN.

In 1954, the resentment against French rule erupts into open rebellion as

Algerian nationalists begin a bloody campaign of bombing and random

The French authorities hit back hard.

The struggle is long and bitter, with great loss of life on both sides.

By the spring of 1959, French forces have at last gained the upper hand.

But President de Gaulle knows that something has to give.

He accepts that the only way the French can continue to maintain control in

Algeria is through force.

However, he also realizes that this would not sit easy with the other world

leaders.

So he proposes that the country starts moving gradually towards independence.

This infuriates the French settlers in Algeria, and a goal has to call on the

army to put down two uprisings.

But the anger of the settlers is also matched by hardline factions within the

army itself.

They too are determined to prevent Algeria becoming independent.

January the 20th, 1960, Algiers.

A paramilitary group of settlers calling themselves the Front National Français,

the FNF, stages a revolt in Algiers, the capital of Algeria.

In what becomes known as the Barricades Week, the insurgents throw up obstacles

in the streets and seize various government buildings.

The local gendarmerie try their best to break up the protest, but they're only

lightly armed and fall back in disarray as the rebels open fire with rifles and

automatic weapons.

Fourteen gendarmes are killed and a further 123 wounded.

Meanwhile, the army seems reluctant to get involved.

They could have broken down the barriers immediately with tanks, but the local

commanders refused to deploy them.

They claim it would result in too much bloodshed.

In fact, some paratroopers have seemed to be apparently fraternizing with the

rebels rather than taking them prisoner.

The goal is furious.

and orders the army to put down the rebellion without further delay.

Now the troops at last move in and take on the insurgents.

Twenty of the rioters are killed before the brief uprising peters out a week

later.

The ringleaders are rounded up and jailed.

But there are still a few military diehards who want to hang on to Algeria

any price.

And in January 1961, outraged that de Gaulle is now proposing a referendum on

Algerian independence, they get together to form the Organisation de l 'Armée

Secrète, better known as the OAS.

Its aim? To keep Algeria under French control.

The OAS is committed to extreme violence to achieve its end.

Even if this means assassinating the French head of state, Charles de Gaulle.

Its leader is General Raoul Salah, who, having served as commander -in -chief of

French forces in Algeria, has exiled himself to Spain in disgust at de

policies.

The most decorated man in the French army, Salah, who spent 1960 as military

governor of Paris, feels personally betrayed by de Gaulle.

Now he wants to see him dead.

Charles de Gaulle was born into a staunch middle -class family on November

1890, in Lille, France.

In 1912, he graduates from the prestigious Saint -Cyr military college

outskirts of Paris and joins an infantry regiment as a second lieutenant.

Two years later, France is plunged into war against Germany, and in 1916, de

Gaulle is badly wounded at the Battle of Verdun.

He's captured by the Germans and spends some time in a prisoner of war camp,

making no fewer than five unsuccessful attempts to escape.

After the war, de Gaulle remains in the army.

In May 1940, eight months after the start of World War II, he's given

an armoured division.

Even though de Gaulle acquits himself well, it's not enough.

and France capitulates in June 1940.

De Gaulle, by now a general, refuses to accept defeat and escapes to England,

where he sets about rallying French resistance.

On August 2nd, 1940, he's sentenced to death in absentia for treason against

new French puppet Vichy government.

However, four years later, on August 26, 1944, as the Allies are driving German

forces back through Europe, de Gaulle returns in triumph, marching through

at the head of the Free French Army.

Now he's on his way to a service at the great cathedral of Notre -Dame.

However, unbeknownst to de Gaulle and those around him, A few die -hard Nazi

snipers remain, stationed high in buildings overlooking his roof.

They open fire.

Bullets chip the ground around de Gaulle's feet as he strides confidently

his head held high.

Meanwhile, terrified Parisians throw themselves to the ground as de Gaulle

parries on, aloof and fearless.

He's unscathed and appears completely indifferent to the German assassins who

are trying to kill him.

Charles de Gaulle will serve as President of France's provisional

from September 1944 until January 1946, when he resigns in protest over

continuing disagreements between the country's main political parties.

He now retires to write his memoirs at his country house in the village of

Colombais -les -Deux -Eglises, about 150 miles east of Paris.

However, in the summer of 1958,

As the situation in Algeria deteriorates even further, the goal is recalled by

President René Coty to take up the position of Prime Minister.

By the following year, after winning a landslide victory in a general election,

he's president again.

April 22nd, 1961, Algeria.

Four French generals, one of whom is Raoul Salin, lead a military

in Algeria.

More than a thousand paratroopers and legionnaires take part.

They are determined to hang on to the French colony at any cost.

De Gaulle is outraged at what he regards as their out -and -out treachery.

He appears on French TV and makes a passionate speech urging everyone to

the putsch.

Much to his relief, French army conscripts in Algeria respond to the

refusing to take orders from the rebels.

Their defiance, together with backing from local trade unions, causes the

revolution to falter. It's all over within four days.

Most of the ringleaders are arrested, but Salah manages to escape.

He flees back to exile in Spain, and while in hiding sits brooding, swearing

that one day he will have his revenge on de Gaulle.

His fellow conspirators are brought to trial in Paris at the end of May, and

sentenced to death.

Salah also gets the death sentence, but in absentia.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the events in Algeria are

watched with keen interest by the U .S. authorities.

They're becoming increasingly worried that unless the goal stops what they

blundering in Algeria, the country might well end up as a Soviet base, the

prospect of which fills everyone with dread.

It's rumoured that the CIA in particular is so concerned by de Gaulle's attitude

that its agents not only played a hand in the attempted putsch by the four

generals, but also had at least some peripheral involvement in one or other

the various attempts on de Gaulle's life.

The US is also concerned that de Gaulle's continuing antipathy towards

would pose major problems in the defence of Europe should the Soviet Union ever

mount a strike.

However, the people who still want to get rid of de Gaulle most of all are

members of the OAS.

They remain convinced that he has betrayed his country by lessening French

over Algeria.

But at least one major attempt on de Gaulle's life will be made by a man who,

although he had nothing to do with the OAS at the time, is firmly behind their

desire to kill de Gaulle over Algeria.

He's Lieutenant Colonel Jean -Marie Bastien -Thierry, an engineer in the

Air Ministry.

Bastien -Thierry is a highly skilled operative, and after designing the SS -2

guided missile, becomes known as the French von Braun, following in the

footsteps of Germany's World War II rocket -building genius, Werner von

September the 8th, 1961.

It's 9 .35 in the evening, and three cars with two police motorbikes up front

are racing along the Route Nationale 19 at 70 miles an hour.

President Charles de Gaulle and his wife Yvonne are en route from Paris to their

country home at Colombais -les -Deux -Églises.

Suddenly, a huge explosion rips through the air, and a wall of flame erupts in

front of de Gaulle's car.

As the driver, Francis Marou, struggles to maintain control, the entire road

seems to be ablaze.

But he heads straight through the flames, accelerating the whole time,

the other two cars to come to an abrupt halt behind.

The presidential car now makes for the Air Force barracks at Romilly, arriving

few minutes later.

De Gaulle has survived yet another attempt on his life.

He'd been targeted by a bomb hidden under a pile of sand at the side of a

Roadblocks are immediately thrown up around the entire area as police comb

scene of the attack.

Meanwhile, one of the conspirators, Marchal de Villemondy, is hiding out in

café in the nearby village of Pont -sur -Seine.

It's not long before the police find him.

Realising that he can't escape, Villemondi panics and confesses

The operation had been planned by Bastien Thierry. As news of its failure

filters back to him in Paris, he's incensed.

Now he's even more determined to get rid of the gold.

Meanwhile, the OAS continues with its bloody terror campaign.

Now planting bombs in French towns and cities.

causing widespread carnage, alarm and confusion.

In addition, Algerian immigrants are singled out and attacked, with more than

hundred dying violently.

But by the summer of 1962, neither side is getting anywhere.

June 17th, 1962, Algiers.

The OAS and the FLN agree to a truth.

as 350 ,000 French colonists decide they can't take any more and begin to leave

the country.

Now de Gaulle makes his next move.

July the 1st, 1962, Algeria.

Almost the entire Algerian population votes for independence when de Gaulle

instigates a referendum over the country's future.

Two days later, the goal announces that Algeria is now free of France.

July the 5th, 1962, Algiers, Algeria.

Algeria declares itself officially independent, marking the anniversary of

French arrival 132 years earlier.

But despite the end of hostilities, the OAS refuses to accept the new reality.

Their fury with de Gaulle mounts.

They will now stop at nothing to get rid of the man they regard as the greatest

traitor France has ever produced.

Over the years, the OAS has tried to kill President Charles de Gaulle many

times. He's been targeted by gunmen at rallies.

Armed ambushes have been mounted along his known routes, or bombs placed in

roadside ditches.

But every attempt has failed, due either to the vigilance of de Gaulle's

bodyguards and the French Secret Service, sloppy planning, the

the would -be assassins, or, it has to be said, pure luck.

However, one man, Jean -Marie Bastien -Thierry, is determined to succeed where

all others, including him, have failed.

He's convinced it's still possible to kill de Gaulle, provided the attack is

properly planned.

And following de Gaulle granting Algeria independence,

Thierry has now joined the OAS, the deadly secret organisation whose

ambition is to feed de Gaulle dead.

August 22nd, 1962, Paris.

At around 8 .10 in the evening, President de Gaulle, together with his

son -in -law, Colonel Alain de Boisseau, are being driven through the outskirts

of Paris.

They're accompanied by an escort car and two motorbike outriders.

As they pass a petrol station in the Avenue de la Libération, none of them

notice a van parked at the roadside.

Suddenly, the rear door of the van is flung open and the sound of machine gun

fire splits the air.

Realising yet again that de Gaulle is under attack, his driver, Francis Maru,

accelerates fast.

The front near side tyre has blown out and the car swerves from side to side as

Maru desperately struggles to keep control.

Then another car roars out of a side road and closes in behind, spraying the

President's car with machine gun wood.

The rear windscreen disintegrates in a shower of glass.

Just then, de Gaulle's escort car suddenly cuts in front of the attackers.

As the cars race ahead at 75 miles an hour, they're practically touching.

Meanwhile, further ahead, although de Gaulle's car is still swaying

Marou manages to keep it on the road.

Knowing by now that they've failed, the would -be assassins disappear into the

side streets and abandon their vehicles.

Once again, de Gaulle has survived, but this latest attempt on his life is the

closest anyone has come to hitting it off.

The presidential car is riddled with bullets, one just missing de Gaulle's

as he ducked down.

As usual, the president is openly contemptuous of the people who've tried

kill him.

They shot like pigs, he's reported to have said later.

Nearby buildings took the brunt of the attack, and police collect more than 100

cartridge cases from the scene.

It's not long before they find the van used in the attack.

Now, as every newspaper carries the story of the attack, The manhunt is on.

It will be the biggest in French history.

By September 5th, with virtually every policeman in France looking for them,

eight of the conspirators have been picked up.

Bastien Thiry himself is arrested 12 days later at his villa in Bourg -la

-Reine, about six miles from Paris.

The authorities are happy to have the ringleader under lock and key.

but seven of the other conspirators are still at large.

Moreover, although he had nothing to do with the latest attempt on de Gaulle's

life, his old adversary, General Raoul Salin, has also been arrested, brought

trial, and sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the

in April the previous year.

February the 8th, 1963, Paris.

Acting on an anonymous tip -off, Paris police discover Colonel Antoine Argou,

another one of de Gaulle's arch enemies, tied up in a van which had been

abandoned outside one of the city's main police buildings.

Following his involvement in the attempt on de Gaulle's life in Paris on August

22nd, 1962, Argou escapes to Munich, Germany.

When found in the van, Argo told police he'd been smuggled back into France

after being kidnapped by the French Secret Service.

He will later be sentenced to life in prison.

March 4, 1963, Court of Military Justice, Paris.

Bastien Thiry is sentenced to death.

He will be executed by firing squad just a week later.

There would now be a further attempt made on de Gaulle's life.

July the 1st, 1966, Paris.

A group of disaffected students plant a 200 -pound bomb in a van and park it

along the route taken by de Gaulle's car on its way into the city from the

airport, following a state visit to the Soviet Union.

But the plot is discovered.

and the conspirators, led by 19 -year -old Rémy Drelan -Mounier, are arrested,

leaving no one to set off the bomb as the president's car passes by on its way

back to the Élysée Palace.

By now, attempts on the gold's life had become almost commonplace, so much so

that one of them is the subject of a classic film, The Day of the Jackal,

the book of the same name by British author Frederick Forsyth.

The book describes in compelling detail how a professional assassin tracks de

Gaulle and comes very close to shooting him with a high -powered rifle during a

veterans' parade in Paris.

The book is a work of fiction, but it could so easily have become fact.

De Gaulle remained in office for another three years, until resigning on April

28, 1969.

after losing a referendum on parliamentary reform.

He leaves immediately for a holiday in the Irish Republic before retiring

completely from public life.

de Gaulle would eventually die peacefully on the evening of November

1970, sitting at his home in Colombeille -des -Aiguilles.

He is just two weeks short of his 80th birthday.

During his time as President of France, de Gaulle is believed to have survived

more than 30 assassination attempts.

But, as determined as all the assassins were, de Gaulle stubbornly refused to be

cowed by their ever -present threats to his right.