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| PERSONALIA |
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| Name: |
Pâris de Bollardière, Jaques Marie Roch André |
| Date of birth: | December 16th, 1907 (Chateaubriant , France)
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| Date of death: |
February 22nd, 1986 (Talhouet, France)
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| Nationality: |
French |
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BIOGRAPHY:
After his studies at the Military Academy of Saint-Cyr, Bollardière he graduated in 1930 with the rank of sergeant. Normally graduates were given the rank of sous-lieutenant, but he was given a lower rank for insubordination. He was soon promoted to sous-lieutenant (2nd Lt.), and in 1932 to lieutenant. In February 1935 he joined the Foreign Legion and was stationed in Algeria.
In February 1940 he was assigned to 13 Demi-Brigade, Legion Etrangee and was promoted to capitain. He was involved in the battles at Narvik and returned to Brest on 13th June. When the French Vichy government made an armistice with the German forces, he fled to England and joined Charles de Gaulle’s Free French Army. During the East African Campaign he fought in Gabon and Eritrea. He led a 90 men strong force that captured the Italian fortress Massawa, taking over 300 Italian prisoners.
In 1941 he was promoted to Commandant (Major) and took part in the capture of Damascus. In 1942 he took part in the Battle of Bir Hakeim and the first Battle of El Alamein. During this battle he was severely wounded by a landmine.
In October 1943 he volunteered for Special Forces training. Bollardière parachuted into France on 12th April 1944 to take over the command of the maquis (French resistance) in the Ardennes. He operated under the codename “Prisme” and returned to England in September 1944. Here he joined the 3e Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (Parachute Light Infantry), a part of the S.A.S. (Special Air Service) and was parachuted in the Netherlands.
During the Indochine War he commanded a para brigade and was in action in Laos, Cambodia and Tonkin. From October 1953 he teaches parachutists at the École de Guerre in Paris and was placed in command of two brigades in Algeria in July 1956. In December he was promoted to General de Brigade (Brigadier-General). He rejected the use of torture methods in French units and debated these openly. After the Algerian debacle he resigned from the Army. In 1970 he became a pacifist, was president of the Logement et Promotion Sociale between 1968 and 1978 and was arrested by the French Navy during protest actions against the nuclear trials at Mururoa.
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BRONZEN LEEUW (BL)
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Rank:
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Lieutenant-Colonel (Lieutenant-colonel)
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Unit:
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3ème Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes 3 SAS
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Awarded on:
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January 2nd, 1951
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Details:
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Royal decree no.15
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L' ORDRE DE LA LIBÉRATION
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Action:
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Received for the capture of the Fortress Massawa with a raiding party of 90 men. During this action over 300 Italians were taken prisoner.
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Provide alterations or additional information |
| Information source(s): |
- Guisnel J., "Jacques Pâris de Bollardière, portrait d'un général en honnête-homme", pp.47-49 in Histoire secrète de la Ve République (dir. Roger Faligot and Jean Guisnel), La Découverte, 2006, 2007
- http://www.onderscheidingen.nl
source BL/BK |
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