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General Salan in Madrid, on his way to Algeria: on the Spanish collaboration with the OAS

Publicated to:Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar. 11 (23): 111-135 - 2022-01-01 11(23), DOI:

Authors: Jimenez, JLR

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Abstract

De Gaulle's change of heart on the Algerian question elicited a violent response from a number of European settlers and military personnel stationed in the colony. In January 1960, the so-called barricades uprising took place in Algiers, led by political groups backed by paramilitary units; lacking military support, the uprising failed. Several of their leaders fled to Franco's Spain, where they were welcomed as political refugees. At the end of October that year, one of the main opponents of the abandonment of the military solution to the war fought by France in Algeria against the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN), General Raoul Salan, recently dismissed as Commander-in-Chief in Algeria, left Paris and settled in Madrid. Salan was followed by dozens of opponents of decolonization, including several of those indicted in the barricades trial who were provisionally released and awaiting trial. In February 1961 in Madrid, Salan participated in the creation of the Organisation de l'Armee secrete (OAS), whose aim was to encourage a military coup that would give way to a pro-Algerian French government.This article provides insight into the organization, activities and political relations of OAS refugees in Spain. The main part is devoted to exploring the attitude of the Franco regime concerning General Salan's and the OAS activities in Spain. The thesis of this paper is that the Franco regime was permissive with Salan's and the OAS political activities on Spanish soil. It is also worth considering the possibility that, tempted by the prospect of a more friendly government in Paris, and having erroneously assessed the likelihood that the military coup against De Gaulle would succeed, Franco requested that Salan be guarded by the police, primarily to prevent such a trip. However, before and after the coup failed, the primary objective of the Spanish government was to obtain from its French counterpart, in reciprocity for the effective control of the OAS members, measures against the Spanish exile organizations. The contents of the present article are based on a review of the available bibliography and unpublished documentation from the Castiella Fund at the Royal Academy of History and the Alicante Provincial Police Station.

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