Word: massue
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...victory of Algiers" Massu became a hero to the 1,000,000 European settlers in Algeria, and his paratroopers -and their alumni, in veterans organizations in both France and Algeria -became a rallying point for the right wing in France. Veterans proudly wore the distinctive berets of their old regiments -red for the Colonials recruited overseas, blue for paratroopers of Metropolitan France, green for Foreign Legionnaires...
Appearance & Attitudes. Tall (6 ft. 1 in.) and wiry, capable of doing anything he asks his men to do, Massu is what the French call, in a word borrowed from the Arabs, baronder, a hardheaded fighter. His bristling mustache, gigantic nose and fiery eyes are set in a face that looks like a well-worn chopping block. For all his outward appearance of strength. Massu has frequently betrayed an inner uncertainty. Like his hero De Gaulle, he has often wondered whether to suffer under authority that he believes is wrong or to strike out alone. At Suez, irritated...
...street. Then, their ranks grown to 30,000, they jammed the main square for a ceremonial wreath-laying at the war memorial. General Raoul Salan, once commander in Indo-China and now commander in chief of the 500,000 French troops in Algeria, and tall, leathery General Jacques Massu, the paratroop commander, drove up to the war memorial. Shouting "We want Massu!" and "The army to power!", the crowd crushed around the generals' car, hemmed in the guard of honor and the band. Trucks with loudspeakers appeared at the edges of the square, and even during the solemn silence...
...smashed windows. A fully armed company of paratroopers stood idly by, joking with the rioters, accepting beer and sandwiches from ecstatic girls. All at once, there was a martial stir on a second-floor balcony draped with the French Tricolor. A loudspeaker proclaimed: "Silence! An important message from General Massu...
...Only Means." Massu's deep voice boomed across the crowded square, reading a message he had just wired to President Coty and to General de Gaulle:* "We inform you that we have set up a Committee of Public Safety under the presidency of General Massu, owing to the seriousness of the situation and the need to maintain order and avoid bloodshed. The committee awaits with vigilance the formation of a Government of Public Safety -the only means of keeping Algeria an integral part of French territory...