Roger Faulques

Faulques was a maquis resistance fighter in 1944{{cite news |url=http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-monde/2010-04-30/ceremonies-de-camerone-le-grand-retour-du-commandant-roger/1648/0/449798 |title=Cérémonies de Camerone: le grand retour du commandant Roger Faulques, mercenaire du Katanga (Camerone Ceremonies: Return of Commandant Roger Faulques, Katanga Mercenary) |first= Jean |last=GUISNEL |date= 30 April 2010 |publisher=Le Point }} and took part in the last battles of World War II in the French First Army. As a Corporal, he received the Croix de Guerre at the age of 20. Noted for his fighting spirit and sense of command, he was admitted to the Military School of Saint-Cyr, which had changed its terms of recruitment to overcome the lack of officers in the French army at the end of World War II. In 1946 he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned, at his own request, to the Foreign Legion, within the 3rd Régiment Etranger d'Infanterie (3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment).

Faulques served in the First Indochina War as a Lieutenant with the 1^er BEP (1st Foreign Parachute Battalion) and participated in the struggles of this unit until its destruction in October 1950. On 26 February 1948, in command of a group of legionaries, Faulques was ambushed on Route Coloniale 3. Having lost half of his legionaries, Faulques led his men in hand-to-hand fighting until wounded in both feet by a machine gun bullet. His legionaries evacuated Faulques in extremis from the line of fire. Repatriated to the mainland for treatment, at the age of 23 Faulques was appointed a Chevalier of the légion d'honneur and held five citations.

After recovering from his wounds, Faulques saw action in the Battle of RC 4, when he was placed in command of the training platoon of 1^er BEP, which lost nearly 80% of its force during the evacuation of Cao Bang in September and October 1950. Seriously wounded four times during this battle (right shoulder shattered by bullets, chest opened by a volley, left elbow and right femur shattered by bullets), he lay on the ground for three days, left for dead. Having survived, Faulques was captured by the Vietminh who, judging him mortally wounded, released Faulques to the French authorities with other gravely injured prisoners. Mentioned in dispatches Faulques was made an Officer of the légion d'honneur{{cite news |url=http://fr.novopress.info/102158/le-commandant-roger-faulques-est-mort/|title=Le commandant Roger Faulques est mort |date=8 November 2011 |publisher=Novopress }} for exceptional services and was again repatriated to France. His injuries required him to spend several years in the Val-de-Grâce military hospital.

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Ending the war in Indochina with six wounds and eight citations, Faulques then served in French Algeria as an intelligence officer of the 1^er REP during the Battle of Algiers. He was accused of torture in Algeria and proved to be effective in the dismantling of several networks of the FLN.

{{See also|Siege of Jadotville}}

Faulques and Captain Yves de La Bourdonnaye were given leave by army minister Pierre Messmer, and left to provide support to the Belgian-backed Katangese Gendarmerie against the Republic of Congo-Leopoldville, joining hundreds of other British, Rhodesian, French, and South African mercenary and voluntary irregulars in replacing the 117 Belgian officers, and other white volunteers of Belgian descent.{{Cite book|last=Lefever|first=Ernest W.|title=Crisis in Congo: A United Nations Force in Action (1st ed.)|publisher=Washington DC: Brookings Institution|year=1965|isbn=0-8157-5198-2}} Especially notable among the French mercenaries were professional career soldiers who had fought in the Algerian War, which of course included Faulques.

Following his deposition and kidnapping, Congolese-Leopoldville Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by the Katangese with the direct support of Belgium, and the indirect support of the CIA.{{Cite news|date=1961-02-13|title=1961: Ex-Congo PM declared dead|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/13/newsid_2541000/2541053.stm|access-date=2020-05-06}}{{Cite news|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=2001-11-17|title=Report Reproves Belgium in Lumumba's Death|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/17/world/report-reproves-belgium-in-lumumba-s-death.html|access-date=2020-05-06|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|last=Kettle|first=Martin|date=2000-08-10|title=President 'ordered murder' of Congo leader|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/aug/10/martinkettle|access-date=2020-05-06|issn=0261-3077}} Katangese military officer Moise Tshombe then declared himself president.

Lumumba’s death resulted in mass protests, which were not only confined to the Congo.{{Cite news|date=1961-02-19|title=1961: Lumumba rally clashes with UK police|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/19/newsid_2748000/2748931.stm|access-date=2020-05-06}}{{Cite book|last=Mahoney|first=Richard D.|title=JFK: Ordeal in Africa|year=1983|pages=72. "In the United States, the news of Lumumba's murder provoked racial riots. During an address by Ambassador Stevenson before the Security Council, a demonstration led by American blacks began in the visitors gallery. It quickly turned into a riot in which eighteen UN guards, two newsmen, and two protestors were injured. Outside of the UN building, fights between whites and blacks broke out. A large protest march into Times Square was halted by mounted police."}}{{Cite web|title=Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News Archive Search|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kKgzAAAAIBAJ&pg=4519,3193749&hl=en|website=news.google.com|access-date=2020-05-06}} Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru condemned the assassination as “an international crime of the first magnitude”, and urged greater UN involvement, deploying the 4,700 strong 99th Indian Infantry Brigade as UN peacekeepers in March in order to keep foreign combatants out of the country.{{Cite web|title=When Indian troops entered Congo 55 years ago|url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/9D5XT497AEYYluFn3moa2H/When-Indian-troops-entered-Congo-55-years-ago.html|last=Raghavan|first=Srinath|date=2016-09-18|website=Livemint|language=en|access-date=2020-05-06}} Nehru’s Indian forces under the command of Brigadier-General Raja attacked the Katangan capital of Elisabethville on 13 September 1961 in Operation Morthor. During this attack Indian soldiers assaulted the lightly defended post office and killed all of its Katangan occupants. According to Ian Goodhope Colvin who was an eyewitness, the attack was “needlessly brutal.”{{Cite book|last=Colvin|first=Ian|title=The Rise and Fall of Moise Tshombe|publisher=Leslie Frewin|year=1968|isbn=0-09-087650-4|location=London|pages=82}} In response to this, serious fighting soon broke out as Katanga’s self-declared President Moise Tshombe encouraged both Katangese civilians and foreign mercenaries to go on the offensive against UN forces. Prior to this on the 5 April 1961, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld criticised Belgian mercenaries for their service in Katanga and condemned Tshombe for turning the Katangese public against the United Nations. The counterattack to Operation Morthor included the siege of Jadotville led by Faulques, Michel de Clary, and Henri Lasimone.

The siege of Jadotville lasted five days. At the end of the battle, 155 Irish soldiers under Commandant Pat Quinlan surrendered to Faulques and his 3,000–5,000 strong Katangan force on 17 September having run out of ammunition. During the action the UN forces had inflicted heavy casualties on the Katangans and their mercenary allies (300 dead, 1,000 wounded), with only minimal casualties of their own (five wounded).{{Cite magazine |date=2016-07-27 |title=The True Story of the Heroic Battle That Inspired the New Netflix Film The Siege of Jadotville |url=https://time.com/4408017/the-siege-of-jadotville-the-true-story-netflix-film/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |magazine=Time |language=en}}

In all, the failure of Operation Morthor was used in arguments both against the deployment of UN peacekeepers, and for the strengthening of such forces.{{Cite book|last1=Boulden|first1=Canada Research Chair in International Relations and Security Studies Jane|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-_TiwKXJkcC&q=Operation+Morthor&pg=PA35|title=Peace Enforcement: The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia|last2=Boulden|first2=Jane|date=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-96906-6|language=en}}Bellamy, Alex J., Paul Williams, and Stuart Griffin. Understanding Peacekeeping. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2010. On September 18, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld's plane crashed over Zambia en route to negotiate a ceasefire between ONUC and the Katangese, prompting much speculation over the suspicious nature of his death, including the possibility that his plane was shot down by a fighter plane piloted by a Belgian mercenary working for self-declared President Tshombe.{{cite web|title=Republic of Congo - ONUC Background|url=https://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/onucB.htm|year=2001|website=United Nations|access-date=14 February 2015}}{{cite web|title=Dag Hammarskjöld: evidence suggests UN chief's plane was shot down|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/17/dag-hammarskjold-un-secretary-general-crash|last=Borger|first=Julian|date=17 August 2011|work=The Guardian|location=London|access-date=2 August 2014}} Hammarskjöld was succeeded by U Thant.

In December 1961, UN troops launched Operation Unokat in order to regain control of the situation, against which the defence strategy was designed by Faulques. Operation Unokat applied significant pressure on the rebel state, and eventually Tshombe relented and signed the Kitona Declaration.{{harvnb|Boulden|2001|p=38}} When in 1962 violence began to flare up again,{{harvnb|Mockaitis|1999|p=35}} Katangan gendarmes attacked peacekeeping forces in Katanga on 24 December in response to which, UN Secretary General Thant authorized the retaliatory offensive, Operation Grandslam.{{harvnb|Mockaitis|1999|p=36}}{{harvnb|Boulden|2001|p=39}} Swedish air support and heavy mortar fire engaged the mercenaries, after which Swedish peacekeepers entered the Katangese capital Elizabethville, followed by the Indian brigade of General Raja, defeating the Katangese forces and securing the capital by 28 December. After a year of guerrilla insurgency, Tshombe, realizing that his position was untenable, sued for peace on 15 January 1963. Two days later he signed an instrument of surrender and declared the Katangan secession to be over.{{cite book|title=Crisis in Congo: A United Nations Force in Action|date=1965|publisher=Brookings Institution|isbn=0-8157-5198-2|editor1-last=Lefever|editor1-first=Ernest W.|edition=1st|location=Washington DC}}

Faulques continued his mercenary career, alongside his friend Bob Denard, first being deployed in North Yemen{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2553726/Colonel-Jim-Johnson.html |title=Obituaries: Colonel Jim Johnson, 1924-2008, OBE |publisher=Daily Telegraph }} from August 1963 to the end of 1964, in support of MI6 (British intelligence), then in Biafra on behalf of the French government.{{cite news |url=http://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2011/11/06/la-mort-de-roger-faulques.html |date=7 November 2011 |title=La mort de Roger Faulques, l'aventure de l'Indochine au Biafra |publisher=Ouest-France }} According to David Smiley in Arabian Assignment (page 156), the French and Belgian mercenaries alternated in the early 1960s between the Yemeni and Congo theatres since in the Congo they had women and alcohol at will but were rarely paid, while in Yemen they were paid but were deprived of women and alcohol.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bV5ncXNke4C |title=MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service |first=Stephen |last=Dorril |date=1 January 2002 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9780743217781 |via=Google Books }}

Faulques served as a model for certain characters in the novels of Jean Lartéguy, Les Centurions, Les Prétoriens (The Praetorians) and Les Chimères Noires (The Hounds of Hell) and in Declan Power's 2005 book “The Siege of Jadotville”.

Faulques is portrayed by the French actor Guillaume Canet in the 2016 film The Siege of Jadotville.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3922798/ | title= The Siege of Jadotville (2016)| website= IMDb | access-date= 16 July 2019}}

In 2010, Faulques was honoured at the Foreign Legion's Camerone ceremony.

• Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur (Decree of 16 April 2004. Commandeur, 19 July 1960)
• Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 with 1 citation (bronze star)
• Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures (Croix de guerre for Theatres of External Operations) with 8 citations (5 bronze palm, two silver stars, bronze star) (Indochina)
• Croix de la Valeur militaire with 3 citations (2 vermeil stars and silver star) (Algeria)
• Croix du combattant
• Insigne des blessés militaires (Medal for wounded military) with 6 red stars
• Médaille coloniale with "EXTREME-ORIENT" campaign clasp (Indochina)
• Médaille commémorative (Commemorative Medal) 1939-1945
• Médaille commémorative de la guerre d'Indochine (Commemorative Medal of the Indochina War)
• Médaille commémorative des opérations de Suez (Commemorative Medal, Suez Operation)
• Médaille commémorative des opérations de sécurité et de maintien de l'ordre en AFN (Commemorative Medal for security operations in North Africa (Algeria)

• Officer of the Lao Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
• Officer of the Taï Order of Civil Merit{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
• Thai Military Merit decoration{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}
• Indochina Cross of Valour with 1 citation (bronze star){{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

{{Reflist}}

• The Mercenaries 1960-1980 Historia; Special Issue 406 bis (1980).
• {{cite book |last=Boulden |first=Jane |date=2001 |title=Peace Enforcement: The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Praeger |isbn=0275969061}}
• Pierre Lunel, Bob Denard, King of Fortune. First edition, 1991. Regarding Yemen, in this book the spotlight is given to the French while the essential role of the British, who were the organizers and contractors is obscured. So the colonel of SAS {{ill|John Murdoch Cooper|lt="Johnny" Cooper|fr|Johnny Cooper}} it appears as a simple "English radioman", and Colonel David Smiley is mentioned only once (page 244) (photographs).
• {{cite book| last = Mockaitis| first = Thomas R.| title = Peace Operations and Intrastate Conflict: The Sword Or the Olive Branch?| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group| edition = illustrated| date = 1999| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=THalVADg3EkC| isbn = 9780275961732}}
• {{cite book | title =Arabian Assignment | publisher= Editions Cooper | author1=David Smiley | author-link=David Smiley |author2= Peter Kemp |author2-link= Peter Kemp (writer) | year = 1975 }} Written by an officer who participated in the field, to British intervention on behalf of MI6, Oman (1958-1961) and Yemen (1963-1967). Notebook with photographs.
• Colonel David Smiley Irregular Regular, Michael Russell, Norwich, 1994 ({{ISBN | 0859552020}}).
• {{cite book |author=Stephen Dorril |title=MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service |publisher=The Free Press. |location=New York |date=2000 |isbn=0-7432-0379-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mi6insidecovertw00dorr }} All MI6 operations are detailed. Chapter 19 is devoted to Albania ("Project Valuable"), chapter 30 deals with Oman and Muscat, Chapter 31 with Yemen. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20081204192721/http://mathaba.net/data/sis/mi6-sd-index.htm#D Index online]}}

• [http://pagesperso-orange.fr/unpara/gazette/2005_11/gazette112005.htm Photographed in 2005 at the funeral of a legionnaire paratrooper]
• [http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/katanga-former-belgian-congo-mercenaries-katanga-septembre-news-photo/166559175?#katanga-former-belgian-congo-mercenaries-katanga-septembre-1961-lors-picture-id166559175 Mercenaries. Katanga, September 1961, Portrait of Colonel René FAULQUES, grenade in hand and cigarette in mouth. Getty Images. 1 September 1961]

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