Jacques Massu, a retired general who led French forces to victory in the Battle of Algiers and expressed regret for his role in torturing opponents, has died at his home in France, aged 94.
During a military career that spanned most major French battles of the twentieth century, Massu rose to prominence in the Second World War. In 1940, he followed General Charles de Gaulle's call to resist the Vichy government in France.
Before rising to the rank of general in 1955, Massu fought in Chad, Tunisia, Vietnam, and in other operations in the former French colonies in Africa and Asia.
He took command of the 10th Parachute Division in 1956. Massu eventually led French troops to victory in the 1957 Battle of Algiers - a pivotal point in the war that ended with Algeria's independence.
The war is considered the most troubling period in France's recent history. It was recognised that torture was widespread throughout the engagement, though there has been no official admission.
In an interview in Le Monde two years ago Massu said he regretted the practices of torture and summary executions during the war, which were ''generalised'', then ''institutionalised''.
''Torture was not indispensable during times of war,'' Massu said in the interview. ''We could have done things differently.''
President Jacques Chirac said Massu's passing marked the ''disappearance of a very great soldier''. In a statement, Chirac praised Massu for having gone public with his confession.
''In the twilight of his life, as France engaged in a debate about its history, General Massu assumed his responsibilities with dignity, courage, and honesty,'' said Chirac.
Massu was awarded the Distinguised Service Order and the prestigious Grand-Cross
of the Legion of Honour, among numerous other decorations, during his 40-year
military career.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article