DE GAULLE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

In August 1962, a group called the OAS (Secret Army Organization in English) plotted an assassination attempt on President Charles de Gaulle, who they believed had betrayed France by giving up Algeria to Algerian nationalists. Near dusk on August 22 1962, de Gaulle and his wife were riding from the Elysee Palace to Orly Airport. As his black Citroën DS sped along the Avenue de la Liberation in Paris at 70 miles per hour, 12 OAS gunmen opened fire on the car. A hail of 140 bullets, most of them coming from behind, killed two of the president’s motorcycle bodyguards, shattered the car’s rear window, and punctured all four of its tyres. Though the Citroën went into a front-wheel skid, de Gaulle’s chauffeur was able to accelerate out of the skid and drive to safety, all thanks to the car’s superior suspension system. De Gaulle and his wife kept their heads down and came out unharmed.

Frederick Forsyth dramatized the events of that August in his best-selling novel The Day of the Jackal, which was later made into a film. In 1969, de Gaulle, knowing that he owed his life to that Citroën, attempted to prevent the outright sale of France’s premier auto manufacturer, which was owned by the Michelin family of tyre fame, to the Italian automaker Fiat by limiting the stake Fiat could buy to 15 per cent. In 1975, to avert potential bankruptcy, the French government funded Citroën’s sale to a group that included its French rival, Peugeot; the result was PSA Peugeot Citroën SA, formed in 1976.