February 4:
1963 Plane Ready to Bomb Elysée
PARIS — The man who led the machine-gun attack on President Charles de
Gaulle last August said yesterday [Feb. 2] there were pilots ready to
bomb the Elysée Palace, his official residence, or his country home at
Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises had they really wanted to kill him. Former Lt.
Col. Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry, an American-trained guided-missile
technician, made the disclosure in the sixth day of the trial of 15 men
accused of trying to kill Gen. de Gaulle Aug. 22. Bastien-Thiry said the
anti-Gaullist National Resistance Council (CNR) which planned the
attempt had two choices: a summary execution, or putting Gen. de Gaulle
out of the way by an “arrest.”
1963 De Gaulle’s Son-in-Law Tells of Shots
PARIS — The special military court trying 15 men accused of attempting
to kill President Charles de Gaulle last August today [Feb. 13] heard
testimony from his son-in-law describing the Chief of State’s dash to
safety through a hail of machine-gun bullets. Col. Alain de Boissieu,
who occasionally acts as his father-in-law’s aide-de-camp, said: “I
heard gunfire and saw bullets ricocheting. ‘Step on it,’ I told the
chauffeur. I asked the general and Mrs. de Gaulle to duck. They didn’t
obey immediately. Then I saw that the window nearest Gen. de Gaulle was
broken.”
March 4:
1963 The Plot to Kill de Gaulle
PARIS — Three ringleaders in the machine-gun attack against President
Charles de Gaulle last summer were sentenced to death tonight [March 4]
by a special military court. The condemned men are Lt. Col. Jean-Marie
Bastien-Thiry, 35, Lt. Alain de Bougrenet de la Tocnave, 37, and Jacques
Prevost, 31. All 14 men on trial were found guilty of participating in
the attempt to assassinate Gen. de Gaulle Aug. 22. However, five
defendants were tried in absentia, and by law, their cases must be
reconsidered before a court if they are captured. Three of the men tried
in absentia were also condemned to death. The other sentences ranged
from three to 15 years in prison.
