Roger Faulques, born December 14, 1924 and died November 6, 2011 (aged 86) in Nice, is a French soldier, Battalion Commander from the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, paratrooper officer of the Foreign Legion. /P>
Roger Faulques was a maquisard in 1944 and took part in the last battles of the Second World War in the 1st Army, then a corporal he was cited and received the Croix de guerre at the age of 20. Noted for his ardor in combat and his sense of command, he was appointed to the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, which greatly facilitated his recruitment conditions to compensate for the lack of officers in the French army at the end of the Second World War. World War. In 1946 he was promoted to Second Lieutenant and was assigned at his request to the Foreign Legion in the 3rd REI (3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment).
Lieutenant, he served in Indochina with the 1st BEP (Foreign Parachute Battalion) and participated in all the combats of this unit until his first annihilation in October 1950. On February 26, 1948, commanding a group of legionnaires, he fell into an ambush on Colonial Road No. 3. Having lost half of his legionnaires, he was in hand-to-hand combat when he saw his two feet ripped open by a machine gun bullet. His legionnaires then recover him in extremis and move him away from the front of the line of fire. Repatriated to France for serious war injuries, he was then at the age of 23, Knight of the Legion of Honor, and holder of five citations.
Recovered, he took part in the fighting on the RC4 (Route Coloniale no 4), it was then that he was entrusted with the command of the Platoon of graduating students of the 1st BEP which will see nearly 80% of its workforce disappear during the operation. evacuation of Cao Bang in September and October 1950. Seriously wounded four times during this battle (right shoulder shattered by a bullet, chest ripped open by a burst of fire, left elbow and right femur shattered by bullets), he lies on the land and is left for dead for 3 days. Having survived, he was taken prisoner by the Vietminh troops who, judging him condemned, decided to return him, along with other seriously injured people, to the French authorities. A colonel of the Vietminh army then congratulates him for his courage. Mentioned at the order of the army, he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor for exceptional services in war and was again repatriated to France. His injuries required him to stay for several years at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital to recover.
Ending the Indochina War with 6 wounds and 8 citations, Roger Faulques then served in Algeria with the 1st REP, in particular as an intelligence officer of this regiment, during the Battle of Algiers. He assumes the torture practiced in Algeria, and boasts of having questioned Henri Alleg, later author of The Question. Faulques obtained exceptional war results, personally craftsman of the dismantling of several FLN networks. Laid off to support the Katangese rebellion in the former Belgian Congo, he did not participate in the April 1961 putsch, as many claim.
Having left the army, he began a career as a mercenary, alongside his friend Bob Denard, in Yemen from August 1963 to the end of 1964, on behalf of MI6 (British secret services), then in Biafra on behalf of the French government. According to David Smiley in Arabian Assignment (page 156), French and Belgian mercenaries alternated in the early 1960s between Yemeni and Congolese theaters because in the Congo they had women and alcohol at will but were rarely paid, while in Yemen they were paid but deprived of women and alcohol.
Faulques served as a model for certain characters in Jean Lartéguy's novels Les Centurions, Les Praetoriens and Les Chimères Noires, The Siege of Jadotville.
Decorations
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor (Decree of April 16, 2004. Commander of July 19, 1960)
Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with 1 citation (a bronze star)
TOE War Cross with 8 citations (5 bronze palms-2 silver stars-one bronze star) (Indochina)
Military Valor Cross with 3 citations ( 2 vermeil stars and a silver star) (Algeria)
Combatant's Cross
Medal for military wounded with 6 wounds (6 red stars)
Colonial Medal with clasp "FAR EAST" (Indochina)
Commemorative Medal 1939-1945
Commemorative Medal of the Indochina War
Commemorative medal for Suez operations
Commemorative medal for security and law enforcement operations in AFN (Algeria)
Foreign decorations
Officer of the Order of the Million Elephant
Thai Civil Merit Officer
Thai Military Merit
Cross of Valor with 1 citation (a bronze star) (Indochina)
Nickname "The man of a thousand lives"
Birth December 14, 1924
Death November 6, 2011 (aged 86)
Nice
Allegiance France French Army
Weapon Foreign Legion
Rank Battalion Commander (Commander)
Years of Service 1944 – 1964
Conflicts Second World War
Indochina War
Algerian War
Achievements Battle of the RC4
Awards Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor