Mar. 23, 1962 - President de Gaulle ordered today the “pitiless” repression of “the armed insurrection” in Algeria. He declared that “everything must be done immediately to smash and punish the criminal action” of the Right-wing European terrorists in Algiers and Oran. The President of France gave every indication that he was furious over the attack against the French Army by terrorists of the Secret Army Organization (OAS). This attack caused widespread shock to a large extent because many of its victims were young draftees doing their compulsory military service in Algeria. Algiers had assumed an atmosphere approaching civil war late last night when the OAS attacked military positions in scattered areas with mortars, machine guns, and other automatic weapons. Between that first onslaught and nightfall today the army lost at least 15 dead and more than 50 wounded. Eight Moslems were killed in Algiers and surrounding communities by the OAS. Pictured below is an anti-OAS demonstration in France earlier this month.
