The secret historical past of General de Gaulle’s bodyguards | EUROtoday

On Jun 7, 2025

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IThey had been 4, just like the Musketeers of Dumas Flanked by D’Artagnan. As blindly dedicated to the reason for their nice man as their counterparts of the nice century had been, however with trogons escaped from Tontons Flinguners and a banter worthy of the most effective Audiard.

General’s gorillas are a formidable fresco which traces the romanticized historical past of those that had been the distinctive bodyguards of General de Gaulle between 1958, date of his triumphant return to energy, and 1969, the place he retired after his defeat following an obscure referendum on the reform of the Senate and the areas.

Behind this venture, there’s Xavier Dorison, one of many brightest scriptwriters of his era. This specialist in style sketch (fantasy with The third will, western with Undertaker, political fable with The animal fortress …) can also be an important fanatic of historical past and his upheavals – he was even recruited, with different artists, by the Ministry of the Armed Forces inside the well-known Red Team, in an effort to think about varied “disruption” situations which might concern France sooner or later.

The humor of “cushy”

General’s gorillas might sound, at first look, very removed from this world of tomorrow and contribute to the declining worship of a France seeking its vanouie glory. If he has for these Sixties-that Julien Telo’s ultra-expressive drawing reconstitutes with an astonishing consistency-a sure nostalgia, “which is a formidable engine of writing”, Xavier Dorison, nonetheless, by no means falls into the lure of pastism.

“I discovered by chance the story of these men who devoted themselves body and soul to De Gaulle by watching a documentary by Tony Comiti,” he explains. He was the son of Paul Comiti, the chief of the Gorillas of De Gaulle, a Corsica exhausting to prepare dinner and who took the presidency of the Civic Action Service. I had a love at first sight for the unimaginable relationship that united these 4 bodyguards with very totally different profiles. But it was additionally for me a method to have a look at Gaullism and its values within the mirror of our time. »»

This first quantity first makes a dwelling and chiaroscuro portrait of those gorillas who discover themselves confronted, within the midst of the Algerian warfare, with the problem of making certain the safety of a common on the restrict of unconsciousness. Witness this thoughts -blowing, and genuine scene, the place De Gaulle, baptized “cushy” by his flocks, decides to go on foot and within the rain on the funeral of a devoted, whereas the FLN is looking out – whereas ready for the OAS.

“De Gaulle is a man who has known two wars, who saw death closely and for whom physical courage is not an empty word. He also had a foolproof humor. He declared that, if he did not die under the blows of a terrorist, he was sure to finish suffocated by his bodyguards! »»

The meaning of history

Physical courage, but above all political, while the whole of France is suspended from its famous speech on the self -determination of Algeria, September 16, 1959, which will surprise even in its own camp – a salutary recall, while relations between France and Algeria are today at the lowest.

“In these years which have modified France, de Gaulle shouldn’t be obsessive about peace, as he usually recollects, however by the reality, recollects Dorison. And the reality, within the circumstances, is that France was not Algeria. He understands that the apothecary and accountant coverage suggested him for his family members is totally overwhelmed. »»

Read too Antoine de Caunes tells the unimaginable story of his exiled father on a desert islandGeneral’s gorillas Muchly restore this ridge path on which the nice man, satisfied of the sense of historical past he borrows. “I do not help this time,” says Xavier Dorison. But what I found, within the gentle of this story is that by this man from the previous we are able to see one other future take form. But, for that, it is going to be vital to search out somebody able to telling a standard story to a complete individuals, as De Gaulle has performed. That of the “start-up nation” failed. So we’ve to search out one other one. »»

To uncover

The kangaroo of the day

Answer

“Les Gorillas du General”, quantity I: “September 59”,, by Xavier Dorison and Julien Telo (Casterman, 104 p., € 21.95).

https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/l-histoire-secrete-des-gardes-du-corps-du-general-de-gaulle-07-06-2025-2591482_3.php