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Raoul Salan, Commander of Secret Army Organization, Arrested in Algiers

Apr. 20, 1962 - Former General Raoul Salan (pictured), his wife and daughter, and an aide were arrested in Algiers today. Salan was flown to imprisonment in Paris for trial and a probable death sentence. Salan, the commander of the Secret Army Organization (OAS), which is seeking to block Algerian independence by force, was surprised by plainclothes men in a three-room apartment in the center of the city. Salan’s arrest is the biggest psychological blow suffered by the European extremists in Algeria since the conclusion of the cease-fire by France and the Algerian nationalists a month ago. However, observers say, other leaders will carry on as before. Mr. Salan, the most decorated soldier in the French army, is a veteran of World War I and was commander of French forces in Vietnam from 1945-1955. He then served as commander-in-chief of French forces in French Algeria from 1956-1958. Mr. Salan returned to Algeria to organize a failed putsch last April, and then became chief of the OAS.

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