The OAS Search for an Outsider

This flow traces how Marc Rodin turns the OAS’s repeated failures into a secret plan to hire an anonymous foreign assassin.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Failed Ambush

The Failed Ambush A plan undone At Petit-Clamart, OAS gunmen opened fire on Charles de Gaulle’s car, but darkness, timing errors, and the driver’s skill kept the President alive. The failure exposed how a large conspiracy could still collapse through small mistakes. A warning to the OAS The survivors faced a relentless investigation. For Marc Rodin, the episode showed that familiar methods and known operatives were no longer enough to reach the President.

Bastien-Thiry’s Execution

Bastien-Thiry’s Execution The cost of failure Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry was executed by firing squad after leading the earlier attempt. His death made the struggle with the Gaullist state more personal for the OAS and its supporters. A new beginning The novel frames the execution as an ending that instead renews the threat. In an Austrian hotel, Marc Rodin hears the news and begins searching for a different way to kill Charles de Gaulle.

The Outsider Proposal

The Outsider Proposal A problem of access Rodin concludes that the OAS is penetrated, watched, and short of reliable helpers. Any familiar operative would be known to French police or exposed by an informant before reaching the target. An anonymous solution He proposes a foreign professional who has no French file and will work alone. The plan replaces a broad conspiracy with a single hidden operator, reducing the number of people who can betray it.

The Price of a Contract

The Price of a Contract Professional terms At the Pension Kleist, The Jackal agrees that killing Charles de Gaulle is possible but exceptionally difficult. He demands half a million dollars, with half paid in advance, and refuses the protection and operational support offered by André Casson. Independence as leverage The agreement gives The Jackal control of planning and timing. The OAS can buy the attempt, but cannot supervise the assassin or learn the details that might compromise him.

A Secret Fundraising Campaign

A Secret Fundraising Campaign Violence for cash The OAS organizes robberies of banks, post offices, and jewellers across France. The small-time participants generally understand the jobs as criminal opportunities, not as financing for a presidential assassination. A hidden purpose exposed The proceeds accumulate toward The Jackal’s advance. Investigators notice the unexplained money, but do not at first know why the OAS needs it so urgently.

August 22, 1962

March 11, 1963

March 11, 1963

June 15, 1963

June and July 1963