Presidential Security Corps

The Presidential Security Corps is the close-protection force responsible for guarding Charles de Gaulle, and its role becomes especially visible when the authorities learn that The Jackal may be in France. The Corps is ordered to tighten the ring around the President while he continues his public programme. At the Liberation Day ceremonies, the protection around him becomes a physical formation of bodyguards, armed personnel, and human shields. The resulting security is formidable but not absolute: The Jackal reaches a position from which he can aim at de Gaulle, and the attempt fails only when the President moves unexpectedly.

Command and Responsibilities

The Presidential Security Corps is part of a broader response directed by the French authorities after the assassination threat emerges. The Minister responsible for coordinating the response says that the President’s movements must be listed, even if de Gaulle is not told about the additional precautions being taken in his interest. The Minister also states that he can rely on the Corps to tighten the protective ring around the President as never before. This places the Corps within a deliberately coordinated plan: protect the Head of State while concealing both the danger and the extent of the preparations from him.

Jean Ducret, head of de Gaulle’s personal bodyguard, is the senior figure identified in the preparations. When the Minister calls on him to act, Ducret inclines his head. His responsibility is not limited to maintaining a close escort. He also drafts unusually tall officers and officials to surround de Gaulle, using their height to form an additional screen without making the protection appear to the President as an overt change in protocol. The operation therefore relies not only on armed guards but on controlling the space immediately around the President and the appearance of that control.

A Protective System Built Around Public Appearances

The threat is difficult to address because de Gaulle refuses to change his published itinerary. On August 25, 1963, he is scheduled to rekindle the Eternal Flame at the Arc de Triomphe, attend High Mass at Notre-Dame de Paris, visit the memorial at Mont-Valérien, and later present medals to ten Resistance veterans. The afternoon presentation is to take place in the square before Gare Montparnasse, a location de Gaulle chose himself. The authorities must therefore protect him at a succession of public sites rather than withdraw him from public view.

Measures around the ceremonies extend well beyond the President’s immediate escort. Crowds are held farther away than usual by steel barriers, and the enclosed areas are searched, including the sewers. Houses and flats are searched, while armed watchers take positions on nearby rooftops to observe other roofs and windows. At Notre-Dame de Paris, police are placed even on the cornices, roof, and among the spires. Priests, acolytes, and choirboys are searched for weapons, and police and CRS personnel receive special lapel badges to make impersonation of security staff harder. These measures form the wider setting in which the Corps has to carry out its close-protection task.

The President’s car is also secretly fitted with bullet-proof windows. Its driver, Marroux, is instructed to move faster than usual, reducing the opportunity for a snap shot at the vehicle. The authorities keep the modification secret even from de Gaulle because they expect him to be angry if he learns how extensively his movements have been altered for his protection. The Corps’s work thus belongs to a plan shaped by two pressures at once: reduce the chance of attack, and avoid provoking a change in the President’s conduct that would expose the precautions.

The Bodyguard Detail

At the ceremonies, de Gaulle is surrounded by all four of his bodyguards: Roger Tessier, Paul Comiti, Raymond Sasia, and Henri d’Jouder. Their imposing appearance has earned them the press nickname of gorillas, but the narrative explains that their manner of walking has a practical basis. Their muscular builds hold their arms away from their bodies, and each carries a preferred automatic beneath his left armpit. They walk with their hands partly open so they can draw their weapons quickly. The visual impression of bulk is therefore also a readiness posture, making the protective detail conspicuous in form but prepared for rapid action.

The bodyguards operate alongside a screen of tall officers and civil servants who surround de Gaulle, and the account presents the combined formation as a human shield. Their short-range protection is nested within the larger deployment: rifles and binoculars cover the rooftops at the Arc de Triomphe; armed observers watch inside Notre-Dame de Paris; and plainclothes police mingle with worshippers. At the medal ceremony, officials, diplomats, the Garde Republicaine, bandsmen, and veterans occupy distinct parts of the forecourt. The President approaches the veterans with the Minister of Ancient Combatants and an official carrying the medals, while the protective arrangements shape who can approach and how the ceremonial space is divided.

The Attempt and the Limits of Protection

The security operation succeeds in keeping the ceremonies on schedule and surrounding de Gaulle with multiple layers of protection, but it does not locate The Jackal before he acts. From six floors above the forecourt at Gare Montparnasse, the assassin aims at the President from approximately 130 metres away. De Gaulle pauses before a veteran as the Minister explains the man’s citation, accepts a medal, pins it to his chest, and steps back to salute. The Jackal’s sight is aligned with the exposed temple as he squeezes the trigger.

The shot fails because de Gaulle bends forward to kiss the veteran on both cheeks, following the customary gesture of congratulation. The movement occurs before the bullet leaves the rifle. The scene gives the Corps no credit for detecting or stopping the shooter; instead, it contrasts the impressive visible protection with the unanticipated movement that determines the outcome. The Corps’s significance lies in its central place within an extensive effort to secure a leader who refuses to abandon public appearances, while the failed attempt shows that even a heavily guarded ceremonial space cannot make the President’s exposure disappear.