French extremist groups fired more than 150 rounds at de Gaulle's car, but de Gaulle safely escaped the assassination.
On April 21, 1961, on a street in Paris, France, a black Citroen presidential car was slowly driving. Inside the car sat French President Charles de Gaulle and his wife Yvonne, who had just attended a ceremony commemorating the martyrs of the Algerian War and were preparing to return to the Elysee Palace. On a clear spring day, the streets were lined with French flags and people waved to the president. However, under this calm appearance, a conspiracy is brewing.
At one corner of the street, a white Renault car was parked on the side of the road with four men in it, all members of the French underground organization OAS (Secret Military Organization). OAS was an extremist group of French soldiers and colonists who opposed de Gaulle's recognition of Algeria's independence, and made several unsuccessful attempts to assassinate de Gaulle. This time they hired a professional killer to carry out the mission, and this person was Captain Mari Bastian Tai.
The captain was a former officer of the French Foreign Legion who fought in the Algerian War and the Indochina War. Dismissed from the military because he was dissatisfied with de Gaulle's policies, he joined OAS. He is a ruthless, intelligent, cunning killer who excels at using a variety of weapons and explosives. He had planned an assassination of Charles de Gaulle with an M1 carbine, but was thwarted by French intelligence. This time, however, he decided to use the simplest and most effective way to accomplish the task - shooting Charles de Gaulle with a pistol. The captain had already chosen the location of the assassination and the escape route in advance, and prepared a modified pistol and two grenades.
On the day of the assassination, the captain wore a black trench coat and a black beret with sunglasses and a fake beard on his face, and looked like an ordinary pedestrian. He got out of his white car and walked across the street to a public phone booth, picked up the handset and pretended to be on the phone. In fact, he was waiting for the president's car to pass by. Soon after, the presidential car appeared in view and slowly drove along the street. Captain Tai put down the telephone receiver, took out his pistol and hid it under his trench coat, waiting for the best time to shoot. As the presidential car approached the corner, he suddenly rushed out of the phone booth, raised his pistol and pointed it at de Gaulle's head and pulled the trigger. After a gunshot, a bullet flew out and penetrated the rear window glass of the presidential car, but did not hit the target. De Gaulle and his wife panicked and hid under the seats in the car.
After emptying the bullets, the killer quickly looked for cover, changed the magazine, and prepared to fire again. At the same time, three other OAS members in the white car also took out their weapons and opened fire on the president's car and accompanying motorcycle police. The streets suddenly turned into a scene of chaos and panic, bullets flying everywhere and people screaming and fleeing. The presidential chauffeur immediately realized what was going on. He calmly accelerated away from the scene, using the President's excellent suspension system and pneumatic tires to cope with road bumps and curves. He managed to escape OAS and get de Gaulle and his wife safely to safety.
The killer and his accomplices saw that the matter was revealed, immediately threw away their weapons and grenades and fled separately. Captain Mari Bastian Tai ran to a nearby park, changed his clothes and wig and tried to blend into the crowd, but was eventually arrested and later sentenced to death. The attempted assassination is considered OAS' last challenge to President Charles de Gaulle and the most thrilling assassination in French history.
