Edmond Jouhaud


Edmond Jouhaud was one of four French generals who briefly staged a putsch in Algeria in April 1961.

Early life

Edmond Jouhaud was born on 2 April 1905 in French Algeria. He was a descendant of early Algerian pioneers of descents coming from Limoges, in France.

Military career

Edmond Jouhaud entered the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1924. With the rank of commanding officer, Jouhaud led the resistance against German occupation in the region of Bordeaux since 1943. He fled to Britain in March 1944 to join the Free French Forces. As Army General he had been the Inspector General of the Air Force in French North Africa. After the failure of the putsch, he became the deputy of Raoul Salan in the Organisation armée secrète. While Salan fled to Spain, Jouhaud remained out of loyalty to his birthplace.
Jouhaud was captured in March 1962 and rapidly sentenced to death by a military court. However, after his OAS superior Salan was given only a prison sentence in a civilian court, opinion turned against executing him. He called for the remaining activists of OAS to end their terrorist campaign, and after a harrowing five-month period of uncertainty his sentence was commuted by de Gaulle. He was released in 1967. He was rehabilitated by a law passed in 1982 under the presidency of François Mitterrand.
Jouhaud was one of the most decorated officers in the French military prior to participating in the putsch.

Death

Jouhaud died on 4 September 1995.