Roger Degueldre

Lieutenant Roger Hercule Gustave Degueldre (19 May 1925, Louvroil, Nord – 6 July 1962, Fort d'Ivry) was a leader of the OAS Delta Commandos in the last months of French rule in Algeria.

There is some dispute about his origins but Jonathan Meades claimed that there was much 'disinformation' by the authorities to discredit him. For example there were allegations that he was a Belgian collaborator with the SS during World War II.

He was born in France a few kilometres from the Belgian border, into a working-class family. His father was a railway worker. When the Germans invaded in 1940, the family fled to the south of France.

In 1942 Degueldre clandestinely entered the occupied zone to join the French Resistance under Roger Pannequin and engaged the 10th German Motorized Infantry Division at Colmar in January 1945. He then joined French Foreign Legion, under the name of Roger “Legueldre” with a claimed birth on 18 September 18, 1925 in Gruyeres in Switzerland. As a foreigner he would be eligible to join the Foreign Legion. His identity was formally corrected in 1955. He reached the rank of warrant officer in Indo-China and was received the Croix de Guerre des Théâtres d'Opérations Extérieures. After the battle of Điện Biên Phủ, he transferred to the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment and was assigned to the Algerian conflict. He was made an officer and a knight of Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour).

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