FRANCE THE LIFE OF ONE MAN THE SHAKING UP THAT THE ATLANTIC 
ALLIANCE GOT LAST MONTH WAS THE WORK OF A SINGLE MAN 
. AND FRANCE'S CLAIM TO DOMINATE WESTERN EUROPE AND TO BE 
RECKONED WITH AS THE LEADER OF A THIRD FORCE IS ALSO 
THE LENGTHENING EXTENSION OF THAT MAN . THOSE OF HIS ALLIES 
WHO HAVE TO DEAL WITH LE GRAND CHARLES SOMETIMES FIND THAT 
THEIR EXASPERATION EXCEED THEIR ADMIRATION . BUT ANY WAY ONE LOOKS 
AT IT, WHETHER AS AN ALLY OR AS A FRENCHMAN WORRYING 
ABOUT THE CHAOS THAT MIGHT FOLLOW HIS DEATH, THERE IS A 
LOT RIDING ON THE TOWERING MAN IN THE ELYSEE PALACE . 
HE IS 72, AND HE HAS ENEMIES DESPERATE ENOUGH TO WANT 
TO KILL HIM . LAST WEEK, AS FRENCHMEN CLOSELY FOLLOWED THE 
NEWS OF A TRIAL OF WOULD-BE ASSASSINS OF DE GAULLE, THE 
GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED A FRESH ATTEMPT ON DE GAULLE'S LIFE . ARMORED 
CAR . THE NIGHT BEFORE DE GAULLE WAS TO INSPECT THE 
ECOLE MILITAIRE ON THE LEFT BANK NEAR THE EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS 
GENDARMES SWARMED OVER THE GROUND, SEARCHING THE BUILDINGS FOR WEAPONS AND 
INTERROGATING OFFICER STUDENTS AND TEACHERS . DE GAULLE SHOWED UP NEXT 
DAY ON SCHEDULE, BUT (IN A CONCESSION TO DANGER RARE FOR 
HIM) COOPED UP INSIDE AN ARMORED CITROEN LIMOUSINE WITH BULLETPROOF WINDOWS 
. ACCORDING TO THE OFFICIAL STORY FROM SURETE HEADQUARTERS ON THE 
RUE DES SAUSSAIES, POLICE HAD DISCOVERED A PLOT ON A CIVILIAN'S 
TIP, IN THE NICK OF TIME . AFTER INTERROGATING THE FIVE 
SUSPECTS, THE POLICE INDICATED THAT THE TRIGGERMAN WAS NAVY CAPTAIN ROBERT 
POINARD, 37, WHO WAS HELD FOR QUESTIONING ALONG WITH HIS BLONDE 
YOUNG WIFE . ACCORDING TO THE POLICE SUPPOSITION, CAPTAIN POINARD WAS 
TO USE A CARBINE WITH A TELESCOPIC SIGHT TO KILL DE 
GAULLE WHILE HE WAS INSPECTING THE HONOR GUARD IN THE COBBLED 
ECOLE MILITAIRE COURTYARD . TWO OTHER OFFICERS WERE ALSO IN CUSTODY, 
BUT THE ODDEST OF THE SUSPECTS WAS THE ALLEGED RINGLEADER, MME 
. PAULE ROUSSELOT DE LIFFIAC, 55, A PIPE-SMOKING, LOW-SALARIED ENGLISH TRANSLATOR 
AT THE SCHOOL, THE MOTHER OF SIX CHILDREN, WHO WAS PICKED 
UP AT HER 15-ROOM, 18TH CENTURY CHATEAU IN A TOWN SOUTH 
OF LYON . THE ECOLE MILITAIRE, WHERE NAPOLEON LEARNED TO SOLDIER, 
IS THE TOP ACADEMY FOR THE FRENCH MILITARY, AND A HOTBED 
OF ANTIGAULLISM AMONG THE VETERANS OF ALGERIA WHO THINK HE LET 
THEM DOWN . SHREWD DELAY . ALGERIA WAS A WORD MUCH 
SPOKEN ALSO IN A COURTROOM IN SUBURBAN VINCENNES, WHERE NINE WOULD-BE 
ASSASSINS WERE ON TRIAL FOR HAVING TRIED TO KILL DE GAULLE 
LAST AUGUST IN AN AMBUSCADE AT PETIT-CLAMART, A PARIS SUBURB . 
AS HAS SO OFTEN HAPPENED IN FRANCE SINCE THE DREYFUS CASE 
OF THE 1890S, THE TRIAL WAS NOT CONFINED TO PERTINENT EVIDENCE 
BUT BLOSSOMED INTO A NATIONAL POLITICAL AFFAIR . VERY FEW FRENCHMEN 
HAD MUCH SYMPATHY FOR THE DEFENDANTS, BUT MANY HAD GRAVE DOUBTS 
ABOUT HOW THEY WERE BEING TRIED . DE GAULLE'S CHOSEN INSTRUMENT 
FOR THE TRIAL WAS THE SPECIAL COURT OF MILITARY JUSTICE, FROM 
WHOSE VERDICT THERE IS NO APPEAL, WHICH WAS SET UP LAST 
YEAR AND WAS TO END ITS EXISTENCE ON FEB . 25 
. THE DEFENDANTS' ATTORNEYS SHREWDLY TRIED TO DELAY PROCEEDINGS UNTIL THAT 
DATE SO THAT THE CASE WOULD HAVE TO START ALL OVER 
AGAIN IN A REGULAR COURT, FROM WHICH APPEALS COULD BE TAKEN 
. BUT DE GAULLE MOVED TO FIT THE LAW TO HIS 
NEEDS.HIS CABINET SWIFTLY APPROVED A BILL EXTENDING THE LIFE OF THE 
SPECIAL COURT OF MILITARY JUSTICE, AND THE BILL WAS PASSED BY 
DE GAULLE'S ASSEMBLY 271-170 (THE SENATE LAST WEEK STUBBORNLY VOTED THE 
BILL DOWN BUT, LIKE BRITAIN'S HOUSE OF LORDS, IS POWERLESS TO 
OVERTURN DECISIONS OF THE LOWER HOUSE . THE DEFENDANTS AT VINCENNES 
WERE AN ODD, AND ODDLY FRIGHTENING, LOT . MOST OF THEM 
WERE SLACK-JAWED YOUTHS WHO SEEMED EQUALLY LACKING IN CONFIDENCE AND INTELLIGENCE 
. ONE WAS AN ARMY LIEUTENANT WITH THE OLD, ARISTOCRATIC BRETON 
NAME OF BOUGRENET DE LA TOCNAYE, AND A HEAD REELING WITH 
HEROIC MEMORIES OF HIS FAMILY'S FEATS OF ARMS DATING BACK TO 
THE CRUSADES . THE LEADER, LIEUT . COLONEL JEAN-MARIE BASTIEN-THIRY, 35, 
WHO HAD GRADUATED FROM THE FAMED POLYTECHNIQUE AND SERVED AS A 
BRILLIANT AIR FORCE ENGINEER, REVEALED HIMSELF AS A MAN WHO PUT 
GREAT INDUSTRY, INTELLIGENCE AND LOGIC TO WORK WITHIN A FRAMEWORK OF 
MAD ZEAL . ALL NONSENSE . THOUGH REFUSING TO RECOGNIZE THE 
JURISDICTION OF THE COURT, BASTIEN-THIRY AGREED TO ANSWER QUESTIONS, " BECAUSE 
IT IS NECESSARY FOR THE FRENCH PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY WE 
HAVE ACTED AND HOW WE HAVE ACTED . " HIS STORY 
WAS FANTASTIC, INCREDIBLE, AND THOROUGHLY FRENCH . TO BEGIN WITH, EXPLAINED 
BASTIEN-THIRY, THE AMBUSH HAD NOT BEEN INTENDED TO KILL DE GAULLE, 
ONLY TO CAPTURE HIM . TO THIS END, THE ASSASSINS WHO 
WERE ALL " CRACK SHOTS / HAD FIRED AT THE TIRES 
OF DE GAULLE'S CAR . AS A WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, 
DE GAULLE'S SON-IN-LAW, COLONEL ALAIN DE BOISSIEU, WHO WAS RIDING BESIDE 
THE CHAUFFEUR, TESTIFIED THAT HE SAW A MAN POURING A STREAM 
OF BULLETS AT THE CAR, AND RECALLED, " HE DID NOT 
SEEM TO BE AIMING HIS SUBMACHINE GUN AT THE TIRES, BUT 
QUITE OBVIOUSLY AT THE PASSENGERS . " TO THE CHAUFFEUR, BOISSIEU 
SNAPPED, " DOWN THE MIDDLE . STRAIGHT AHEAD ! " THEN 
HE TURNED AROUND, BEGGED DE GAULLE, WHO WAS STILL SITTING UPRIGHT, 
TO BEND DOWN . DE GAULLE OBLIGED BY LEANING FORWARD SLIGHTLY 
. DEFENDANT BASTIEN-THIRY AIRILY DISMISSED AS " TECHNICAL INCIDENTS " THE 
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE THAT THE CAR WINDOWS WERE SHATTERED BY BULLETS, A 
MOTORCYCLE COP'S HELMET DRILLED THROUGH, AND DE GAULLE'S HEAD MISSED ONLY 
BY INCHES . IF THEY HAD CAPTURED DE GAULLE, THE CONSPIRATORS 
INTENDED TO HIDE HIM AWAY IN A VILLA " BETWEEN PARIS 
AND VERSAILLES, " AND PLANNED TO PREVENT HIS ESCAPING BY REMOVING 
HIS SPECTACLES AND SUSPENDERS . AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS, DE GAULLE WOULD 
BE TRIED BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE RESISTANCE (THE SUCCESSOR 
TO THE ALGERIAN SECRET ARMY ORGANIZATION), AND PRESUMABLY EXECUTED . WITH 
DE GAULLE DISPOSED OF, THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE RESISTANCE PLANNED 
TO APPOINT A NEW HEAD OF STATE : NONE OTHER THAN 
DE GAULLE'S PRESENT FINANCE MINISTER VALERY GISCARD D'ESTAING . GISCARD D'ESTAING 
SAID IT WAS ALL NONSENSE, THAT HE HAD NEVER EVEN MET 
BASTIEN-THIRY AND HAD NO LINKS WITH EITHER THE SECRET ARMY OR 
THE COUNCIL OF THE RESISTANCE . THE WILD RHETORIC OF THE 
DEFENDANTS COULD NOT CONCEAL THE IMPLACABLE DETERMINATION TO KILL . LA 
GLOIRE SUMMONS FRENCHMEN IN MANY DIRECTIONS . FIVE OF THE GUNMEN 
WHO TOOK PART IN THE PETIT-CLAMART AMBUSH ARE STILL AT LARGE, 
INCLUDING THE MOST DANGEROUS OF ALL, GEORGES WATIN, 39, NICKNAMED BOITEUX 
(THE LIMPER), WHO THE POLICE SAY WAS ALSO THE BRAINS BEHIND 
THE ECOLE MILITAIRE PLOT . A FRENCH CABINET MINISTER, EMERGING FROM 
A MEETING AT THE ELYSEE PALACE LAST WEEK, SAID WORRIEDLY TO 
A FRIEND : " NEVER HAD DE GAULLE'S LIFE BEEN IN 
SUCH DANGER . / 