[rollei_list] Re: VERY OT: Citroen French Official cars
- From: Thor Legvold <tlegvold@xxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:24:43 +0100
Fascinating Emmanuel,
was that part of the CIA backed plan to get de Gaulle out of the way
in the mid 60's?
Thor
On 29. okt.. 2009, at 19.00, Emmanuel Bigler wrote:
There is a true dramatic story, now part of de Gaulle's legend,
about de Gaulle and the Citroën DS. In a sense, the self-levelling
hydraulic suspension saved the life of Mr. and Mrs. de Gaulle, their
son and their official driver.
One day, Le Général and Madame were leaving Paris for a private week-
end at Colombey-les-deux-églises, when they miraculously escaped
from a machine-gun attempt near Paris, the famous Petit-Clamart
affair.
On paper, Le Général had no chance to escape, but the machine-gun
actually started to shoot a few seconds too late. The driver could
see the bullets bouncing and sparkling on the road just ahead of the
DS ; instead of braking, he pushed the accelerator down to the
maximum, by a miracle, nobody inside the car (le Général & Madame,
their son and the driver) was hurt ; a true miracle since the car
was hit by numerous impacts. The car was a regular DS, not at all a
reinforced, bullet-proof car.
The DS was able to ride on 3 wheels only, at a speed of 110 km/H
(about 65 mph) one of the rear tires was flat after being hit by
several bullets.
So you may understand why, speaking of a black Citroën DS with a
Frenchman, he will say "Ah ! La DS du Père de Gaulle !"
A funny and authentic anecdot : in the trunk, there were some
chicken for the family's dinner during the week-end. Probably live
poultry. When eventually the 3-wheeler-DS stopped in a safe place,
the escort of policemen on motorcycles stopped nearby and checked
that the passengers of the DS were safe.
Madame de Gaulle did not realize the miracle. She asked :
« J'espère que les poulets n'ont rien ! »(I hope that the chicken
are safe)
« Ahem... Non madame, personne n'est blessé » (No madam, nobody was
hurt) answered the Chief policeman (in French slang "poulets"
means : the cops)
---------
Emmanuel from France
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