Page "Organisation de l'armée secrète" Paragraph 5

The OAS was created in response to the January 1961 referendum on self-determination for Algeria.

It was founded in Spain, on January 1961, by former officers, Pierre Lagaillarde ( who led the 1960 Siege of Algiers ), General Raoul Salan ( who took part in the 1961 Algiers putsch or " Generals ' Uprising ") and Jean-Jacques Susini, along with other members of the French Army, including Yves Guérin-Sérac, and former members of the French Foreign Legion from the First Indochina War ( 1946 – 54 ).

OAS-Métro, the branch in metropolitan France, was led by captain Pierre Sergent.

These officers united earlier anti-FLN networks such as the Organisation de Résistance de L ' Algérie Française.