Organized by Raymond Lenziani at the request of the Communist Party, this clandestine departure is carried out by trawler from Sisco. Objective: to report to Jules Moch. The case is revealed during a symposium on May 58 in Corte
The May 13, 1958, the French Algerians rise up. May 15 from Colombey, De Gaulle Declares itself “Ready to assume power”. On May 20, demonstrators crisscross Ajaccio, horns blocked.
The prefect Marcel Savreux calls for the sending of CRS to avoid a confrontation, but on May 24, it is the paratroopers of Colonel Thomazo who reappear, seizing the Palais Lantivy and disembarking the prefect Marcel Savreux, sent to Vizzavona under house arrest.
The paratroopers heading towards Bastia, Sébastien de Casalta, first deputy mayor, immediately notified the Socialist Minister of the Interior Jules Moch, who had a plan to counter the coup by the putschists and restore the legitimate authorities: “It is a question of concentrating by air a certain number of police units in Marseilles, to transport them by truck to Toulon and to embark them there the same evening on the cruiser of Grasse and four destroyers, in order to arrive tomorrow ( the 26th) before dawn in the port of Bastia. ” (1)
In Bastia, where there are fears for supplies, events are rushing. On Sunday, May 25, the city council convened on the initiative of Sébastien de Casalta, votes a motion stating “Attachment to the institutions of the Republic”, and his confidence in the new Chairman of the Board Pierre Pflimlin to “Restore republican legality”.
At the same time, the paratroopers occupied the Place Saint-Nicolas, and surrounded the Town Hall where the elected officials barricaded themselves. The situation is greatly strained, but the worst will be avoided. Finally, after an interview with Colonel Thomazo, the town hall is evacuated smoothly.
“The municipal councilors will give way and go out in groups without being worried. As he passed, de Casalta snatched the flag of the town hall, and, surrounded by his friends, crossed the town hall square. The sympathizers join the procession, which, while singing the national anthem, goes towards the monument to the Dead. ” (2)
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Drunk, the paratroopers saw nothing but fire
The day after this event, an emergency meeting was held at the headquarters of the Communist Party in Bastia, where a clandestine mission was decided under the chairmanship of the first secretary Albert Stefanini: to exfiltrate in the greatest secrecy to Paris the first deputy Sébastien de Casalta and municipal councilor Pierre Giudicelli.
Objective: to report on the spot to Jules Moch the events which occurred in Corsica. However, the specific circumstances of this mission were only recently revealed by Hubert Lenziani, professor of history, who got them from his father Raymond Lenziani, the organizer of this clandestine mission.
The exfiltration must be done by boat, but the port of Bastia is watched by paratroopers, regular customers of the “Crèmerie du port”. However, the brewery is run precisely by Raymond Lenziani who recounts the stages of the operation: “The first – the most difficult – consisted for me in thwarting the surveillance of the parachutists in order to start the vehicle which would allow me to recover Sébastien and Pierre, at the appointed meeting place. The second was to lead us to Sisco where comrade Albertini Cherubin was waiting for us, who, coming from Meria was in contact with the so-called Loulou – communist activist – boss of a trawler sailing off Sisco, on which the two elected officials were to embark to the French continent. ” (3)
On the evening of May 27, the case became clear. The paratroopers attending the “Crémerie” were drunk on beer. Raymond Lenziani, taking advantage of their loss of vigilance, joins Sébastien de Casalta and Pierre Giudicelli, and leads them to Sisco.
“It was near midnight when we arrived. From the beach, waving the flag of the Golden Wheel (cycling club of which I was the founding president), lit by a lamp, I transmitted the signal that Loulou was to receive, from the trawler, to get as close as possible from the shore and allow Sébastien and Pierre, on Cherubin’s boat, to embark. Everything went as planned, I reached Bastia and my establishment without a hitch. ” (4)
On May 28, the two elected bastiais arrived in Nice and immediately headed for Paris to meet the Minister of the Interior Jules Moch. On May 31, they are back in Bastia, and in the meantime the political crisis has been resolved.
Council President Pierre Pflimlin has resigned with his government, and General De Gaulle is back in power.
Noting that all the protagonists of this affair are communist militants – except Sébastien de Casalta – Hubert Lenziani sheds light on the situation of May 1958 by comparing it to that of the war years 1942-43.
“Well-versed in this type of action, the various actors will act on the basis of experience already acquired, which, of course, will contribute to the speed of decision-making and the action induced over two days (26 and May 27), following a chronology and constrained schedules. ” (5)
To manage with few means to set up in such a short time a risky operation, and to carry it to an end despite the armed forces present in Bastia, depends on an operating mode reminiscent of that of the professionals of the secret war during the Italian occupation.
Long remained a blind spot in historical research, this exfiltration of May 1958 came to the public’s attention belatedly. “The organization of the clandestine departure of Sebastian de Casalta and Pierre Giudicelli has remained until today Terra incognita for historians”, says Hubert Lenziani. The colloquium on May 58 in Corsica organized in Corte on March 8, 2019 thus brings new words, that of witnesses whose memory never ceases to nourish History.
Sébastien de Casalta learned when he arrived in Nice on May 28 that he had been made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by Jules Moch. “This Legion of Honor I also owe it to Raymond Lenziani”, he confided.
On June 3, the National Assembly and the Council of the Republic vote the law to revise the constitution of the IVe Republic. Executive power is strengthened. The Ve Republic was born.
(1) Paul Silvani. The plots of Ajaccio. May 1958. Albiana. (2) Memorial of Corsica. (3, 4, 5) Hubert Lenziani. The clandestine departure of Sébastien de Casalta and Pierre Giudicelli. Corsican studies n ° 83. Albiana.
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