Roger Trinquier Roger Trinquier ( 20 March 1908 – 11 January 1986 ) was a French Army officer during World War II , the First Indochina War and the Algerian War , serving mainly in airborne and special forces units . He was also a counter - insurgency theorist , mainly with his book " Modern Warfare " . Early life . Roger Trinquier was born on 20 March 1908 in La Beaume , a small village in the Hautes - Alpes department , to a peasant family . He studied at a one - room village school in his home village until 1920 , when he entered the Ecole Normale of Aix - en - Provence . He graduated in 1928 at twenty and was called up for 2 years ' compulsory military service , being sent to the French Army ’ s reserve officers ’ school , where unlike most of his classmates he became interested in the military . When Trinquiers two years of compulsory military service came to an end , he decided to remain in the army and was transferred to the active officers ’ school of Saint - Maixent , from which he graduated in 1933 as a second lieutenant . He now joined the colonial infantry . After some time with the 4th Senegalese Tirailleur Regiment at Toulon , he embarked on a ship bound for Indochina on 11 May 1934 . He was first stationed at Kylua , near Lang Son , in Tonkin ( Northern Vietnam ) . He then took command of a French outpost at Chi Ma on the Chinese border . Trinquier returned to France in 1936 and was assigned to the 41st Colonial Infantry Machine - gun Regiment ( 41e Régiment de Mitrailleurs d ’ Infanterie Coloniale , 41e RMIC ) at Sarralbe , where he commanded a company until he was sent to China in early August 1938 . He served in the French concessions in China , first in Tianjin , then Beijing and finally Shanghai in January 1940 , while stationed there he also learned Chinese . Promoted to captain he commanded a company of the French military detachment there until 3 January 1946 under circumstance that had until 1945 become increasingly difficult with the gradual establishment of Japanese administration and troops in China . Indochina . He arrived at Saigon in early 1946 and was assigned to Commando Ponchardier , a combined army and navy commando unit named after its commander Captain Pierre Ponchardier . Trinquier became commander of B4 , one of the sub - units of the commando , recruited from the colonial infantry . He returned to France in the summer of 1946 , charged with the responsibility of recruiting and training volunteers for a colonial parachute battalion that was being formed for combat in Indochina against the Viet Minh . Trinquier returned to Indochina with the 2nd Colonial Commando Parachute Battalion ( 2e BCCP ) , during November 1947 . The battalion was assigned to Lai Thieu , a refuge for the 301st Viet Minh Regiment , located around 20 km from Saigon . He took part , as second - in - command , in operations in Cambodia and on the Plain of Reeds in southern Vietnam . He took command of the battalion when its commander , Major Dupuis , was killed in action on 9 September 1948 , and was promoted to Major on 1 October . Leading the battalion in combat in central Annam and the area around Saigon , he became aware of the inefficiency of the operations launched by the French high command and proposed to General Boyer de la Tour , the commander of the French forces in southern Vietnam , a new approach to pacifying areas with strong Viet Minh presence . Trinquiers troops occupied the terrain and laid ambushes against the Viet Minh at night instead of the normal policy of taking a few positions , where refuge could be taken at night and then reopening the roads in the morning . Trinquier ' s tactics proved effective , reassured people and pacified the Laï Thieu area . On 12 December 1949 , after thirty airborne operations and numerous ground operations , Trinquier and the battalion embarked on Pasteur , a French transport ship , and returned to France . In late December 1951 , Trinquier was again in Indochina for his third tour – this time in the newly formed Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aéroportés ( GCMA ) ( Eng : Composite Airborne Commando Group ) commanded by Edmond Grall . Trinquier took over the command of the GCMA in early 1953 and directed the fighting behind Viet Minh lines , creating a maquis in the Tonkinese upper region and in Laos , totaling around 30 , 000 men . Trinquiers maquis contributed to the successful evacuation of the fortified airhead at Na San , in August 1953 , and the reoccupation of the Phong Saly and Sam Neua provinces . After the French withdrawal following the defeat of Dien Bien Phu , Trinquier ' s maquis was left behind and hunted down by Ho Chi Minh ' s forces . Algeria . Trinquier returned to France in January 1955 , being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assigned to the staff of General Gilles , commander of the airborne troops . He was posted to Algeria in August 1956 at the airborne base of French North Africa as the war against the FLN was becoming more intense . He then served as second - in - command to General Massu , commander of the 10th Parachute Division , during the Battle of Algiers , where he was one of the leading figures behind the creation of the DPU ( " Dispositif de Protection Urbain " ) . After a brief stay in France as a director to the airborne school , Trinquier returned to Algeria in March 1958 to take over command of the 3rd Colonial Parachute Regiment , soon to be the 3rd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment , when its commanding officer , Marcel Bigeard , was recalled to France . He became a member of the committee for public safety formed by Generals Massu and Salan during the May 1958 crisis , which brought Charles de Gaulle back to power ; Trinquier resigned from the committee on 11 June and returned to his regiment . He led it during the fighting in southern Algeria and in the Kabylie , where he captured Si Azzedine , a senior FLN leader . During the first half of 1959 , Trinquier led the regiment during the Challe Offensive , proposed by the French commander in Algeria , Maurice Challe , to cripple the FLN . In March 1959 , he handed over the command of the regiment to Louis Bonnigal and in July , took command of the El Milia sector in Constantine department . He was recalled to France in July 1960 and in December assigned to Nice and the staff of the general commanding that group of sub - divisions . Later life . On 26 January 1961 , Trinquier asked for early retirement from the army into the reserve ( 2nd Section ) . He was then hired by Moise Tshombe , the leader of the State of Katanga rebellion in Congo , to train his forces . Trinquier only stayed a few weeks in Congo before being thrown out by the United Nations . Returning from Congo , when staying in Athens , he learned of the failed Algiers putsch against de Gaulle , after which he asked to be retired from the reserve as well . In retirement he devoted himself to viniculture and writing about his career and experiences . With Colonel Buchoud , he was one of the founders of the National Union of Paratroopers ( Union Nationale des Parachutistes , UNP ) , for veterans of the French airborne force . Trinquier was also its first president from 1963 to 1965 , before stepping down for General Jean Gracieux . Modern Warfare . Trinquier is a theorist on the style of warfare he called " Modern Warfare " , an " interlocking system of actions – political , economic , psychological , military – which aims at the overthrow of the established authority in a country and its replacement by another regime . " ( " Modern Warfare " , Ch . 2 ) . He was critical of the traditional army ' s inability to adapt to this new kind of warfare . These tactics included the use of small and mobile commando teams , torture , the setting - up of self - defense forces recruited in the local population , and their forced relocation in camps , as well as psychological and educational operations . Perhaps his most original contribution was his study and application of terrorism and torture as it related to this " Modern Warfare " . He argued that it was immoral to treat terrorists as criminals , and to hold them criminally liable for their acts . In his view terrorists should be treated as soldiers , albeit with the qualification that while they may attack civilian targets and wear no uniform , they also must be tortured for the very specific purpose of betraying their organization . Trinquier ' s criteria for torture was that the terrorist was to be asked only questions that related to the organization of his movement , that the interrogators must know what to ask , and that once the information is obtained the torture must stop and the terrorist is then treated as any other prisoner of war . ( See Chapter 4 of " Modern Warfare " ) . The French army applied Trinquier ' s tactics during the Algerian War . In the short run these tactics resulted in a decisive victory in the Battle of Algiers . These tactics were exposed by the press , with little or no effect at the time , as they were generally regarded as a necessary evil . In the longer term the debate on the tactics used , particularly torture , would re - emerge in the French press for decades to come ( with the trial of Paul Aussaresses ) Popular culture . The character of Julien Boisfeuras in the novels " The Centurions " and " The Praetorians " by Jean Larteguy was according to Larteguy not based on anyone , but believed by many to be at least partially inspired by Trinquier and Paul Aussaresses . The character of Colonel Jean - Marie la Roncière in another of Larteguy ’ s novels , " The Hounds of Hell " ( " Les chimères noires " ) , was certainly based on Trinquier and his activities during the Katanga rebellion . Bibliography . Writings by Trinquier : Further reading . General Paul Aussaresses , " The Battle of the Casbah : Terrorism and Counter - Terrorism in Algeria , 1955 – 1957 " . ( New York : Enigma Books , 2010 ) ISBN 978 - 1 - 929631 - 30 - 8 . Centro Studi Strategici Carlo De Cristoforis ( CESTUDEC ) , " Roger Trinquier , La guerra moderna in una prospettiva francese " , a cura di Gagliano Giuseppe . ( Italy , 2011 ) http : / / centrostudistrategicicarlodecristoforis . com / 2011 / 12 / 09 / roger - trinquierla - guerra - moderna - la - controinsorgenza - in - una - propsettiva - francese /