BBC - Infamous Assassinations (2007) Part 18 Attemps on General deGaulle

Get ready to witness the 20th Century's most damaging and outrageous assassination attempts, first-hand. From the assassination of John F Kennedy to the gunning down of Mahatma Gandhi, the tragic shooting of John Lennon to the brutal bombing of one of Hitler's henchmen, the BBC series Infamous Assassinations brings you as close to the killers as the cameramen themselves - which sometimes means just a few feet.

Using rare archive footage and reconstructions, each episode of this BBC documentary series focuses on a different story, from attacks on royalty, politicians and guerrilla leaders to media personalities who all, for one reason or another, stepped in the way of an assassin determined to bring their life to an end. Many of their motives have remained shrouded in mystery. Until now…

Part 18: Attempts on General de Gaulle

France 1961: The Day Of The Jackal

There were three attempts to kill General de Gaulle, all of which were unsuccessful. The first was by German snipers in Paris 1945. The second was on 8 September 1961, when a plastic charge was fired at his car by a gang controlled by Raoul Salan. The third attempt was on 22 August 1962, when his car was raked by machine-gun fire which shattered the rear window and burst two tyres. The General escaped all three attempts, but was there a fourth which was not reported?