He disliked the authoritarianism he encountered at Saint-Cyr: he later considered this attitude to be key to his decision to join the French Resistance whilst many of his former classmates served Vichy France.

His maquis units engaged German troops and sustained heavy casualties, but made a successful link with the advancing Allied ground forces.

He was then posted to the Airborne Forces and joined the "Red Berets" of the 3e Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (Parachute Light Infantry), which was part of the Special Air Service Brigade.

[1] From October 1953, Bollardière taught paratrooper strategy and tactics at the Paris École de Guerre, the prestigious school for staff officers.

His philosophy of "pacification" was significantly different from that of the violent counterinsurgency strategy used by the bulk of French forces, instead attempting to build relationships between the Pied-Noirs and the Arab-Berber population, eschewing racial profiling of indigenous people, and initiating work projects to benefit the local community.

[1] In opposition to government policy regarding usage of torture among French units, after the escalation in the violation of human rights during the Battle of Algiers, Bollardière requested to be relieved of command,[1] and returned to France in January 1957.

He was sentenced to 60 days of fortress arrest at La Courneuve for "bringing the army into disrepute" by publicly supporting L'Express editor Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber's coverage of the war.

[1] The only military officer to support him was captain Pierre Dabezies (1925–2002), a left-wing Gaullist who would later lead the 11e Choc elite troop and get close to the socialist Jean-Pierre Chevènement.

[1] In July 1973, he was arrested by the French Navy during protests against nuclear trials in Mururoa, along with journalist Brice Lalonde, priest Jean Toulat and Jean-Marie Muller.

[2] The Council of Ministers, then headed by Georges Pompidou, removed him from the army as a disciplinary measure and gave him a pension - up to this point, he had still formally been a general, albeit not serving.