[3][4] Salan graduated as an aspirant on 25 July 1918, and was assigned to the 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment (5e RIC) in Lyon on 14 August 1918.
Until France's surrender in World War II, Colonel Salan commanded a battalion of Senegalese troops.
The Minister of Interior declared a state of emergency, while the army engaged in a "struggle against the terrorism" of the FLN.
In 1958, Salan called for the return to power of Charles De Gaulle, believing that the latter would protect French Algeria.
[7] Nevertheless, Salan returned to Algeria to organize the putsch on 21 April 1961 with André Zeller, Edmond Jouhaud and Maurice Challe.
[7] After the failure of the putsch, he became the chief of Organisation armée secrète (OAS), which attempted to disrupt the April 1962 Peace Evian Accords.