War breaks out in September 1966. "Red" forces attack the "violet" (NATO) alliance, only to be stymied at the Rhine. The reds try an end run through "white" country (Switzerland) to invade "blue" country [France].
So went the script for the French army's annual fall war games. The setting was lovely: the meadows and fir-covered hills of the Jura mountains, a few miles from the Swiss border. The assemblage was splendid: Charles de Gaulle in his brigadier general's uniform; Premier Georges Pompidou; General Charles Ailleret, the modern-minded chief of staff of all French forces; General Louis Le Puloch, the traditionalist chief of...