He was born in Paris to Sophie Henriette Quizerme and Adolphe Gilbert Martin. He became a
hospital intern and fought voluntarily at the
western front during
WWI in the
dragoons at
Tours, transferring to
112e régiment d’artillerie lourde [112th heavy artillery regiment] as an auxiliary doctor. After the war, he resumed his studies in day school at
Saint-Antoine Hospital (1920–1921), boarding school at
Broca Hospital, finally qualifying as a doctor at the
Pitié hospital (1921–1923), specialising in respiratory tract illnesses and aiding sick children in Paris, before opening his own practice.
From Action Française to La Cagoule A member from 1914, in the 1920s he campaigned for
Charles Maurras' royalist right-wing
Action française. On 27 June 1923, he was sentenced to three months in prison and a 500 Fr. fine for an attack on statesman
Maurice Viollette on 31 May by the
Camelots du roi, the militant youth group of
Action française popular with students; Maurras and two others were also imprisoned. He became general secretary of the federation of the Paris region of the ''Ligue d'Action française
- an older organisation which was a recruitment and propaganda group for Action française
; he combined this role with that of deputy secretary of the Ligue'' from June 1928, leading conferences and chairing private meetings. In 1930, he was expelled from
Action Française with another doctor, Paul Guérin (president of sections of the
18th arrondissement and former president of the northern suburbs federation). He went to Brussels to see
Jean d'Orleans, a pretender to the French throne, who had also distanced himself from
Action française. There, with help from army intelligence colonel Elie de Froidemont, he was put in charge of security for d'Orleans' daughter,
Isabelle, on the family's trips to Paris, even interviewing suitors to assess their honourability. He advised Dorgères, Arrested in March 1942, Martin was transferred to
Castres,
Vals and then
Évaux-les-Bains, where he met Jewish-born, homosexual, left-wing-associated writer
Roger Stéphane. Martin cared for Stéphane's sick mother and another inmate while they were all incarcerated. Stéphane told Martin he considered him a friend, despite their marked differences in background and views; Martin said he would never forget. He escaped, became a
maquisard of the "Roy" network, participated in the liberation of
Lyon, and enlisted in the
7th Army of general
Alexander Patch, undertaking several missions in
Alsace and on the
Rhine as "commander Bernard" between the 7th and the
Office of Strategic Services. Close to the
Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS) at the onset of the
French Fifth Republic, he was sought by police again for his participation in the
semaine des barricades in
Algiers in January 1960, and then for his role in the
generals' putsch of 1961. After his arrest, and his trial in October 1963, he was sentenced by the ''
Cour de sûreté de l'État'' [State Security Court] to 10 years' hard labour. He died on 5 June 1969 at the Bicêtre hospital, survived by his daughter Danièle de Villemarest. ==References==