Here is a timeline of Frederick Forsyth’s novel “The Day of the Jackal.”
It outlines the day-by-day events. All photos are from the film.
Also click for: My review of “The Day of the Jackal” film
My story about novel | Wiki on novel | Wiki on film | IMDb.com on film
TIMETABLE FOR FREDERICK FORSYTH’S THE DAY OF THE JACKAL
PRELUDE | 1962
August 22
The attempted assassination
of French President Charles de Gaulle at Petit-Clamart.
September 3
An OAS member caught and gives police information
about the Petit-Clamart plot.
September through December
OAS plotters captured and charges readied.
OVERVIEW | 1963
January
Trial begins for Petit-Clamart plotters.
February 14
Security services uncover a plot to kill de Gaulle
during a speech at the Ecole Militaire.
February 25-26
OAS Operations Chief Antoine Argoud kidnapped in Germany
and returned to France. With the arrest Argoud’s deputy, Col. Marc Rodin,
is promoted to become head of operations.
March 4
Petit-Clamart plotters are convicted.
Col. Jean Marie Bastien-Thiry is sentenced to die by firing squad.
March 11
Bastien-Thiry executed in Paris. After hearing the news, Rodin,
from a hotel room in Austria, begins plotting the next attempted
assassination of de Gaulle. He heads out on his mission just as an
Englishman returns to London from his own mission
that he just completed in the Middle East.
THE PLOT | 1963
June 15
Rodin returns to Austria to meet with two other OAS officers. He maps out
his new plot to kill de Gaulle. It calls for hiring an assassin. The Englishman
is called to the meeting and accepts the offer to kill de Gaulle.
He will use the code name “The Jackal.”
June 16
The Jackal returns to London and begins his
research and planning of the assassination.
PREPARATIONS | JUNE 1963
June 18
Rodin, Montclair and Casson take up residence in a hotel
in Rome, guarded by a contingent of OAS gunmen.
They begin seclusion to prevent being kidnapped like Argoud.
Late June
OAS members go on a robbery spree across France to raise funds.
The OAS rank-and-file do not know the reason for the robberies,
but these finances will be used to pay the Jackal.
French authorities get report on the OAS leaders in Rome.
PREPARATIONS | JULY 1963
July 1-13
The Jackal continues his research and develops his plan.
He also begins a watch at London’s Heathrow airport for men who look
like him so he can steal their identity papers.
July 14
The Jackal steals Pastor Per Jensen’s passport.
July 15
The Jackal obtains details about the birth date of a child who died
young and would have been approximately his age. The Jackal then
obtains a copy of the child’s birth certificate and applies
for a passport in the name of the child:
Alexander James Quentin Duggan.
July 16
The Jackal steals Marty Schulberg’s passport.
July 17
The Jackal buys clothes and tinted contact lenses that
will help transform him into Jensen and Schulberg.
July 19
The Jackal receives his Duggan passport and flies to Copenhagen.
July 20
The Jackal shops in Copenhagen for clothes with Danish labels
for the Jensen disguise. He then flies on to Brussels.
July 21
The Jackal meets an armorer in Brussels and commissions an order for a
specialized sniper rifle. He then meets with a forger to commission fake identities.
July 22
The Jackal travels via train from Brussels to Paris.
July 23
The Jackal scouts the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de l’Etoile.
July 24
The Jackal scouts the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de l’Etoile.
July 25
The Jackal scouts the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de l’Etoile.
July 26
The Jackal scouts Montvalerien and the Place des Invalides.
July 27
The Jackal scouts Notre Dame.
July 28
The Jackal scouts Place de Rennes.
July 29
The Jackal scouts Place de Rennes.
July 30
The Jackal scouts Place de Rennes.
July 31
The Jackal buys clothes for his false identity at a flea market in Paris.
He then travels by train back to Brussels.
FINAL PREPARATIONS | AUGUST 1963
Aug. 1
The Jackal sees the armorer, but the device to hold its parts is not ready.
He takes the gun for practice and will return for the other parts. The Jackal
meets with the forger and then kills him after the man tries to blackmail him.
Aug. 2
The Jackal shops in Brussels and plans a trip to waste time
over the coming weekend so he can practice with the rifle the coming week.
Aug. 3
The Jackal travels to Zeebrugge.
Aug. 4
The Jackal travels to Ghent and Bruges and has lunch
at Damm. He returns to Brussels.
Aug. 5
The Jackal travels to a glade in a forest of the Ardennes
near Bastogne, where he practices with his new rifle to sight it in
for the shot he will take in Paris.
Aug. 6
The Jackal pays his final visit to the armorer. The final details have been
ironed out and the device to carry the rifle past border checkpoints is complete.
He leaves the rifle in a case in the left luggage office of the Brussels
train depot and returns to London.
Aug. 7
As the Jackal prepares his luggage for the mission to France, Rodin’s bodyguard
is lured from the OAS officers’ hotel in Rome and returns to France.
He is captured by French security agents.
Aug. 8
The Jackal practices disguises for the mission.
Aug. 9
The Jackal receives a phone number from the OAS
so that he can call Paris during the mission for inside information
about de Gaulle’s movements and plans.
Aug. 10
The captured bodyguard is interrogated and tortured throughout the day.
He finally tells French police enough details so that they figure out the plot
and even the Jackal’s code name. The torture ultimately kills the bodyguard.
The Jackal continues his preparations for the mission and practices his disguises.
Aug. 11
The Jackal receives confirmation from his Swiss bank that the $250,000
down payment on the mission is in his account. He makes airline reservations
and plans to leave the next day. French officials tell President de Gaulle
about the plot and a committee is formed to investigate and find the Jackal.
Police Commissionaire Claude Lebel will head up the team. A spy who is close to a committee member reveals to the OAS that the French know about the Jackal plot.
Aug. 12
The Jackal leaves London, just missing a telephone call from Rodin
to stop the mission, and Lebel begins his investigation.
THE MISSION | AUGUST 1963
Aug. 12
The Jackal arrives in Brussels and picks up the rifle in its case from
the left luggage office of the train depot. Using the special casings constructed
by the gunmaker, the Jackal smuggles the gun from Brussels to Milan, Italy.
Aug. 13
The Jackal hires a car and time in a lock-up garage in Milan.
He spot-welds the rifle’s component device to the vehicle’s chassis.
Aug. 14
The Jackal drives to the Italian-French border and then on to Cannes.
His car is searched, but the rifle is not found. At Cannes, he calls
his OAS contact’s number in Paris. He is told the plot has been uncovered
but that the contact does not have the authority to call off the mission.
The Jackal decides to press forward and drives to a hotel near the town of Gap.
Aug. 15
The Jackal is again tipped off by his OAS contact and hurriedly leaves
the hotel. After painting the car, he begins to make his way to Correze.
A woman he met at the hotel in Gap lives in a chateau near Correze.
Aug. 16
The Jackal ditches his car near Correze, hitches a ride into the town
and then takes a taxi to the chateau.
Aug. 17
The Jackal remains at Correze.
Aug. 18
The Jackal remains at Correze.
Aug. 19
The Jackal remains at Correze.
Aug. 20
The police find the abandoned car and begin a search of the region.
The Jackal remains at Correze.
Aug. 21
Tipped off again, the Jackal leaves the chateau. He kills the woman,
who heard him talking via telephone to his OAS contact. He switches
to the Pastor Jensen disguise and drives the woman’s car to Tulle, where
he catches a train for Paris. He checks into a Paris hotel that night
after arriving from Tulle.
Aug. 22
The Jackal is tipped off again and switches to the Marty Schulberg disguise.
He leaves the rifle at the left-luggage office of the main Paris train station.
Aug. 23
Just after midnight, the Jackal allows himself to be picked up
in a homosexual bar and brought home to the man’s apartment,
where he doesn’t have to register his name.
He kills the man and begins his wait.
Aug. 24
The Jackal waits and prepares for the next day.
AUGUST 25, 1963
THE DAY OF THE JACKAL
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