Bonnot Gang

thumb|364x364px|A 1912 illustration of the Bonnot Gang stealing an automobile in the [[Forest of Sénart|Forest of Senart.]]

thumb|Illustration of the robbery of [[Société Générale Bank in Chantilly on 25 March 1912|399x399px]]

The Bonnot Gang (French: La Bande à Bonnot), or The Tragic Bandits (Les Bandes Tragiques), was a French anarchist group that operated in France and Belgium during the late Belle Époque from 1911 to 1912. Composed of individuals who identified with the illegalist milieu, the gang used new technology, such as cars and repeating rifles not then available to the police.

The press originally referred to them as simply "The Auto Bandits", as they carried out the first motorized robberies and bank raids in world history. They have been called the "inventors of the motorized get-away". The group also earned the moniker Les bandes tragiques from the press due to a sense of the group's "desperate courage", who were painted as tragicomic figures for their working-class origins and espoused anarchist politics.

On 25 March 1912, the gang stole a de Dion-Bouton automobile in the Forest of Sénart south of Paris by shooting the driver through the heart. They drove into Chantilly, north of Paris, where they robbed the local branch of Société Générale Bank, and fatally shot two bank cashiers and severely wounded a bookkeeper.) - Wikisource French

::a notable member of the Bonnot Gang

See also

References

Further reading

Film

External links