sign in sign up
<<
Home , Algerian War, French Algeria, Krim Belkacem, Maurice Challe

War in : The French Experience

Colonel Gilles Martin,

ISCUSSING THE Algerian with the ob- A Plot Out of Clancy or Ludlum? Djectivity of a historian is difficult. A number Making comparisons is always dangerous, but of generations of French and Algerian politicians we can imagine the following scenario: A part of and soldiers have been intimately involved in these the population of one U.S. state declares its inde- events. In both countries, to speak of the Algerian pendence and begins an armed insurrection that War meant, and still means, to venture into the mixes guerrilla activities with urban terrorism. political realm. In this article, I describe the distinct An army of 2 million U.S. soldiers is deployed phases of the war to draw useful conclusions for for 8 years in secessionist territory. Despite a long contemporary operations.1 tradition of obedience to civil authority, the U.S. The began on 1 November 1954 Armed Forces rebel against the President and Con- and ended 8 years later, in 1962, following the in- gress, and with support from an important part of dependence of Algeria. The conflict was a colonial the population, demand and obtain the President’s war between and the Algerian people, but removal, the creation of a new constitution, and the it was also a between loyalist Algerian election of a President who acquiesces to military who still believed in a and desires regarding the management of the war. their -minded Algerian counterparts. Later, after the new President decides to stop During its final months, the conflict evolved into a the war by allowing the state to secede, he is civil war between pro-French hardliners in Algeria almost toppled in a coup d’état orchestrated by and supporters of General . The prestigious generals with the support of the 82d French Army had to wage a war against guerril- and 101st Airborne Divisions, the Army Rang- las, insurrection, and terrorism, a “revolutionary” ers, and regiments of the U.S. Marine Corps. An war in which the conquest of the population was antigovernment terrorist movement made up of at stake, exactly as it was in another war that had military renegades tries to assassinate the President. just ended in Indochina with the defeat at Dien The National Guard fires on flag-waving loyalists Bien Phu. At the time, the French Army thought singing the national anthem and proclaiming their it had won in Algeria. On the other hand, France’s desire to continue being American. After secession political leaders wanted nothing more to do with is complete, four million traumatized loyalists flee the former . the newly independent territory, tearfully leaving The war created a deep wound in French society in droves from the piers of the former American and a deeper one within the Army. The scars healed state. Unthinkable? This is exactly what the French slowly, and the slightest event can still reopen the would have thought on 1 November 1954, had they wound. Even selecting a date to commemorate the been asked the question. end of the war divides the generation that experi- enced the war’s effects. In short, the consequences Algeria (1954) of this war have made relations between France “Algeria is France.” At least that is what the and Algeria and, even now, between the French French thought, what they taught their schoolchil- people and Algerian immigrants, particularly dren, and what a million French citizens living complex. Spite, nostalgia, regret, remorse, guilt, in Algeria thought in 1954.2 Eighteen percent of wastefulness, and squandered opportunities abound these French Algerians—an exceptionally high between the two peoples, as in a love story that number—had been mobilized from 1942 onward to ends in a difficult divorce—a story that could have help the Allies liberate France. “Algeria is France,” had a happier outcome. the political sector unanimously proclaimed, even

MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2005 51 after the initial uprising on 1 November 1954 by Culture and tradition also worked to assuage nationalists against French rule. native Algerians. Literacy efforts among children, Algeria had been conquered in 1830 and trans- especially in cities and towns, spread the French formed into a French colony administered as if it language and culture, and the Muslim elite as- were metropolitan France. There was, however, similated this second culture without forsaking a great disparity between Algeria and France. In their own. Long-established friendships between Algeria, 10 million indigenous Muslims were Muslim and French Algerian neighbors contributed deprived of all political rights, and 99 percent to maintaining the status quo. Although unwilling of the economy was in the hands of French or to grant their Muslim countrymen equal rights, French Algerian citizens. Although obligated French Algerians were paternalistic and friendly to deal with the grave consequences of World in everyday life. On the farms and in small busi- War II (rationing, reconstruction, violent labor nesses, certain families had known each other for strikes, the , and the War in Indochina), generations; they got along. Above all else, aware- the French government never had the courage ness of French power and the memory of blood to upgrade the native Algerians’ status despite a spilled in earlier revolts deterred political unrest. widespread movement and the role However, in 1945, nationalist demonstrations Algerian soldiers had played in the world and degenerated into riots. The ensuing unrest resulted Indochina. in ethnic French families being massacred. The fol- For several reasons, nationalist sentiment was, lowing government crackdown caused thousands at least initially, less virulent in Algeria than it of deaths and civil unrest temporarily paused. was in or in , which had just ob- Fear of government violence was not the only tained their independence. In 1830, the Algerian check: Many moderate nationalists believed that a population had changed from a feudal society to a democratic, peaceful transition was possible. They colonial one, French rule replacing that of the Bey demanded only equal rights, not independence. of and various tribal chiefs. While it did For these reasons, the nationalist opposition had not increase or diminish the Algerians’ civil rights difficulty recruiting and organizing militants. or improve their living conditions dramatically, French rule did provide security, economic devel- An 8-Year War opment, disease eradication, and literacy initia- The Algerian , 8 years tives. Then too, with one million French colonists in duration, had 3 distinct phases: the birth and the symbols of French part of the of the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and landscape, so to speak, Algerians looked at the Action (soon to be known as the National Libera- situation with a sense of fatalism and concluded, tion Front [NLF]) and its rise to power; a period as Muslims often do, “Inch’ Allah”—(it [French of NLF military defeat but political victory; and rule] is the will of God). a final period of political tumult and a bloody French domination also derived support from independence. notorious Muslim tribal chiefs and elitist judges, The NLF’s birth and rise to power (1954- clerics, and civil servants whose interests were 1957). Six exceptional men, isolated and penniless, served by the French presence. These people had chose the path of armed struggle to gain indepen- sided with France at the time of conquest and con- dence. Mustafa Ben Boulaid, Larbi Ben M´hidi, tinued to offer their loyal support over the years. Didouche Mourad, Rabah Bitah, , Veterans, too, predominantly favored the French. and created the Revolutionary More than 150,000 Algerians had fought alongside Committee of Unity and Action. To these individu- the French in Tunisia, Italy, France, and Indochina. als, Algeria owes its independence. Elite troops, they had covered themselves in glory, During the first few months of its existence, the notably in Italy for breaching the Gustav Line, and militant NLF created resistance groups and urban had suffered staggering losses. As recompense, cells, recruited new members, and fought to sur- France had merely given them medals, war pen- vive. However, the general population maintained sions, and government jobs. Many who had hoped a wait-and-see attitude and often refused to pay to obtain French citizenship or at least equal rights “revolutionary taxes.” with French Algerians were dismayed by this in- Realizing they had failed to convince the Mus- gratitude. However, they could not forget the bonds lim population to join them, NLF leaders decided they had forged with their French brothers on the to raise the level of violence, so as to stimulate field of battle. In 1954, Algerians who considered hatred, bloodshed, and fear between the French taking up arms against their former comrades were and Muslim communities. On 20 August 1955, rare. they stoked fanaticism in a few villages whose

52 July-August 2005  MILITARY REVIEW THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA residents rose up to massacre and mutilate French received investiture by the National Assembly. He civilians. The Army intervened by distributing immediately organized elections, which he won weapons to the French civilians, and the resulting resoundingly. repression led to hundreds of Muslim deaths, a dire Concurrently, the Army took advantage of its development that would help the rebels achieve position of power within the Committee for Pub- their goal. lic Safety to impose the very changes the French Provoked by the NLF, fanatical violence spread had refused since 1945: social reforms and equal- widely, causing the Army to clamp down on the ity of civil rights for Muslims. Because it tightly Muslim population through inspections, arrests, controlled Arab districts after interrogations, detentions, and repression, which (1957), a year-long offensive in the capital by the caused even more Muslims to side with the NLF. 10th Parachute Division, the Army convinced By 1956, the NLF had imposed its authority on the Muslim population to obey the Committee of Algeria’s Muslims, and although the French Army Public Safety, demonstrate in European neighbor- swelled to 500,000 soldiers, it still had to remain hoods, defend their rights, support Army reforms, in a defensive posture. and call for De Gaulle’s rise to power. The generals The NLF understood victory would be political, took a big risk in doing this because of the recent not military, and wanted to discuss the war in the terrorist attacks and the rift of hatred and blood that international news media and at the UN. In 1957 separated the French and Muslim communities. the rebels began a campaign of urban terrorism The demonstrations that followed had an enor- by detonating bombs on the streets of Algiers and mous effect: Under the influence of crowd psy- killing scores of civilians. The world did, in fact, chology and revolutionary rhetoric, the two com- begin to pay attention. munities came together. Suddenly, it appeared that NLF military defeat, political victory (1957- nothing was beyond their reach, including , 1960). In a decision of grave import, the French reconciliation, and a new French Algeria of broth- government granted absolute power to the Army erly love, biculturalism, and harmony. The Army and ordered it to reestablish order using all means tried to persuade NLF leaders, and even those ter- at its disposal. Individual liberties were suspended rorists who had planted explosive devices, to join in Algeria; the 10th Parachute Division occupied the reconciliation movement. A victory tour by De Algiers; and in a matter of weeks, the NLF’s Gaulle succeeded in persuading the Army and the cells had been dismantled and its principal lead- population that victory and peace were near. ers arrested, killed, or driven into hiding or exile. In the following months, the NLF’s leaders in Tu- Seizing the initiative, the Army began to control nisia failed to remotivate members of the resistance, the terrain, the borders, and the population. NLF and the organization lost much of its will to fight. losses mounted. More people began to side with the French Army The government then timidly sought to negoti- and De Gaulle. At the same time, a new commander ate an end to hostilities, a move that provoked in chief, General , implemented a the ire of French Algerians and the disbelief of plan to systematically destroy the NLF. Three years the Army. On 13 May 1958, French Algerians later, the rebels had no more than 5,000 members, rebelled against the peace process and formed a no means to conduct offensive operations, and no “Committee for Public Safety” that rejected the objective beyond survival. Some 300,000 Muslims government’s authority. What ensued were some (a large percentage of men old enough to fight) truly revolutionary events. had registered for service with the Army. A French The government ordered the Army, which re- military victory did indeed seem imminent. tained full civil and military powers, to oppose this French Algeria’s agony (1961-1962). This near new insurgency. Instead, and despite its tradition of victory was, however, fruitless. Unlike his military absolute submission to civilian authority, the Army chiefs, De Gaulle had a global geopolitical vision; joined the Committee for Public Safety. Army he understood that the international community leaders demanded the abdication of the govern- firmly supported the decolonization movement. In ment, a new constitution, adoption of a pro-French late 1960, having decided that France’s place was Algerian policy, and the designation of De Gaulle in Europe, not North , De Gaulle openly as head of state. They went so far as to prepare an committed to “an Algerian Algeria” and made airborne operation against . Unpopular, lack- peace overtures to the NLF’s leaders in Tunisia. ing in authority, and incapable of proposing an The generals felt they were about to be robbed alternate solution, the government and Chamber of of their victory and, worse, their honor. Wanting Deputies gave in. To quickly return to at least the to fulfill the promises they had made to French appearance of legality, De Gaulle demanded and Algerians and their Muslim sympathizers that

MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2005 53 Algeria would remain French, some of them the NLF side, over 141,000 rebels died in , hatched a plot. thousands more disappeared during the Battle of In , four well-known generals, includ- Algiers, and about 12,000 members of the NLF ing two former commanders in chief in Algeria, fell victim to internal purges. Sixteen thousand rallied a dozen regiments and took control of Algerian civilians died as a result of combat or Algiers. They demanded that De Gaulle re-adopt during revolts or ethnic confrontations. Overall, the the policy of “French Algeria” and break off all head of the NLF estimated that 300,000 Muslims negotiations with the NLF. Unlike in May 1958, were killed. With great pain, France and Algeria however, the rest of the Army remained loyal to had turned the page to decolonization. the government. A nation weary of war supported De Gaulle, and he crushed the putsch. Lessons Learned from the War On 16 , in Evian, France, the govern- Without spelling them out, there are some obvi- ment and the NLF signed peace accords mandating ous and perhaps enlightening similarities between a cease-fire, setting up a 1 July referendum on the French experience in Algeria and the Coalition Algerian self-determination, and addressing such Force experience in Iraq. topics as security for all Algerians, including the NLF tactics. From the humble origin of a hand- French in Algeria and the (Muslim soldiers) ful of unknown and unarmed militants, the NLF in the French Army. became a well-armed, well-organized guerrilla The end of the war in Algeria was tragic. Radical force that challenged 500,000 French soldiers for hardliners in the military and among the French more than 5 years. It proved itself adept at using living in Algeria founded a terrorist organiza- publicity to recruit new soldiers, organizing those tion—the Secret Army Organization (SAO)—that recruits, inciting ethnic conflict, conducting urban intended to assassinate De Gaulle; unleash a civil terrorism, and controlling the population. war against the government, the police, and the The NLF explained its actions and recruited its French Army; and ignite an ethnic war against the soldiers in outlying towns and in Muslim neighbor- Muslims. The SAO assassinated hundreds of Mus- hoods in larger cities, and it created representative lims, and many Algiers neighborhoods revolted entities outside Algeria, principally in Tunisia and attacked police and military units. The Air and , to spread word of NLF actions to an Force responded by bombing the SAO-controlled international audience. Its beginnings, however, neighborhoods. When French Algerians carrying were fraught with difficulty. Notoriously violent French flags and singing the Marseillaise mounted pro-French elements deterred many Algerians from a protest, the Army opened fire on them. After 19 joining the NLF, while other Algerians demurred March 1962, in accordance with the peace accords, out of loyalty to France, adopted a wait-and-see the French Army enforced the ceasefire with the attitude, or resigned themselves to fatalism. NLF, although combat continued to flare between The initially noncommittal attitude of the popu- the NLF and the SAO. Hundreds of French Al- lation incited certain NLF leaders to instigate eth- gerians were kidnapped and assassinated. French nic conflict. Assaults, , and massacres Algerians then understood they no longer had a were carried out against the French in Algeria. place in Algeria. Later, the NLF called for , but the Muslim In a matter of weeks, a million forlorn refugees population, especially the religiously moderate (2 percent of the French population in 1962) ar- , was less than receptive to the call.3 Nev- rived in southern France. Among them were ertheless, fissures between the French and Muslim thousands of pro-French Muslims, though most communities widened and more provocations, fol- of the latter group (, tribal chiefs, harkis), lowed by more repression, inexorably pushed the believing they were protected by the peace , population toward the guerrillas. chose to stay in Algeria. The NLF immediately Vast, mountainous, woody, and lightly popu- massacred perhaps 150,000 of these. lated, Algeria offered terrain favorable to guerrilla The war’s overall death toll was immense. Ac- warfare. Capable resistance groups operating from cording to the French Ministry of Defense, 22,755 densely forested areas harassed French Army French soldiers were killed, 7,917 died in accidents, posts, patrols, and convoys in a war of ambushes and 56,962 were wounded. Thirty-five hundred in which the attackers always had the advantage of Muslims were killed in combat while serving in the terrain and surprise. When the French Army con- French Army. An additional 66,000 Muslim civil- ducted cordon and search operations, the resistance ians (along with the 150,000 massacred post-cease- (operating in 150-man units called katibas) avoided fire) and 2,788 French civilians were killed by the contact and blended into the surrounding forest. NLF, while another 875 French went missing. On Occasionally, several katibas joined to conduct

54 July-August 2005  MILITARY REVIEW THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA common operations of short duration. For com- structured political administrative organization mand and control, the NLF divided Algeria into (PAO), which included tax collectors, informants, six regions, or wilayas, each administered by a liaison and propaganda agents, judges, and mayors colonel assisted by a political advisor. Each colonel (the embryo of Algeria’s future administration) also headed an elite commando unit, one of which, closely observed and monitored the population. the Ali Khoja Commando, held some of the best French Army tactics. After 2 years, the French French regiments in check. As in most conflicts found they had lost control of entire regions, of this type, the local leaders could be charismatic primarily because they had isolated themselves commanders or authentic heroes, bloody tyrants or in camps and posts. The Army then turned to a common thieves. full-spectrum strategy that would neutralize the From Tunisia, a guerrilla army of tens of thou- guerrilla movement. Officers with experience in sands of troops harassed French units arrayed along counterguerrilla operations in Indochina and those the border. The guerrillas would foray into Algeria, from colonial units with extensive knowledge of then flee back into Tunisia. This army infiltrated Algerian culture and the administration of popula- Algeria, escorting numerous mule trains packed tions devised a two-part doctrine of pacification: with arms for the resistance. Get the support of the population because the The NLF understood from the outset that while population was the primary stake of the war, and a military victory was beyond its reach, the move- control the borders. To accomplish the first it was ment only had to survive the war, not win its necessary to provide considerable material and battles, to obtain a political victory. Aided by in- humanitarian support, which the NLF evidently ternational publicity, this strategy worked perfectly. could not provide; to protect those who sided with The NLF increased the level of violence, and the the Army; and to send a political message at least war was duly debated in the UN, the Arab League, as strong and full of hope as that of the NLF—to and other international bodies. Astute NLF leaders the magic word “independence” (expected to bring stressed that an ambush conducted in an isolated with it happiness in addition to liberty), the French valley had only a slight psychological effect and Army decided to oppose the word “integration,” attracted limited media coverage, whereas a bomb which meant total equality with French Algerians detonated in an Algiers theater or stadium quickly and French citizens. To control the borders, the caught the eye of the French and international Army had to stop the guerrillas and cut off all their news services. Urban terrorism thus became the external sources of support, thus completing the NLF’s choice course of action in the war for in- asphyxiation begun by the loss of popular internal dependence. support. NLF leaders might not have read Mao Tse-tung, This doctrine would be applied progressively, but they instinctively rediscovered one of his and successfully, as evidenced by the massive com- principal tenets: Guerrillas must be immersed in mitment of the harkis and the decision of thousands the population like fish in water. The population of rebels and villages in 1959 and 1960 to support constituted the principal stake of the war because the French Army against the NLF. rural and even urban NLF cells could not survive Once embarked on the path to pacification, the without daily support from a large part of the French Army crossed a line to an area off-limits population. to armies in democratic countries: It made a de- To enlist the population’s sympathy, two simul- liberate political commitment. Because the entire taneous actions were required: destroy the French political class of the day unanimously accepted a administration (and the power of French culture “French” Algeria, the Army saw nothing wrong in over the population) and control the population assuming the government’s prerogative. It quickly through an efficient parallel administration. The swung into action once the government legally NLF systematically assassinated Muslim and conferred civilian power on it. French functionaries, mayors, and professors; at- Pacification’s ultimate goals were to destroy the tacked French schools and prohibited Muslim chil- NLF’s PAO, restore French administration, and dren from attending them; forced respect for reestablish a secure environment for reunification by prohibiting the use of alcohol and tobacco; and without exposing the people to excessive risk. In- applied a code of merciless sanctions—after the telligence gathered by human agents (HUMINT) first warning, cutting off noses, then slitting throats was vital to attaining the first goal. Classic police if these warnings were not heeded. and counterinsurgency work, facilitated by the Voluntarily or by force, the population was re- highly structured and standardized NLF network, quired to obey the NLF and provide intelligence, helped crush the rebels’ PAO.4 To achieve the sec- money, food, and new recruits. A bona fide, highly ond and third goals, the Army replaced a civilian

MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2005 55 administration unable to act in unsecured areas. successively committed in mass operations across It took over the management of schools, clinics, Algeria, beginning in the relatively quiet Oranie re- road maintenance, the water supply, and so on. To gion and ending in the rebel strongholds of Kabylie help administer these functions, the Army divided and the Aures Mountains. Algeria into a “grid” of regions, sectors, and sub- Intervention operations always began as routine sectors. At the lowest level, an infantry company cordon and search missions, but they were coor- controlled a few villages and a couple thousand dinated regionally and went on for weeks, even inhabitants. The same soldiers who used shovels, months at a time, thus preventing NLF guerrillas first-aid kits, and schoolbooks reinforced security, from waiting out the Army by hiding in caves or administered the population, and fought the kabitas other safe places. Those who did hide fell prey and local PAOs. Sustained contact created a strong to ambushes when they emerged to look for food personal bond between the people and “their” and water. Within 2 years of the Challe Plan’s company. Once trust had been established, the implementation, the guerrillas had lost all offensive company formed village self-defense units, called capabilities and were effectively routed. harkas, which worked with the French to seek out The Army also attacked from the inside. Special and destroy rebels. forces and secret services action units infiltrated Experience and knowledge contributed to suc- guerrilla networks to misinform and mislead NLF cess. On average, conscripted units stayed in Al- leaders. In the most damaging of these operations, geria for 28 months after their initial training; thus, the Army fabricated a terrorist network that asked the men became seasoned soldiers who understood the NLF for support (weapons, ammunition, ex- rebel tactics. Each battalion also benefited from a plosives, and money) from neighboring networks. hunter unit, often composed of harkis and former The bogus group’s inactivity eventually aroused rebels, which tracked the local katibas and prac- the suspicions of local chiefs, but when it did the ticed guerrilla tactics against them. imaginary group put out the word that it had been The grid method was also applied to urban areas. infiltrated by the French; it also claimed to have Algiers, for example, was divided into sectors, with proof that the guerrillas in surrounding areas had a neighborhood chief keeping watch on all build- been likewise infiltrated. The NLF chiefs in these ings and city blocks in his sector. He was expected surrounding areas promptly picked up some of to identify all inhabitants and know why any were their own people who, under , named ac- absent. If he did not, he was promptly accused of complices. Rumors of a plot reached even the ears complicity with the NLF. of Colonel Amirouche, the feared commander of Simultaneously, the Army moved to stop the the Kabylie Wilaya, who quickly found evidence flow of external support to the rebels. It constructed of a yet deeper plot. He convinced other Wilaya a barrier that extended along the borders with commanders to proceed with bloody purges in Tunisia and Morocco, from the sea to the desert. their regions. Over the next several months, the With its electrified barbed-wire, minefields, radars, NLF executed thousands of its own members. patrol routes for armored elements, and interdic- Recently recruited high school and university tion units stationed in posts offset from the border students bore the brunt of the violence; as urban by a few kilometers, the barrier was intended intellectuals, they were already suspected by the not to sweep the area of insurgents, but to locate NLF’s mostly rural, peasant base. The killings, them quickly. The barrier acted like a fishnet that of course, discouraged many sympathizers from interdiction units could use for several hours at a joining the insurgency. time to intercept katiba arms convoys. It was so Legal Problems. In the first months of the war, efficient that infiltration became suicidal, causing the French applied peacetime law. In fact, there NLF guerrillas in Tunisia to deliberately abandon being no foreign aggression, the word “war” was their comrades in Algeria. never used. Any person arrested for any aggressive Having denied the rebels safety and support, the act or singled out as an insurgent was subject to a Army, under Challe, further refined its infantry police investigation and potential judgment by a tactics. Intervention units were assigned to each nonmilitary tribunal. This system failed. When the region to conduct search and cordon operations suspects were freed for lack of evidence and trium- with units that inhabited the grid. Except for phantly returned to their towns, they immediately some parachute units made up almost entirely executed their accusers. Civil authorities were so of conscripts, these intervention units were gen- incapable of performing their missions that they erally professional regiments (Foreign Legion, turned over their powers to the Army. Parachute, or Marines). In 1959, Challe grouped The military, however, also had problems ad- these regiments into a strategic reserve, which he ministering the law. In 1957, a controversy erupted

56 July-August 2005  MILITARY REVIEW THE FRENCH IN ALGERIA in France over the Army’s torture and summary For the French Army, the end of the Algerian execution of suspects, particularly during the Battle War was a terrible ordeal. After the 1961 coup of Algiers. One general and several officers re- in Algiers failed, a dozen prestigious regiments signed to protest methods they considered contrary were disbanded and numerous highly decorated to military ethics, disgraceful to the Army’s image, officers—many of them heroes of World War II and, worst of all, counterproductive because they and Indochina—were tried and sentenced to prison; drove Muslims to the NLF. Recently, two generals others were forced to flee their homeland or to re- who participated in the Battle of Algiers admitted tire from active service. A number of military SAO to having resorted to these practices—the only members, including one colonel, were executed method available they said—to combat the daily by firing squad. When chosen to preside over a scourge of urban terrorism. Many other soldiers court martial, one general loyal to De Gaulle took emphatically maintained they had fought within his own life to avoid standing in judgment of his legal boundaries and with military honor. To this peers. day, the controversy continues. For some time, the Army remained bitterly di- vided between the old French Algeria hardliners Consequences of and those in the De Gaulle camp. Trust between the Algerian War the military and its civilian leaders was another On disembarking in France, French Algerian casualty. The military has long harbored mistrust émigrés realized they loved their country of birth of the political class for changing its policies in the and its Arab citizens more than the mother country, midst of war and for going back on its word and which few of them knew. Nonetheless, this valiant, abandoning those Algerians who had united with proactive people had great success integrating the Army. Conversely, until recently a significant into French society while still preserving group part of the public believed the Army capable of cohesion. intervening in the democratic workings of political In Algeria, after 130 years of French colonial institutions, or even of organizing another military domination and 8 years of war, independence did coup. not provide the happiness the people had yearned The Algerian War did have at least one benefit: for. Leaders who had enjoyed the support of the Young officers now read the stories of their pre- NLF army in Tunisia stripped surviving insurgent decessors, and most daydream of being, at least chiefs and resistance forces of power. During the once in their careers, commanding officers of ensuing struggle for political control, the Algerian hunter units or of isolated outposts, fighting with people endured a socialist dictatorship, a military total initiative in their zone, against their enemy dictatorship, border wars with Morocco, chronic while competing for the hearts and minds of their rebellions by the Kabylie Berbers, economic cri- people. This mindset enables them to adapt rapidly ses, political assassinations, terrorism, and another and effectively to stability or peacekeeping opera- civil war. According to UN data, in 1954, Algeria tions. Even so, the darker lessons learned from the ranked 14th in the world in gross domestic product; Algerian War have been etched into their collective in 2001, despite the oil boom in the , Algeria memory: Do not promise anything you yourself ranked 74th. Relations between France and its for- cannot provide; do not interfere in politics; and be mer colony have also been slow to normalize. prepared to withdraw with a clear conscience. MR

NOTES 1. The historical data in this article are drawn from the books of Yves Cour- in North Africa, have their own language and culture, and have always demanded rières. This article uses the term French Algerian to refer to French citizens who administrative autonomy and respect for their rights. were born, raised, and lived in Algeria. 4. Due to the centralized, pyramidal, symmetrical organization of the political 2. Among these were strong minorities of Italian, Spanish, Armenian, Jewish, administrative organization, it was not difficult to crack a local network. Each and Greek immigrants. Nicknamed the “Pieds Noirs” (Black Feet), the French family knew the tax collector who came to request money every month, the tax Algerians retained the pioneer spirit of the first colonists. Several thousand na- collector had a contact in the logistic cell who knew his own chief, and this chief tive-born Muslims, essentially Army veterans, also had French nationality. They had a contact with a combat bombing cell and propaganda cell. If you broke made up a small number of the Algerian Muslim soldiers who had enlisted in the one link, you could break the whole chain. The key factor was speed: Identify French Army during World War II and the War in Indochina. the network from the first piece of intelligence (often using physical pressure or 3. The Berbers, the indigenous inhabitants of , were present before torture) and then roll up the members before they could find out they had been the Arab conquest of the region. They make up the second largest ethnic group betrayed.

Colonel Gilles Martin, French Army, is Senior Liaison Officer to Headquarters, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia. He received a degree from the Military Academy of Saint Cyr, and has served in various command and staff positions in Europe, the former , and Egypt.

MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2005 57