Torture, terrorism & guerrilla warfare
The use of torture and guerrilla tactics used by both French and Algerian forces as counter-insurgent and insurgent strategies redefined modern warfare.
"The interrogations were done in accordance with the provisional guide of the intelligence agent: first, the officer questions the prisoner in the "traditional" manner, hitting him with fists and kicking him. Then follows torture: hanging, water torture, electricity, burning (using cigarettes, etc.). Cases of prisoners who were driven insane were frequent ... between interrogation sessions, the suspects are imprisoned without food in cells, some of which were small enough to impede lying down. We must point out that some of them were very young teenagers and others old men of 75, 80 years or more." ... In the Ameziane farm, a CRA (Centre de renseignement et d'action, Information and Action Center) of Constantine it is practiced on "industrial scale". The suspects were arrested during raids, after having been denounced. Suspects were divided into two groups, those immediately interrogated and those who would be forced to wait a bit. The latter were deprived of food for from two to eight days in a blatant violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention." --From an article in Verité Liberté from 1961 General Jacques Massu was a French general in charge of the 10th Paratroop division, who led the counter-insurgency during the Battle of Algiers. General Massu used methods developed during the Indochina War (194-1954) including the systematic use of torture, including against civilians, quadrillage, and illegal executions and forced disappearances (a method referred to as crevettes Bigeard). The French used these unconventional methods as a means of combatting the equally unconventional guerrilla tactics of the FLN. "At midday I heard fighting. In the evening I saw the body of an Algerian which had been left in the street by the French army. This immediately reminded me of the Occupation even if I had not seen such atrocities myself. I was deeply shocked to see that the body was still there four or five hours after the fighting. The normal human reaction would have been to take the body away. It was obvious that it had been left there to inspire fear and terror in the Algerian population. " Pierre Deeschemaeker
|
|
- Algeria's FLN fought the French army through guerrilla tactics like bombings, fighting against the French with a violent new form of terrorism.
The war began on November 1, 1954 when the FLN initiated the resistance through a series of coordinated attacks and bombings across the country. The FLN led a violent but effective offensive. During the Algerian war, French sources estimate around 70,000 Muslim civilians were either killed, abducted or presumed killed by the FLN. The FLN's attacks were typically launched during the night in order to avoid direct confrontation with the superior French firepower; typical targets include Army patrols, police posts, military encampments, police posts, mines, factories, colonial farms and transportation and communications facilities. The FLN most commonly targeted Muslim officials of the colonial regime, or other elders, government employees and peasants who did not support them, in addition to their attacks on the French occupying forces.
The FLN aimed to instill fear in the French government and the Algerian elite to the end of acquiescence, and to gain the sympathy and support of indigenous Algerians, Metropolitan France, other Arab states, and International audiences. The FLN began through the implementation of about 70 low-intensity attacks with limited deaths in the fall of 1954, and was met with much resistance from the French government. For the next two years, from 1954 to 1956, the FLN continued to grow and develop and soon began gathering support from both within the country, and outside of it. in the later part of the war, (1957-1962), the FLN appealed to the Metro French population, getting them to pressureFrench vacation from Algeria. The Battle of Algiers of 1957 saw much activity from the FLN, and the harsh French response through effective, further convinced critical audiences of the need for Algerian independence. Their approach was novel and ultimately, though at a great cost, brought them the independence they so desired. Their use of terror tactics and original strategy allowed the FLN, though at a seemingly enormous disadvantage against the French, to successfully oppose and defeat the occupying forces.
"I was in agreement with such tactics. During the Second World War I had been a terrorist. Terrorism, that is terrorising the occupier, is very effective."
Madeleine Baudoin
French Resistance to Algerian war
http://www.historytoday.com/martin-evans/french-resistance-and-algerian-war
- Within France the Algerian war had a profound effect upon the people, and from this, a new form of resistance was created, the resistance of French citizens against colonial occupation of Algeria.
As the war progressed, and the citizens of France came to hear about torture and other cruel tactics the French military were utilizing in their combat against the Algerian people and the FLN, their opinions began to change in favor of the independence movement of Algeria. There was a small group of French men and women who stood together to oppose French rule in Algeria and to aid those fighting for the country's freedom. These French citizens often worked in conjunction with the FLN and other Algerians in France. It was these individuals who were able to finance such a conflict. The French who opted to aid the FLN saw it as a legitimate way of expressing their anger and frustration with the Algerian War. They were involved in illegal clandestine work, hiding FLN members, transporting money that the FLN received from Algerian workers, and 'passing' Algerians across frontiers. Perhaps the best known organization of such citizens is the Jeanson network. Set up by Francis Jeanson in 1957, it was a result of Jeanson's travels to Algeria in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He was shocked by the oppressive colonialism and contacted Algerian nationalists, also writing a number of articles upon his return to France about the country's explosive situation. Network's like Jeanson's often worked directly with the FLN and mobilized large groups of likeminded French citizens. Upon reflection of the motivations of the French resistors, many site the overwhelming influence of German occupation and the inevitable parallels that can be drawn to the French resistance against the Germans (highly glorified in France), and the Algerian resistance to the French. Sadly, the brave actions of the French citizens is still a controversial topic today, and while one can be proud to come from a family that resisted the Germans, nobody will openly claim to have resisted the Algerian war.
"On returning to France, I began to think about the experience I had been through with the Resistance and Buchenwald. I realized that at the beginning I had resisted for patriotic, nationalist reasons - but now I said to myself that I had in fact not resisted for France but because I was against oppression. I now began to see resistance differently. Above all it was the struggle against oppression, against humiliation, that was what the Resistance was about."
Jean Barthet