The Battle of Algiers by 50minutes

Author:50minutes,
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 50Minutes.com
Published: 2016-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

Parade of the 10th parachute division of General Jacques Massu, summer 1957.

In January 1957, he commanded a regiment of the 10th parachute division of General Jacques Massu and developed a device of urban protection, an instrument for ensuring the defense and training of people, which would be at the heart of French success in this battle. He planned to divide each block of houses in perimeters in Algiers and to appoint a French leader to each of them. Moreover, on 23rd October 1957, he set up the anti-terrorism force in the kasbah, with the objective of preventing a return of the FLN rebels in the area, whilst providing a tool for mobilization and propaganda. A campaign of identifying and registering the population, house by house, began, along with an imposed curfew, systematic raids and a right of perquisition. It was the thinking of Roger Trinquier which prompted harsh interrogations and the systematic torture of those who resisted. Indeed, his definition of terrorism meant that all soldiers engaged in the war knew of the risk they took if captured in advance and asserted that they must accept suffering and death (Trinquier 2000). In this regard, the system also planned special support missions of death squads led by General Paul Aussaresses (1918-2013), to conduct interrogations. In this context, the use of torture as a means to obtain a confession was designed to terrorize the population as well as make it adhere to the French political project.

Following the success of the Battle of Algiers, Roger Trinquier continued his activities on Algerian territory, despite the return to power of General de Gaulle, who disapproved of these revolutionary war methods. Finally sent away from the colony in 1961, he sailed to the Belgian Congo with the mission to train the police of the secessionist leader of Katanga, Moïse Tshombe (1919-1969). After its independence, he spent the rest of his life close to French Algeria and wrote several books, including an autobiography. He died in 1986.

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