OPPOSING FORCES
FRANCE LEADERS:
Gen. Raoul Salan, Gen. Jacques Massu, Gen. Paul Aussaresses, Col. Marcel Bigeard, Col. Yves Godard, Col. Roger Trinquier
FORCES: 10th Parachute Division SDECE Action Service Gendarmerie Ultras
TACTICS: Mass arrests and detention of suspects. Imprisonment and torture of FLN agents. Executions.
ALGERIA
LEADERS: Saadi Yacef, Larbi ben M’hidi, Abame Ramdane, Benyoucef Benkhedda
FORCES: 1,400 - 1,500 operatives and fighters under the Comite de coordination d’execution. An estimated 5,000 spies and sympathisers spread across Algiers.
TACTICS: Bombing and assassination. Avoiding pitched battles.
ALGIERS JUNE 1956 - SEPTEMBER 1957
As the Cold War’s chill hung over Europe, former colonies across Asia and Africa stirred from decades – and sometimes centuries – of foreign misrule. On too many occasions nationalist fervour led to unbelievable violence. The British Empire’s relatively…