The Algerian war, November 1954 to July 1962, took place on a vast territory which France had conquered between 1830 (when they captured Algiers) and 1843 (when they captured Emir Abd el Kader’s tribe).
During the pacification and colonization periods that followed this conquest, France was still hesitant on deciding which of the various policies to adopt: colonization, local government regime, assimilation, semi-autonomy or departmentalization. The fact is that a century later, at the end of the second world war, Algeria was still very much dependent on France both economically and politically. Many uprisings occurred, notably in Setif and Guelma, and were brutally suppressed.

Organization of the rebellion was underway...

The Algerian population was made up of native Arabs and Berbers of Muslim faith, and settlers from various parts of European the majority of whom were of the Jewish or Christian faith.
Administrative posts were mostly occupied by the French.

The difference between the living standards of the settlers and the natives further widened the chasm separating both communities. When Algerian combatants who participated in the Second World War within the framework of Free French Forces, alongside those who fought the Indochina war returned home, they no longer accepted to remain second class citizens in their own very country. The stage was therefore set for the nationalist movement, which was existing then in a rather latent state, to start perpetrating acts of violence.

The rebellion began on November 1, 1954, with bombings against European civilians, targeted by the National Liberation Front (F.L.N.) as being symbols of occupation. The intensity of these bombings increased over the next eight years.
Backed by several neighbouring countries, which served as its sanctuaries and suppliers of arms and munitions, the F.L.N. created a secret organization, started rallying and eliminating its political rivals through persuasion or acts of terrorism. It formed an armed wing, A.L.N, which soon engaged intensive military operations against French forces stationed on Algerian soil.

Pictures best depicting this war are those of bombings, to which the anti-subversive fight, rallying and pacification responded in order to protect the civilian population. Others are those of ambushes and clashes, to which French troops responded through cordoning off and search military operations as well as counter guerrilla warfare carried out by her operational, legionnaires, parachutists and commando units often using helicopters as means of transportation or direct fire supports.

The war ended in 1962, with the Evian agreement recognizing the Independence of Algeria, which, in a few months, led to the exodus of the quasi-totality of the «pied-noir» (French colonial born in Algeria) population towards Metropolitan France, and the massacre of thousands of harkis (Algerian soldiers who fought on the French side in the Algerian War of independence) alongside volunteer auxiliaries who served in the French army.

According to a study carried out by the French Ministry of Defence, 1 700 000 is the estimated figure of persons, including Moroccans and Tunisians, who were mobilized by France during the Algerian War. The casualty figures are 25 000 dead and 100 000 injured. Neither do these figures include the loss suffered by harkis and French auxiliaries nor do they reflect the martyrdom of all those who stayed behind on Algerian soil during independence, believing in promises which were never kept, and who never had the opportunity of savouring "the peace of heroes".

All the volunteers who fought on the French side during this war, which was officially recognized as a war in its own right only several years later, will forever live to remember this tragedy and the sacrifice of their comrades-in-arms.

• Les "têtes chercheuses" du général Challe
• "A ceux des Commandos de chasse" par le Général Challe
• Groupement des Commandos Parachutistes de l'Air en Algérie
• Le Commando "Cobra"
• Le Commando de Chasse L124 en Algérie
• Les Commandos de Chasse
• Le Commando de Chasse "Georges"
• Les parachutistes en Algérie
• La légion en Algérie
• Les morts pour la France en AFN
• Les combattants de l' ALN