To All
Good Thursday Morning July 13 2023.
Regards,
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History:
July 13
1812
The frigate, USS Essex, commanded by Capt. David Porter, captures the merchant brig, Lamprey, in the Atlantic.
1854
The sloop of war, USS Cyane, bombards San Juan del Norte (Greytown), Nicaragua, in retaliation for ill-treatment of U.S. citizens. Marines and Sailors also seize weapons and powder in retribution for an attack on U.S. Consular officials for U.S. refusal to pay reparation.
1939
Rear Adm. Richard Byrd is appointed to command the 1939-1941 U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition. Under objectives outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Byrd establishes an east and west base and holds a wide range of scientific observations until international tensions end the expedition in early 1941.
1943
TBF aircraft (VC 13) based on board USS Core (ACV 13) sinks German submarine U 487, 720 miles south-southwest of Fayal, Azores.
1943
The Japanese are intercepted from landing reinforcements in the Solomon Islands, resulting in the night Battle of Kolombangara. During the battle, the U.S. Navy loses USS Gwin (DD 433).
1991
USS Kentucky (SSBN 737) is commissioned at Groton, Conn., the third Navy vessel to be named after the Bluegrass state. The thoroughbred of the Fleet is an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine.
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Today in World History: July 13
1099 The Crusaders launch their final assault on Jerusalem.
1534 Ottoman armies capture Tabriz in northwestern Persia.
1558 Led by the Count of Egmont, the Spanish army defeats the French at Gravelines, France.
1585 A group of 108 English colonists, led by Sir Richard Grenville, reaches Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
1643 In England, the Roundheads, led by Sir William Waller, are defeated by Royalist troops under Lord Wilmot in the Battle of Roundway Down.
1754 George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to the French, leaving them in control of the Ohio Valley.
1787 Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, enacts the Northwest Ordinance, establishing rules for governing the Northwest Territory, for admitting new states to the Union and limiting the expansion of slavery.
1798 English poet William Wordsworth visits the ruins of Tintern Abbey.
1832 Henry Schoolcraft discovers the source of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.
1862 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats a Union army at Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1863 Opponents of the draft begin three days of rioting in New York City.
1866 The Great Eastern begins a two week voyage to complete a 12-year effort to lay telegraph cable across the Atlantic between Britain and the United States.
1878 The Congress of Berlin divides the Balkans among European powers.
1939 Frank Sinatra records his first song, "From the Bottom of My Heart," with the Harry James Band.
1941 Britain and the Soviet Union sign a mutual aid pact, providing the means for Britain to send war materiel to the Soviet Union.
1954 In Geneva, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and France reach an accord on Indochina, dividing Vietnam into two countries, North and South, along the 17th parallel.
1971 The Army of Morocco executes 10 leaders accused of leading a revolt.
July 13 1943 The largest Tank Battle in History ends
There is a great book out there that details all the things on each side including the vulnerability of the German Tiger tanks that the Russians took advantage of to win this one.. skip
The Battle of Kursk, involving some 6,000 tanks, two million men, and 5,000 aircraft, ends with the German offensive repulsed by the Soviets at heavy cost.
In early July, Germany and the USSR concentrated their forces near the city of Kursk in western Russia, site of a 150-mile-wide Soviet pocket that jutted 100 miles into the German lines. The German attack began on July 5, and 38 divisions, nearly half of which were armored, began moving from the south and the north. However, the Soviets had better tanks and air support than in previous battles, and in bitter fighting Soviet antitank artillery destroyed as much as 40 percent of the German armor, which included their new Mark VI Tiger tanks. After six days of warfare concentrated near Prokhorovka, south of Kursk, the German Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge called off the offensive, and by July 23 the Soviets had forced the Germans back to their original positions.
In the beginning of August, the Soviets began a major offensive around the Kursk salient, and within a few weeks the Germans were in retreat all along the eastern front.
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post
Thanks to the Bear for burning up the ether as he tried to send these yesterday numerous times and before but my computer was not receiving them.
Skip… For The List for Thursday, 13 July 2023… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (2965-1968)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 13 July 1968…
RADM Riley Mixon (RIP) on "bombing halts"…
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
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From the archives
Thanks to Dan
Here is some more VHPA Data that Pete LaChat just forwarded to me:
From: Jack Gale <jackgale@gmail.com>
Subject: Copied from HAL-3
Date: July 10, 2022 at 9:24:02 PM PDT
These statistics are right from the U.S. Government. We had a VERY hazardous job over there.
The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) estimates that over 100,000 helicopter pilots and crew members served during the Vietnam War. Over 4,800 helicopter pilots and crew members were killed in action, and more than 300 are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
How many helicopters were shot down during the Vietnam War?
11,846 helicopters
According to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, a total of 11,846 helicopters were shot down or crashed during the war, resulting in nearly 5,000 American pilots and crew killed.
What was the casualty rate of helicopter pilots in Vietnam?
Over 10% of all combat and combat support deaths in Vietnam occurred in helicopter operations, a total of 6,175 (2,202 pilots, 2,704 aircrew and 1,269 passengers).
What was the deadliest job in Vietnam?
Overall, the U.S. military used nearly 12,000 helicopters in Vietnam, of which more than 5,000 were destroyed. To be a helicopter pilot or crew member was among the most dangerous jobs in the war.
And we only lost 44 men. I don't know the number for the choppers.
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From the archives
Thanks to Carl…..This is awesome
(Prepare yourself to be awed by the vastness of the universe!)
Breaking Down NASA Webb Space Telescope's First Images of the Invisible Universe The JWST delves into nebulas, colliding galaxies, an active black hole, and even provides a breakthrough look at an alien world.
July 12, 2022 9:22 a.m. PT
It's not often that the sequel is as good as the original, but the JWST's second image release certainly lived up to expectations set by the jaw-dropping deep field released on Monday evening. In fact, it surpassed it by leaps and bounds.
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From the archives
Thanks to Hawk
Guess who has the most
Subject: Time lapse map of every nuclear explosion ever on Earth | memolition
http://memolition.com/2013/10/16/time-lapse-map-of-every-nuclear-explosion-ever-on-earth/
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This Day in U S Military History…
July 13
1861 – Union General George B. McClellan distinguishes himself by routing Confederates under General Robert Garnett at Corrick's Ford in western Virginia. The battle ensured Yankee control of the region, secured the Union's east-west railroad connections, and set in motion the events that would lead to the creation of West Virginia. Two days before Corrick's Ford, Union troops under General William Rosecrans flanked a Confederate force at nearby Rich Mountain. The defeat forced Garnett to retreat from his position on Laurel Hill, while part of McClellan's force pursued him across the Cheat River. A pitched battle ensued near Corrick's Ford, in which Garnett was killed—the first general officer to die in the war. But losses were otherwise light, with only 70 Confederate, and 10 Union, casualties. The Battle of Corrick's Ford was a significant victory because it cleared the region of Confederates, but it is often overlooked, particularly because it was overshadowed by the Battle of Bull Run, which occurred shortly thereafter on July 21. However, the success made McClellan a hero, even though his achievements were inflated. Two weeks later, McClellan became commander of the Army of the Potomac, the primary Federal army in the east. Unfortunately for the Union, the small campaign that climaxed at Corrick's Ford was the zenith of McClellan's military career.
1863 – Rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City; about 1,000 people died over three days. Antiabolitionist Irish longshoremen rampaged against blacks in the deadly Draft Riots in New York City in response to Pres. Lincoln's announcement of military conscription. Mobs lynched a black man and torched the Colored Orphan Asylum.
1866 – Great Eastern began a two week voyage to complete a 12-year effort to lay telegraph cable across the Atlantic between Britain and the United States. Massachusetts merchant and financier Cyrus W. Field first proposed laying a 2,000-mile copper cable along the ocean bottom from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1854, but the first three attempts ended in broken cables and failure. Field's persistence finally paid off in July 1866, when Great Eastern, the largest ship then afloat, successfully laid the cable along the level, sandy bottom of the North Atlantic. As messages traveled between Europe and America in hours rather than weeks, Cyrus Field was showered with honors. Among the honors was this commemorative print referring to the cable as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
1866 – Colonel Henry Carrington begins construction on Fort Phil Kearny, the most important army outpost guarding the Bozeman Trail. In 1863, a Georgia-born frontiersman named John Bozeman blazed a wagon road that branched off from the Oregon Trail and headed northwest to the gold fields of western Montana. The trail passed through the traditional hunting grounds of the Sioux, and Chief Red Cloud attacked several wagon trains to try to stop the violation of Indian Territory. Despite the questionable legality of the Bozeman Trail, the U.S. government decided to keep it open and began building a series of protective army forts along the route. Colonel Henry Carrington was assigned the task of designing and building the largest and most important of these outposts, Fort Phil Kearny. A talented strategist and designer, Carrington planned the fort with care. He selected a site in northern Wyoming that was near a source of water and commanded a view over a good section of the Bozeman Trail. He began building on this day in 1866, setting up a timbering operation and sawmill to supply the thousands of logs needed for construction. By fall, Carrington had erected an imposing symbol of American military power. A tall wooden palisade surrounded a compound the size of three football fields. Inside the walls, Carrington built nearly 30 buildings, including everything from barracks and mess halls to a stage for the regimental band. Only the most massive and determined Indian attack would have been capable of taking Fort Phil Kearny. Unfortunately, Carrington's mighty fortress had one important flaw: the nearest stands of timber lay several miles away. To obtain the wood essential for heating and further construction, a detachment had to leave the confines of the fort every day. The Indians naturally began to prey on these "wood trains." In December, a massive Indian ambush wiped out a force of 80 soldiers under the command of Captain William Fetterman. Despite this weakness, Fort Phil Kearny was still a highly effective garrison. Nonetheless, the U.S. Army found it nearly impossible to halt completely the Indian attacks along the trail. In 1868, the government agreed to abandon all of the forts and close the trail in exchange for peace with the Indians. Immediately after the soldiers left, the Indians burned Carrington's mighty fortress to the ground.
1943 – The 10 Mountain Division came into being on July 13, 1943, at Camp Hale, Colorado as the 10th Light Division (Alpine). The combat power of the Division was contained in the 85th, 86th, and 87th Infantry Regiments. The Division's year training at the 9,200 foot high Camp Hale honed the skills of its soldiers to fight and survive under the most brutal mountain conditions.
The Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
ADRIANCE, HARRY CHAPMAN
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 October 1864, Oswego, N.Y. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Adriance distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
BREWSTER, ANDRE W.
Rank and organization: Captain, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: Philadelphia, Pa. Birth: Hoboken, N.J. Date of issue: 15 September 1903. Citation: While under fire rescued 2 of his men from drowning.
COONEY, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 July 1860, Limerick, Ireland. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Cooney distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
FOLEY, ALEXANDER JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 19 February 1866, Heckersville, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy in the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Foley distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
LAWTON, LOUIS B.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: Auburn, N.Y. Birth: Independence, lowa. Date of i55ue: 11 March 1902. Citation: Carried a message and guided reinforcements across a wide and fireswept space, during which he was thrice wounded.
MATHIAS, CLARENCE EDWARD
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 12 December 1876, Royalton, Pa. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In the presence of the enemy during the advance on Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900, Mathias distinguished himself by meritorious conduct.
SUTTON, CLARENCE EDWIN
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 18 February 1871, Middlesex County, Va. Accredited to: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 55, 19 July 1901. Citation: In action during the battle near Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Although under heavy fire from the enemy, Sutton assisted in carrying a wounded officer from the field of battle.
*VON SCHLICK, ROBERT H.
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Tientsin, China, 13 July 1900. Entered service at: San Erancisco, Calif. Birth: Germany. Date of issue: Unknown. Citation: Although previously wounded while carrying a wounded comrade to a place of safety, rejoined his command, which partly occupied an exposed position upon a dike, remaining there after his command had been withdrawn, singly keeping up the fire, and obliviously presenting himself as a conspicuous target until he was literally shot off his position by the enemy.
PITTS, RYAN M.
Rank and Organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and Date: July 13, 2008, Wanat ViIlage, Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Entered Service At: Boston, MA. Accredited To: . Born: 1985 , LOWELL, MA. G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 07/21/2014. Departed: No. Citation: Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts distinguished himself by extraordinary acts of heroism at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a Forward Observer in 2d Platoon, Chosen Company, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade during combat operations against an armed enemy at Vehicle Patrol Base Kahler in the vicinity of Wanat Village, Kunar Province, Afghanistan on July 13, 2008. Early that morning, while Sergeant Pitts was providing perimeter security at Observation Post Topside, a well-organized Anti-Afghan Force consisting of over 200 members initiated a close proximity sustained and complex assault using accurate and intense rocket-propelled grenade, machine gun and small arms fire on Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base. An immediate wave of rocket-propelled grenade rounds engulfed the Observation Post wounding Sergeant Pitts and inflicting heavy casualties. Sergeant Pitts had been knocked to the ground and was bleeding heavily from shrapnel wounds to his arm and legs, but with incredible toughness and resolve, he subsequently took control of the Observation Post and returned fire on the enemy. As the enemy drew nearer, Sergeant Pitts threw grenades, holding them after the pin was pulled and the safety lever was released to allow a nearly immediate detonation on the hostile forces. Unable to stand on his own and near death because of the severity of his wounds and blood loss, Sergeant Pitts continued to lay suppressive fire until a two-man reinforcement team arrived. Sergeant Pitts quickly assisted them by giving up his main weapon and gathering ammunition all while continually lobbing fragmentary grenades until these were expended. At this point, Sergeant Pitts crawled to the northern position radio and described the situation to the Command Post as the enemy continued to try and isolate the Observation Post from the main Patrol Base. With the enemy close enough for him to hear their voices and with total disregard for his own life, Sergeant Pitts whispered in the radio situation reports and conveyed information that the Command Post used to provide indirect fire support. Sergeant Pitts' courage, steadfast commitment to the defense of his unit and ability to fight while seriously wounded prevented the enemy from overrunning the Observation Post and capturing fallen American soldiers, and ultimately prevented the enemy from gaining fortified positions on higher ground from which to attack Wanat Vehicle Patrol Base. Sergeant Ryan M. Pitts' extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Company C, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade and the United States Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for July 13, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
13 July
1911: Glenn Curtiss flew the Navy's second aircraft, the A-2, at Hammondsport for the first time; Lt Thomas G. Ellyson flew the second flight. (24)
1916: The 1st Aero Company, from New York's National Guard, became the first Guard unit to be mobilized into Federal Service in answer to the border crisis with Mexico. The unit trained at Mineola, but did not deploy to the border. (21)
1918: The 1st Marine Aviation Force left Miami for Philadelphia, where the Marines boarded the De Kalb Navy Transport for France. They disembarked at Brest on 30 July. (10)
1921: KEY EVENT. Brig Gen William "Billy" Mitchell's Martin MB-2 and Handley Page bombers sank several ships off the Virginia Capes. The tests studied the use of bombs on ships to suggest how ship design could counter an air attack. The bombers sank a German sub, the destroyer G-102, the light cruiser Frankfurt, and the battleship Ostfriesland on 21 July to prove that unopposed aircraft could sink capital ships. (5) (18)
1948: The first of three Consolidated Vultee rocket research test vehicles built under a cancelled research contract with the US AAF launched successfully. (6)
1950: KOREAN WAR. An Air Weather Service RB-29 led the first strategic bombing strike from Japan against North Korea. The FEAF Bomber Command sent 49 B-29s from the 22 BG and 92 BG to attack oil refineries and marshalling yards at the port of Wonsan. (1) (2) (28) The 3 ARS began flying SB-17s off the Korean coast to drop rescue boats to downed B-29 crews. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. Far East Air Forces initiated a new general warning leaflet drop program over enemy territory. The new leaflet identified specific towns and targets to be destroyed by air attacks. (28)
1959: PROJECT SKYHOOK. The Office of Naval Research sent a "record-sized" plastic balloon to 139,500 feet in altitude. (24) The 4530th Combat Crew Training Wing at Williams AFB, Ariz., graduated the last active duty F-86F class (60A). Operation HERCULES ARK. The 4440th Air Delivery Group airlifted 20 calves donated by businessmen in Waco, Texas, to Colonel Dean Hess's Orphans Home of Korea. (11)
1965: SAC issued a requirement for a mobile ICBM. (6)
1967: DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSSES. Nine Air Force, eight Navy, and one Marine astronaut received DFCs for their Mercury and Gemini space flights. (16)
1968: An FB-111A bomber successfully completed a 30-minute maiden flight from Carswell AFB.
1972: At Eglin AFB, the GAM-72A Quail missile completed its last operational test in an overwater flight. (6) 1
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Thanks to Brett
I never knew the extent of what happened here
Geopolitical Futures:
Daily Memo: The Bitter Legacy of French Colonization of Algeria
The conflict has returned as a new Algeria takes shape.
By: Hilal Khashan
July 13, 2023
Algerian-French relations have never been normal. They've never been governed by the principles and customs of traditional diplomacy between countries. The Algerians' collective consciousness is traumatized by the historical memory of unbridled occupation. More than 60 years after the end of the Algerian war, the wounds are still open on both sides despite the occasional symbolic gesture by France, which refuses to express regret or apologize. French President Emmanuel Macron angered Algeria two years ago by accusing the its military-political establishment of writing an official history of the colonial period based on falsehoods and of inciting hatred toward France. However, attestations by senior French military officers who fought in Algeria about how they commanded their troops contradict Macron's claims.
Occupation of Algeria
France has intended to occupy Algeria since the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1808, he assigned engineer Vincent-Yves Boutin to prepare a study on the Algerian coast and to craft a detailed map of the best landing site for the French army. However, these plans were put on hold after Napoleon's disastrous defeat in the 1812 Russian campaign, subsequent losses at Leipzig and elsewhere, and eventual abdication after the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1814. Following a diplomatic incident in 1827, the French blockaded the port of Algiers, made easy by the destruction of the Algerian fleet during the Battle of Navarino. In 1830, King Charles X ordered an invasion of Algeria partly to deflect attention from his domestic difficulties. The French occupation of Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962 and was the most prolonged and heinous colonial occupation in modern history.
During its colonization of Algeria, France sought to erase the country's culture and dismantle its society through genocide. France discouraged the use of Arabic and forced the Algerians to use French. It impoverished them by seizing arable land, giving it to the French colonialists, and stealing natural resources like as oil and gas. It implemented draconian policies toward the indigenous population, including impoverishment, displacement, bloodshed and the monopolization of Algeria's markets. French officers often gave peasants a choice between providing food or suffering extermination. They pointed their guns at villages while the villagers walked toward them carrying eggs, sheep, chickens and honey. French-colonized Algeria provided all means of livelihood for the new settlers from France and the rest of Europe, entitling them to own Algeria's most fertile land. The first European settlement goes back to 1836, and by the end of the 19th century there were 1 million settlers in Algeria, mostly French but also Italians and Spaniards. France was keen on strengthening Europe's presence in Algeria and on eradicating its Arab and Islamic identity in favor of Christianizing the country. France used Algeria as a springboard to the rest of North Africa, the Sahel and Africa's Atlantic territories.
Genocidal Massacres
The French did not seize Algeria quickly. Algerians put up fierce resistance, prompting the French army to use unusual cruelty. By 1849, they succeeded in subduing the country, especially in the north, two years after Emir Abdelkader surrendered to Gen. Louis Juchault de Louis Juchault de Lamoricie. Before pacifying Algeria, France committed systematic killings, torture and crimes against humanity. In 1960, France conducted its first 17 nuclear tests in southern Algeria. Three years ago, France returned to Algiers the skulls of 24 Algerian fighters killed and beheaded by the French army during the battle of Zaatcha in 1849. The French army sent the skulls to Paris as war trophies. For Algerians, the skulls – part of the Museum of Mankind's 18,000-skull collection – attested to French colonial barbarism and fascination with decapitation that goes back to inventing the guillotine in 1792.
Marshall Thomas Bugeaud said the objective of the French campaign against Algeria was to occupy it with the sword and the plow: "The sword is on the necks of the Arabs, and the plow is in the hands of the French colonizer." In November 1830, the French garrison in Blida, southwest of Algiers, massacred the civilian population to avenge a rebel attack, killing an untold number of the downtown residents. They did not spare babies, slitting their throats in their mothers' arms. Describing a separate massacre at El Ouffia, southeast of Algiers, Gen. Anne Jean Marie Rene Savary said French soldiers rode on horseback and carried human heads on the blades of their swords as onlookers gazed at the slaughtered women with their severed forearms and ears. Commenting on the massacre, the French commander-in-chief congratulated his forces for the enthusiasm and intelligence they showed on that occasion. Gen. Nicolas Changarnier said the only entertainment he allowed in the winter to his troops, stationed in Wadi El Harrach and Bourkika, was marauding the tribes in the area.
In 1844, the French turned the Ketchaoua Mosque, one of Algeria's most famous historical mosques, into an armory and a residence for bishops. When thousands of Algerian protesters sat inside it, the French soldiers killed them all. Gen. Eugene Cavaignac's troops committed some of the most gruesome atrocities during his deployment in Algeria in the 1830s. He believed that excessive violence against Algerians was unavoidable on the path to civilizing them. In one instance in 1845, a French army commander ordered fumigating more than 750 Algerians who sought shelter in a cave and refused to surrender. Col. Lucien de Montagnac proudly declared that he cut off heads – not artichoke heads, but many human heads. He said some of the soldiers told him that their officers urged them not to leave any Arab alive, and he added that the soldiers he was honored to command were afraid that their officers would order their flogging if they brought in a living Arab. French soldiers committed many crimes against civilians – executing raids that were frequently referred to as "razzias" – by killing and displacing them and stealing their possessions and sources of livelihood, which became a source of food for the troops.
Francois Canrobert, celebrated for his spectacular bravery as a light infantry battalion commander, wrote in his memoirs that his unit burned the villages of the Amazigh Beni Snous tribe. The soldiers did not hesitate to kill the elderly, women and children because no one could defend them. The most brutal act was the killing of women after raping them. Razzia spread among the soldiers of the French army. It was a method of systematic destruction, sparing neither people nor property. The generals of France's Army of Africa, whether royalists, republicans or Bonapartists, considered their actions to be glorious. The first phase of the occupation of Algeria involved reducing the population so that it would no longer threaten the French forces. Between 1830 and the beginning of the French Third Republic in 1870, the local population decreased by about 875,000.
The French promised the Algerians self-rule if they fought alongside them. The number of Algerian soldiers who fought with the Free French Forces in World War II reached 175,000, of whom 26,000 died during the war. Algerian soldiers were always in the first ranks of the war, forming shields for the French troops. When the war ended, the Algerians protested peacefully to express their joy, hoping France would keep its promises. Instead, the French military and pied-noir settlers killed at least 45,000 Algerians in the Setif and Guelma demonstrations on May 8, 1945. France reneged on its promises, paving the way for the 1954 Algerian War of Independence. In Vietnam, Algerians in the Foreign Legion saw what happened in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and how a Third World irregular military force defeated the vaunted French army. They decided to rise to arms to gain Algeria's independence, which they did six months later.
On Oct. 17, 1961, the French police committed a massacre by order of the Paris police chief, Maurice Papon, against Algerians who participated in a peaceful demonstration, killing at least 200 demonstrators. More than 800 others disappeared, and reports claim that the police officers threw them into the sewers and the Seine River. Although Charles de Gaulle knew what happened, he kept the officers responsible for the massacre in their positions.
Discrimination, Resistance and Betrayal
The 1870 Cremieux Decree granted French citizenship to Algeria's Jewish community and denied it to Muslims. Their exclusion from the naturalization law was a prelude to the 1881 Indigenous People Law, which required them to obey Europeans unthinkingly. A list of 41 punishable acts included opening a school without a permit, refusal to work on European farms, delay in paying taxes, assembly of more than five persons and uttering anti-French phrases. The law gave the governor-general unfettered power to impose punishments without trial in the interest of public security. It also entitled him to adopt the principle of collective responsibility in response to personal offenses and authorized administrators and mayors to imprison people and confiscate their property without a judicial ruling. Gen. Charles de Gaulle repealed the law in 1944, giving Algerian Muslims French rights.
In 1827, the French minister of war, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, said in his report to the French Cabinet that the occupation of Algeria would lead to its people's civilization and Christianization. In 1904, the French governor-general of Algeria issued a decree banning the opening of Arabic-language schools without a license from the military authority. The license stipulated allegiance to France and a pledge to refrain from teaching about Islam or the history of Algeria and the Arab world. However, France failed to erase the Islamic identity of the Algerian people despite the intensity of missionary activity and its fight against the Arabic language, prompting exasperated French lawmakers to accuse the Algerians of living on the margins of history.
The French government did not express interest in allowing its Algerian collaborators, known as Harkis, to immigrate to France. However, French officers who commanded them helped about 10 percent of them to make it to France in violation of official instructions. In France, they lived in squalid camps, and scores of children died of disease and poor medical care. Those who stayed behind endured reprisals and defamation.
The Rift Deepens
Algeria's current president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said a sweet word could not erase 132 years of French colonization. A protest movement from 2019 to 2021 raised demands to expel France and the French language from Algeria. Tebboune identified with the matter because of the intractable differences with France and its refusal to apologize for its colonial past. The Algerian government tightened the screws on the French language, which had dominated all aspects of life. The Ministry of Culture also told its departments and institutions to revert to using the Arabic language in transactions and activities in compliance with the provisions of the Constitution. Some Algerians said the measure reflects the Algeria the people want, and although it came late, it is good. Many described this long-awaited decision as equivalent to the departure of the last French soldier from Algeria.
Relations between Algeria and France have recently hit a new low. Tebboune issued a decree in June requiring the full performance of the Algerian national anthem on official occasions. The anthem contains the lines: "Oh, France, the day of reckoning is coming, so get ready and take the answer from us." This prompted angry statements from French officials. A new banknote issued last year and featuring text in both English and Arabic also sparked outrage in France. Algeria has also started teaching English at the primary school level instead of French as part of the dispute with Paris over cultural memory.
The colonial legacy of the political disharmony between Algeria and France became an ideological struggle. The conflict has returned in the context of divergent interests between Macron and the new Algeria led by Tebboune, as well as French pressure on Algeria to halt its political, economic and cultural transformation. The crimes committed by France against the Algerian people left deep wounds that have not yet healed, primarily because of the unresolved history between the two countries. Algeria insists that France take political and legal steps to do justice to memory and history. France rejects Algerian demands, arguing that memory belongs to historians. French historian Benjamin Stora said history unites Algerians and French, but memory separates them.
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