A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 (81 page)

27.
Above:
A paratrooper guards Algiers town hall against jeering
pieds noirs
.

28.
Below:
The Muslim reaction: a French army unit rounds up “pillagers”.

33.
Above:
The “battle of the transistors”. French servicemen listen to news of the putsch during the day of 23 April.

The generals’ putsch, April 1961.

29–32.
Left:
The four generals who led the revolt.
Top, left to right:
General Raoul Salan, General André Zeller.
Bottom, left to right:
General Edmond Jouhoud and General Maurice Challe.

34.
Below:
Tanks guard the National Assembly, Paris.

35.
Above:
March 1962. As French and Muslim leaders prepared to meet in Evian, attacks—both F.L.N. and O.A.S. inspired—increased in Algiers.

36.
Below:
February 1962. Demonstration against O.A.S. outrages in Paris.

37.
Above:
“A solution of good sense”. De Gaulle announces the cease-fire on 18 March 1962, following the Evian peace talks.

38.
Right:
Exodus: nearly a half million
pieds noirs
abandon their homes and livelihoods and pour back destitute into metropolitan France.

39.
Above:
1962. The victorious A.L.N. welcomes the members of Wilayas 1 and 6 in the Stade Ruisseau. Centre, Ben Bella, on his left, Colonel Boumedienne, Colonel Mendjli; on his right, Saadi Yacef, Colonel Slimane.

40.
Below:
1975. The page is turned. President Boumedienne of Algeria greets President Giscard d’Estaing as he arrives on the first visit by a French head of state since independence.

[
1
] At the long-awaited “Barricades Trial”, which started in November 1960 and lasted three months, sentences were surprisingly mild; Lagaillarde, bombastic as ever in front of the court, and demanding that his “more distinguished actions” of May 1958 be taken into account, was given ten years, but placed at provisional liberty, from which he promptly absconded; Ortiz was sentenced to death
in absentia
; Susini, despite jumping bail, received no more than a two-year suspended sentence; Colonel Gardes, the only serving officer on trial, was acquitted—as were a dozen others.

[
2
] Not to be confused with the “disappeared” Wilaya 4 chief, Colonel Si M’hamed, alias Ahmed Bougarra.

[
3
] In operations involving signals intelligence, the B.E.L. seems to have reached a peak of excellence at about this time. According to Jacquin, almost simultaneously with “Tilsit” a successful coup had also been mounted against the command of Wilaya 5 (Oranie). Intercepts revealed that Boumedienne’s successor, Colonel Lotfi, was on his way back from Morocco to his headquarters in western Algeria. His precise route determined, he and his escort were ambushed and wiped out. Before A.L.N. headquarters in Morocco could learn of the Wilaya commander’s fate, the B.E.L. had a “false Colonel Lotfi” reporting on the air over the captured transmitter. For several months the “playback” continued, with “Colonel Lotfi” calling repeatedly for reinforcements, arms and money, all of which fell into French ambushes, until finally the ruse was tumbled to. The operation only increased the general sense of insecurity suffered by the Wilayas of the “interior”, and distrust between them and the high command of the “exterior”.