The Battle of Philippeville was part of the Algerian War between France and Algerian rebels, primarily the National Liberation Front (FLN) The battle took place on August 20, 1955 and centered on the Algerian town of Philippeville, though the FLN also made attacks on surrounding areas.

[edit] Prelude

The Algerian War had begun on November 1, 1954 when the first major attack of the FLN was launched, consisting of "scores of scores of spectacular attacks."^[1] The conflict began to escalate, as evidenced by the remarks of then-Minister of the Interior, François Mitterrand: "I will not agree to negotiate with the enemies of the homeland. The only negotiation is war!"^[2] The French adopted an increasingly aggressive policy in Algeria, and in early March 1955, the French government of Prime Minister Pierre Mendes-France was replaced by that of Edgar Faure.

To help combat the insurgency, Paul Aussaresses was dispatched to restart the intelligence unit from scratch, which had been disbanded during peacetime.^[3] Aussaresses set up the unit and started to collect intelligence and establish a network of informants and field agents.

[edit] The battle

Aussaresses was surprised by a set of attacks the FLN launched on June 18, 1955, which his intelligence unit had not heard anything about beforehand. After this, a more proactive policy was adopted, which resulted in the discovery of the FLN's plan to launch a massive frontal assault on August 20 at noon, with the primary objective of taking Philippeville. The FLN was not powerful enough to capture a large city, such as the capital at Algiers, but Philippeville was a mid-sized town and an important port city.

In the days before the attack, FLN commandos took up positions in cellars within the town, while several thousand more fellagha prepared to attack the French forces in Philippeville , which numbered about 400.^[4] The French quietly prepared for the anticipated attack, not even acting against the commandos who they knew were there, for fear that the FLN would realize the French had discovered their plan.

Action first broke out during the hour before attack, when the deputy police commissioner in charge of public safety, Superintendent Filiberti, took 4 men outside of town to make an unrelated arrest. The 4 men were pinned down by about 500 fellagha, but eventually able to fall back around a half hour before the attack began. The main attack began around noon, and the fellagha, under the influence of narcotics,^[5] attacked without any regard to their safety. They did not expect the French to see the attack coming, and were surprised when the French had set up positions to defend the city, as well as defend against the commandos which emerged from the cellars. There were 134 fellagha killed in the streets of Philippeville, and several hundred more wounded; French losses were about a hundred wounded and two dead (one killed while taking a wounded enemy to the hospital, the other while storming a cellar instead of luring the fellagha out or destroying the building).^[6]

While the main assault was going on, there were also side actions in the countryside around Constantine. One was an attack on El-Halia, a sulphur-mining community where 130 Europeans had lived with about 2,000 Algerian Muslims in peace. The Muslims were encouraged to rise up against the Europeans after the FLN told them there would be no risk, because Egyptian and American troops were landing that day to expel the French from Algeria..^[7] Led by the FLN, babies were chopped into pieces and smashed against walls, while women were raped, disemboweled and decapitated.^[8] The men were off working in the mines when the fellagha attacked. Their weapons were locked up because the person in charge of the key had gone to the beach, but were later relieved by 200 fresh recruits, supported by two T-6 trainer aircraft.

[edit] References

1. ^ Aussaresses, Paul [Gen.]. The Battle of the Casbah." Enigma Books, 2006, p.1. ISBN 1929631308
2. ^ Aussaresses, p. 2
3. ^ Aussaresses, p. 11
4. ^ Aussaresses, p. 35
5. ^ Aussaresses, p. 44
6. ^ Aussaresses, pp. 42-43
7. ^ Aussaresses, p. 49
8. ^ Aussaresses, pp. 47-48