Tag Archives: algeria

Mix and Match in the Mountains

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Some 70 years ago this month.

The Ouarsenis mountains of northwestern French Algeria, between 12 January and 5 February 1956.

How about this great snapshot of an element of the French GPI (groupement parachutiste d’intervention) deploying to the field as part of Operation Iris? Note the three Sikorsky H-34 (S-58) Choctaws in the background.

Réf. : ALG 59-116 Photographe inconnu/ECPAD/Défense

Zooming in shows not only the joyous faces of the young beret-clad paras, but also their interesting mix of gear to include lots of MAS-36 bolt-action rifles, a handful of MAT-49 SMGs with their magwells folded, at least two FM-24/29 light machine guns, and a M1/M2 carbine.

Note the TTA47/51 lizard camo smocks, which would remain in service throughout most of the Cold War and would be seen again by 2e REP paras on the dark continent in Kolwezi 1978. Others wear U.S. M41 jackets, while a few wear early TTA47s cut from surplus German Wehrmacht oakleaf fabric left behind in France after WWII.

The four reinforced battalion-sized parachute regiments of the GPI (the 1st REP, 1st REC, and the 1st and 2nd RPC) in July 1956 would go on to form the equally short-lived 10e Division Parachutiste (10e DP), which would serve in Operation Musketeer in the Suez in October-November then gain infamy in the Battle of Algiers in 1957 with their berets replaced by new peaked Bigeard caps– which in turn would be copied and modified by the Portuguese on the continent and the Rhodesians in their own Bush Wars.

Later joined by a fifth regiment (the 3rd RPC), it would take part in the so-called Battle of the Frontiers along the Tunisian border in 1958, the massive Operation Jumelles sweep against the ALN in Algeria in 1959-60, and would be disbanded following the attempted generals’ putsch in 1961.

Bearing the Torch, 76 years ago today

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U.S. troops aboard a landing craft head for the beaches during Operation Torch of the North African Campaign Oran, Algeria. 8 November 1942.

Imperial War Museum photo. Hudson, F A (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer

Note the man wearing the old school “Brodie” helmet in the back of the boat, probably a Royal Navy man, as the group had spent 22 days aboard the converted ocean liner RMS Orbita on the voyage from Scotland to North Africa. The men aren’t wearing unit patches, but the cased gear to the front right look to be marked “1-19” which could be 1st Bn/19th INF Regt, which at the time was in the States and would later serve in the Pacific. In fact, they are men of the 1st coy, 19th Engineer Battalion, who did take part in the Torch landings.

Less than a year after Pearl Harbor, the Torch landings would be the U.S. Army’s first brush with war in the ETO. Other than a few officers and NCOs with Great War experience or service in the National Guard, most of these men were recent volunteers and draftees, living ordinary lives in George Bailey’s America and had only held a gun when going hunting or at a carnival shooting gallery. It’s a good thing the French didn’t really have the inclination to mix it up. The 19th Engineers went on to serve at the horrors of the Kasserine Pass (where they lost 3/4 of their active strength and it was reported that “the 19th Engineers no longer exist”) and the Rapido River, where the Germans were much more ready to fight.

As noted by the Army “During World War II, The battalion conducted five amphibious landings while accompanying the victorious allied armies through Africa, Italy, France, Germany, and Austria. The battalion had suffered 902 combat casualties including 144 killed in action. For their gallantry and service, the battalion was awarded 10 campaign streamers from World War II, and soldiers from the battalion were awarded 7 Silver Stars and 13 Bronze Stars”

Below is a great doc on the 19th, with several interviews with vets, and directly shows the above image as a reference.

The 19th is still on active duty, based at Fort Knox.