My Battle Of Algiers: A Memoir

by Ted Morgan

In My Battle of Algiers, an eminent historian and biographer recounts his own experiences in the savage Algerian War, an event all too reminiscent of America's present difficulties in Iraq.

Ted Morgan recalls a war that we would do well not to forget. A Yale graduate who had grown up in both France and America -- he was then known as Sanche de Gramont and was then a French citizen -- he was drafted into the French Army and served in Algeria 1956 and '57. In this memoir, Morgan relives the harrowing conflict in which every Arab was considered a terrorist -- and increasingly, many were.

As a newly minted second lieutenant, he spends months in the back country -- the bled -- where everyone, including himself, becomes involved in unimaginable barbarities. "You cannot fight a guerrilla war with humanitarian principles," a superior officer tells Morgan early on. He beats up and kills a prisoner who won't talk and may have been responsible for the death of a friend. He kills another man in a firefight. He sees men die in encounters too small to be recorded, ones that his fellow soldiers quickly forget. For Morgan, the memories will never go away.

Later, in Algiers, Morgan's journalistic experience -- he had spent all of four months as a reporter on the Worcester, MA, Telegram -- gets him a job writing for an official newspaper. He lives through the day-to-day struggle to put down an Arab urban insurgency, the first in modern history, with its unrelenting menu of bombings, assassinations, torture, show trials, executions, and the deliberate humiliation of prisoners. He misses death when a beach casino explodes just as he is going in for lunch. He becomes disillusioned with the war and what it is doing to his country. He is himself arrested, but not for the real offense he committed, helping a deserter to escape.

Though the events Ted Morgan describes so vividly happened nearly half a century ago in Algiers, they might as well have taken place in Baghdad today.

Genres: History, Africa, Nonfiction, France, Algeria, Memoir, Military History

284 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Born Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont*, he used the name Sanche de Gramont as his byline (and also on his books) during the early part of his career. He worked as a journalist for many years, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for local reporting written under pressure of a deadline. He first came to the United States in 1937, and became a naturalized citizen in February 1977, at which time he had his name legally changed to Ted Morgan. He was a National Book Award finalist in 1982 for Maugham: A Biography.


*His father was a military pilot who died in an accident in 1943, at which point he inherited the title "Comte de Gramont". He was properly styled "Saint-Charles Armand Gabriel, Comte de Gramont" until he renounced his title upon becoming a U.S. citizen in 1977.

Reviews

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at a random thrift store that had a small number of books, but found this gem amidst the trash. But I recognized the author's name 'Ted Morgan', as the author of 'Wilderness at Dawn' which I read years ago. Turns out Ted Morgan is an anagram of Sanche de Gramont, his French name. Anyway, the subject of Algiers was of interest to me. I read Alistair Horne's masterpiece 'A Savage War of Peace' some years back but nothing else on the Algerian war (1954-62). Morgan was born in France but lived in U.S. when he was drafted into the French Army and ended up in Algeria. This is a very interesting first-hand account of his time in Algeria in 1956-57, but written many years after the events in question (2005). He must have a good memory because it reads very much like it just happened and is a fascinating look at this pivotal event in French, North African and even world history. Many later events in the Middle East are foreshadowed in the Algerian War, most notably widespread use of terror attacks against civilians by the Algerian rebels and the French of torture to fight back. Waterboarding Iraq-style would have been a very good day in the French prisons of the era. A good movie to watch in conjunction with this book is 'The Battle of Algiers' which was made in 1966 and filmed on location in Algiers. Many of the events portrayed in the movie were confirmed in Morgan's book and he mentions the movie. Many of the events in the Battle of Algiers and the focus of the film took place in 1956-57 within the so-called Casbah, the ancient citadel area of the city with a dense population (of Arabs), tightly clustered buildings and narrow winding streets. The movie is filmed on location and worth it just to see the old city Casbah. And you will never hear the old Clash song 'Rock the Casbah' in the same way again! I never really understood the lyrics before, but reading them now you'd be forgiven surmising that they would be banned by the woke crowd (who often compete with the worst Imams for general intolerance) for Islamophobia! Just a few lines:
"By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
The Shareef don't like it
Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah"

The book could have used some photos of the primary players and a list of recommended reading.
But overall this was a wonderful first-hand account of a mostly forgotten moment in history.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ted Morgan, born in Switzerland in 1932, the son of a French diplomat, his original name was Comte St. Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont. His family later moved to the US and he attended Yale University and worked as a reporter. Then he was drafted into the French Army in 1955 and sent to Algeria in 1956. This book is a memoir of Morgan's time in Algeria, 1956-57 in which he was a reluctant participant in the Algerian War.

Certainly not a complete look at the Algerian War, but interesting nevertheless for his perspective as a French-American.

When he became a US citizen in 1977, he legally changed his name to Ted Morgan, an anagram of de Gramont.

[Lisa Brantly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom just finished & it was excellent ("Could have been a spy novel ")

[Vivek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read about war. Ted Morgan was a french citizen working at an American newspaper (his father had been a French diplomat in the United States before he died serving in World War II) in the fall of 1955 when he received notification that he had been conscripted into the French Army during that country's effort to stamp out an anti-colonial rebellion in Algeria. Morgan, who didn't seem to have especially strong loyalties to France, joined out of a sense of obligation to the memory of his father. In this book (written and published after the US invasion of Iraq) he recounts his personal experience as a soldier in Algeria, focusing on the "Battle of Algiers" - an effort by the French to battle guerrilla terrorism on the part of the nationalist FLN in the capital city.

Morgan does a good job of concisely summarizing the reasons for the conflict in Algeria and its course prior to his involvement. Where the book really shines is in his narrative of his involvement in the war and its many tragedies. Morgan's observations are poignant but concise and to the point - he does not waste any ink making his account overly dramatic or by long discourses about his views of the morality of war. I never got the sense that Morgan was preaching. He recounts horrors committed by both sides, and paints a picture of how a conflict like this inevitably results in the loss of innocence all around.

Near the end of the book, Morgan reflects:
"The Algerian experience did not enrich me; it diminished me. Young men are sent out to fight wars and are placed in situations they are not prepared to deal with. I was deeply ashamed of what I had done in Champlain, but at the same time I did not recognize the right to be criticized by those who had not been put in harm's way. It's a little too easy to sit in one's living room and watch TV and be horrified by the reprehensible acts committed by men in combat. Only those who have been there have the right to do that, and I have been horrified at myself, and I have known myself to be morally compromised.

I really enjoyed Morgan's voice in the narrative, and look forward to reading more autobiographical works by him.

[JennyB · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lot better than you think it is going to be. Less a work of military history than a personal memoir set amidst a military campaign, it's both interesting and educational. Although I studied French as an undergraduate, I feel like I learned a lot about speaking French, and very little about France's colonial experiences in Algeria. Given that France struggles with the legacy of that endeavor as much as they did with the execution of it, I guess that is not surprising.

In any case, one thing I like about Morgan's memoir is his crash course on France's presence in Algeria: it's quick, concise and clear -- the perfect basis in case you choose to pursue further reading on the topic (such as Alistair Horne's Savage War of Peace, which I hope to pick up one fine day). The other thing I like is the "unvarnished" portrait Morgan gives not just of France's motivations and tactics in the war (which wasn't a war, by the way, since Algeria was France, and France was *emphatically* not at war with itself, oh dear no), but of himself. Most narrators will bowlderize, presenting you with the parts you will admire and respect. Morgan gives you warts and all, and unapologetically. As an American programmed to accept people's teary and apologetic confessions, I find his simple honesty bracing. I also find his book eminently worthy of a read for anyone interested in this topic, or America's prosecution of the war in Iraq. Ils sont pareil, ces deux guerres.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well-written and interesting tale of a complex and often-misunderstood time and place.

Those familiar with the "Battle of Algiers" film of the late 1960s will be interested in this book, and also will learn (if, like me, you didn't know already) that the film covers only a very small portion of the actual Algiers and Algerian conflict.

The book is relevant today in many ways, even though Algeria is a much different place. Still, plenty of lessons to apply to the current battle against Islamofascism. Interestingly enough, in the 1950s the battle was about Arab nationalism, not religion -- so are those people any better off today? I suppose so.

There's a little about this book that makes me wonder how much fiction has entered the story-telling, but one often must ask the same question about many memoirs, and perhaps it really doesn't matter if the "truth" is there.

12/17/23: Just looked at the "progress notes" on this book again and noticed that in 2016 I hoped to see the "Battle of Algiers" film again, having seen it the first time in the 1970s. Well, I did see it again a couple years ago and would reiterate that anyone who has the opportunity to see the movie SHOULD. Good movie-making and good story about a disturbing time.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morgan's narrative style is lacking flair but abundantly clear. He writes this memoir with the insight of a historian, bearing witness to the complexities of the Algerian conflict. Morgan tells it down the middle for the most part, showing the wrongs committed on both sides, as well as the reasons that the FLN wanted Independence and the French wanted to maintain their colony.

I was really disappointed by Morgan's presentation of his role in the conflict. For the most part the book feels like a straight historical account of the Battles of Algiers, with Morgan's history providing only the smallest context. I really wanted his perspective to be more prominent, especially giving a more descriptive account of some of the things he saw. When Morgan reported his involvement, it still felt very historic rather than personal. The impersonality of the book made some sections very boring, as he deliberately and carefully catalogs the larger moments of the war without providing that much insight.

Overall it was a good book for understanding the progression of the conflict, and providing some understanding of the personalities that ran the FLN and the French. But it was not spectacular by any means.

[Laurent Reinhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engrossing memoir by French-American historian and journalist Ted Morgan about his 1956-1957 French Army service in Algeria during its war of independence from France. Born Count Sanche Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont, he grew up on both sides of the Atlantic and later in life changed his name to Ted Morgan, an anagram of de Gramont. An unflinching account of wartime service as seen at ground level through the lens of national and personal flaws. Timeless in its depiction of insurgency and counterinsurgency, applicable in many ways to US experiences in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Morgan returned to Algiers in 1961 as correspondent for the Herald Tribune, "but that's another story" I hope to read someday. "The Algerian experience did not enrich me; it diminished me. Young men are sent off to fight wars and are placed in situations they are not prepared to deal with. I was deeply ashamed of what I had done in Champlain, but at the same time, I did not recognize the right to be criticized by those who had not been put in harm's way. It's a little too easy to sit in one's living room and watch TV and be horrified by the reprehensible acts committed by men in combat. Only those who have been there have the right to do that, and I have been horrified at myself, and I have known myself to be morally compromised." p264

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts by explaining how Algeria became a French colony. Then the author provides a brief history of his life prior to being conscripted into the French army while in America soon after graduating college from Yale. His accounts of the war in Algeria are very interesting and reveal how the tactics used by the Arabs in this war formed the basis of those used in Iraq and Afghanistan many years later.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very gritty tale about a little-known war, one that the French said for a long time did not exist, as Algeria was then considered as part of France. Colonised since the 1830s, the Arab independence movement really got under way in the 1950s, eventually prompting Paris to bring in the "paras" (elite army troops) to act as a police force. There followed some of the nastiest terrorism and counter-terrorism imaginable and it is well-documented, often at first hand, by this accomplished writer and historian, who found himself doing his compulsory two years of National Service in the French army right about this time.

It starts with a very good potted history of Algeria and its colonisation, and then mixes up Morgan's personal experience first as a soldier in the "bled" or semi-desert areas outside Algiers, and then as a journalist still working for the army, in Algiers, just as the National Liberation Front (FLN in French) began to bring the fight into urban regions. There is a great deal of rough soldierly talk - de Gramont (as he was then called before changing his name upon becoming a US citizen) holds nothing back, even admitting his own part in some of the more heinous behaviour of the troops stationed in remote areas of the country.

Morgan is a seasoned journalist and writer whose books are always interesting and this is an easy-to-read and insightful work, if a little brutal at times, for anyone wishing to gain some basic knowledge about this unfortunate period in French/Algerian relations.

[Waven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book by accident, with little previous knowledge of the political or physical landscape it describes. What I found rather astonishing were the parallels between the 'there and then' and the 'here and now.' The clash of Eastern and Western ideologies, underground rebel cells, marketplace bombings, secret interrogations, an occupied land trying to push out its 'invaders' by any means necessary... It reads like dispatches from the Iraq war, from Afghanistan. But it's from fifty years ago.

The author, a French citizen who spent much of his life in the U.S., was conscripted into the French military for the Algerian War. He eventually landed in Algiers as a sort of propagandist for the French. Privy to military information but able to move through the city in plain clothes, he enjoyed an unusual perspective on the war.

And much of it was unsettling. Classism and colonialism meeting indiscriminate terrorism. Nazi torture methods used by the very people who suffered under them just fifteen years before. Hundreds of people "disappeared" by regiments with carte blanche to obtain information. Brutality and ignorant hate from every quarter.

Despite the situation, and much to his credit, the author keeps a human face on all involved. It is one of the more hopeful pieces of the story of Algiers. And though this book is an easy read, it is not always easy to read. The ugliness of mankind rarely is. But I do recommend it, if only as a rather unique look at a conflict with few clear edges.

[Leonardo Etcheto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating, engrossing account of the authors experience fighting in Algeirs as a conscripted soldier. He did not have to go(was living in USA but was a french citizen - Sanche de Garmont), but went through officer training and then was stationed in the "bled" the countryside. Saw plenty of disasters, heroism, cowardice, hopelesness, etc. A conscript army fighting an unpopular war is not a pretty thing.
He was transferred to Algiers thanks to his contacts and then saw the start of urban terrorism by the FLN. Saw the french paratroopers tactics where torture led to the data required to breakup the FLN.
In the end France won the battles but lost the war due in large part to the tactics required to win the battles - institution of a police/totalitarian state. The french learned from the Nazy and the Viet how to fight a ruthless war. The story of how the hardliners on both sides led to the war and the vicious fighting is a case in point of the saying that history is a farce that ends in tragedy. IMO in the end everyone lost. Algiers has a poor government and France still has an arab problem.
"The Algerian experience did not enrich me; it diminished me." Ted Morgan.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd previously picked up, "A Savage War of Peace" about the Algerian uprising and found it too dry. As I've always been curious about these events I found this instead. This first person account with a judicious amount of sex livened up the story a bit but, most importantly, this is the history of terrorism as we know it. Modern urban terrorism was born here; as a reaction to, essentially, imperialism/colonialism. And they're Muslim. It's challenging for one's moral center when the first example of terrorists are, in a way, sympathetic. Also challenging is that torture, read about here, works. The author awkwardly tries to compare Algeria to Iraq and whereas it's an interesting intellectual exercise, there's really not much meet to comparing the political situations. Most of the similarities lie in the aspects of warfare. Ultimately, I'd recommend it.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this extremely candid look at his life, journalist Ted Morgan talks about his time spent fighting in the French army during the Algerian War. He speaks candidly about the torture that became an accepted way of dealing with one of the first uses of urban terrorism by the Algerian resistance fighters. Eventually he is assigned a post at a propagandist newspaper and serves most of his tour of duty in this role. The book makes some interesting comparisons to the "war on terrorism" and some deeply personal revelations about his own actions. If you are interested in the time period or that part of the world this is a fascinating but incomplete look at that war.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good memoir by a man who served in the French Army during the Battle of Algiers.This was really the first war in which terrorism was used with the FLN placing bombs in cafes etc. and killing many innocent people. Not that much different from what's going on in Iraq today.Having said that, the French were pretty despicable as well, using torture as a matter of course and having many prisoners "die while trying to escape".

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really engaging first-hand account of the French war in Algeria. Morgan was drafted into the conflict while studying in America and tells of his experience as a soldier and intelligence officer. He makes a depressingly good argument about how torture does indeed work. Even with that, it's a story that definitely should be read.

[Nicko · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lesson of colonialism and to a larger extent occupation of countries by foreign powers is like a transplant, eventually the body will reject it.

The chafing, mutually uncomprehending collision of Western occupiers and the Muslim occupied. History has a tendency to repeat itself.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been SO much better. The author bogs it down with too many inconsequential characters and events that add absolutely zilch to the history and his personal experiences. However, I do now know more about France's occupation of Algeria, so that made it worth it.

[Eric Gittins · Rating 1 out of 5]

A hard book to read for some one with little knowledge of the French language.The atrocities carried out by both sides in the conflict are beyond belief. I am only glad that the British colonised Australia and not the French

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great look at the battle for Algerian independence through the eyes of a unique observer and participant. Filled with interesting commentary on the nature of war and the impact of war on the individual.

[Ami · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great first-hand account of a frenchman's experience during the battle of algiers. it's not heavy reading and presents an interesting perspective on this mostly unknown region

[Devowasright · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fascinating little slice of history, and some of the earliest uses of terror tactics between the muslim world and the west.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

His experiences as a dual-citizen French army officer in the 1957 revolts (author's name is an anagram of his French last name, deGramont)

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

ALGERIA. This was good. Maybe I should stick to non-fiction written by a western author.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ted Morgan is an anagram for deGramont. He fought with the French against Algerian revolutionaries circa 1957. Yes, it was a harrowing experience

[Beatrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being older than I at the time of the Battle of Algiers, he has a better concept of what was really going on and I understood quite a bit which was previously very vague in my mind.

[Nalani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for research about the Algerian War. I was glad to find a narrative story rather than a textbook-like non-fiction book. I got some details I was looking for but would have preferred more.