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The War In Algeria
Experiences of a French paratrooper during the Algerian war for independence and the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt in the mid-1950s.
273 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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About the author
Pierre Leulliette
5 booksServed as a paratrooper with the French Army from 1954-1957. Saw combat in Algeria and the Suez Crisis. Has gone on to a career as a French military historian.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 19, 2011
This book; "St Michael and the Dragon: A Paratrooper in the Algerian War" by Pierre Leulliette offers the reader a first-hand account of the fighting in Algeria during the FLN nationalist uprising in the 1950's and later, the French involvement in the Suez Crisis of 1956.
The author served with distinction, as a young French paratrooper, in the 8th B.P.C. (Bataillon des Parachutistes Coloniaux: Colonial Parachute Battalion). Pierre Leulliette left the Army after three years of service and returned to France, but came away troubled by what he saw and what was done during his time in the military.
This book is one of very few accounts in English to cover this conflict and is well worth the time tracking down a copy. Apparently this book was banned when first published (1961) due to the details of Algerian prisoners being tortured by the French military.
The author served with distinction, as a young French paratrooper, in the 8th B.P.C. (Bataillon des Parachutistes Coloniaux: Colonial Parachute Battalion). Pierre Leulliette left the Army after three years of service and returned to France, but came away troubled by what he saw and what was done during his time in the military.
This book is one of very few accounts in English to cover this conflict and is well worth the time tracking down a copy. Apparently this book was banned when first published (1961) due to the details of Algerian prisoners being tortured by the French military.
June 25, 2024
I read most of this some time ago while writing a university essay on decolonisation, and I’m not 100% sure that I actually read it to the last page. I returned it to the library some time ago. However …
It was published late in what is known, to some and with hindsight, as the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62). That was a particularly nasty and protracted conflict, comparable in ferocity (although not in wilful destruction of infrastructure – hospitals, schools, water supply, etc.) to the present conflict in Gaza. Leuillette enlisted in an elite parachute regiment at about 20 years of age, a young man seeking adventure. He was evidently made of sterner stuff than I at the same age because despite the extreme hardship of the life he led in the ‘paras’ (long marches, unending sleep deprivation, discomfort, exposure to the elements, battle, the trauma of witnessing atrocities both French and Algerian, et al.) he stuck with it and emerged with his sanity intact. He rose to the rank of corporal (or maybe higher in the last pages of the book), so this is a view from below on the French side of the conflict.
He comes across as a decent man and a reliable witness. He reports what he sees and what he hears, mostly without excusing or condemning. As a private and a corporal, the claim that one is ‘just following orders’ is hard to dispute. He deplores the brutalisation of those who participate in the torture of prisoners, and shows a willingness to initiate friendly relations with ordinary Algerians, although circumstances don’t allow much scope for them. Whatever one may think of colonialism, I think it’s important not to lose sight of the humanity of the colonisers. Leuillette is a well-meaning young man whose country has, more than a century before he was born, done a great wrong to an alien people and persisted in doing so in the conviction that it was their right, even their duty, to persist. We inherit our history. It doesn’t make us inherently bad (or virtuous) people, and we’re raised with the myths of our own society, so it would be harsh to hold young Leuillette morally at fault for his decision to enlist. I like him, and I even have a grudging admiration for the tough military culture of which he is a part. The army’s enemies in the FLN were bloody-handed terrorists, who killed more Algerians than French and imposed their will on their own countrymen through fear; but the cause of independence was just, and popular, and the French cause was not. This is one of many valid perspectives on the war, and it deserves to be taken seriously. Leuillette is an articulate voice and a moderate one, and this is a book worth reading.
It was published late in what is known, to some and with hindsight, as the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62). That was a particularly nasty and protracted conflict, comparable in ferocity (although not in wilful destruction of infrastructure – hospitals, schools, water supply, etc.) to the present conflict in Gaza. Leuillette enlisted in an elite parachute regiment at about 20 years of age, a young man seeking adventure. He was evidently made of sterner stuff than I at the same age because despite the extreme hardship of the life he led in the ‘paras’ (long marches, unending sleep deprivation, discomfort, exposure to the elements, battle, the trauma of witnessing atrocities both French and Algerian, et al.) he stuck with it and emerged with his sanity intact. He rose to the rank of corporal (or maybe higher in the last pages of the book), so this is a view from below on the French side of the conflict.
He comes across as a decent man and a reliable witness. He reports what he sees and what he hears, mostly without excusing or condemning. As a private and a corporal, the claim that one is ‘just following orders’ is hard to dispute. He deplores the brutalisation of those who participate in the torture of prisoners, and shows a willingness to initiate friendly relations with ordinary Algerians, although circumstances don’t allow much scope for them. Whatever one may think of colonialism, I think it’s important not to lose sight of the humanity of the colonisers. Leuillette is a well-meaning young man whose country has, more than a century before he was born, done a great wrong to an alien people and persisted in doing so in the conviction that it was their right, even their duty, to persist. We inherit our history. It doesn’t make us inherently bad (or virtuous) people, and we’re raised with the myths of our own society, so it would be harsh to hold young Leuillette morally at fault for his decision to enlist. I like him, and I even have a grudging admiration for the tough military culture of which he is a part. The army’s enemies in the FLN were bloody-handed terrorists, who killed more Algerians than French and imposed their will on their own countrymen through fear; but the cause of independence was just, and popular, and the French cause was not. This is one of many valid perspectives on the war, and it deserves to be taken seriously. Leuillette is an articulate voice and a moderate one, and this is a book worth reading.
November 22, 2020
Amazing. Like Larteguy’s The Centurions, only minus the tough-guy bullshit and the misogyny.
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/18/ar...
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/18/ar...
March 21, 2011
An incredibly powerful book...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews