The French navy and the Algerian war

Abstract

The French Navy's part in the Algerian War has been overlooked, but was vitally important. It took two main forms. The first, and primary, mission was to cut off the Algerian nationalists from outside support by a rigorous coastal blockade. Maritime surveillance in the Mediterranean and along the Algerian littoral achieved this. Inshore patrol vessels, supported by larger warships, sealed the routes by which the nationalists sought to infiltrate weapons and newly-trained guerrilla fighters from camps and arms dumps in Tunisia and Morocco. The French Navy intercepted cargo ships that sailed from East Bloc ports, attempting to smuggle arms into the Algerian nationalists. The most celebrated successes were the seizures of the Athos, Slovenija and Lidice in 1958–59. The Navy's second mission involved the deployment ashore, from April 1956, of the marine infantry (the demibrigade of Fusiliers-Marins). These units participated in the sweeps by French army units and engaged insurgent bands. They also garrisoned and protected installations, port facilities and transport networks in Algeria's coastal hinterland.