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Abstract
The lessons from the two French counterinsurgencies, Indochina and Algeria, give rise to a new understanding of the projection of airpower in remote and hostile environments and the purpose, design, and use of aircraft in counterinsurgency. In both Indochina and Algeria, the campaigns were ones of poverty, and it is their imaginative management under severe resource constraints that provides thoughtful and applicable lessons for today. In both cases, airpower held the promise of delivering victory and solving the resource issue. In Indochina, acquisition of the needed aircraft, operating knowledge, and experience came too slowly to realize this promise. In Algeria, the French embraced the lessons from Indochina and were quite successful and innovative in the use of airpower. The lessons can be reduced to four requirements: (1) a network of airfields for liaison, ground-support, and intra-theater airlift to enable effective air support of ground forces; (2) a solid, reliable, and simple ground-support aircraft capable of operating from forward airfields within range of ground engagements; (3) a capable intra-theater heavy-lift transport to supply the extended ground forces; and (4) helicopter capability to enhance tactical troop mobility and support.
Notes
1. Cross, Conflict in the Shadows, 75.
2. Christienne and Buffotot, ‘L'Adaption de l'Armée de l'Air Française a un Type de Guerre Nouveau’, ‘L'Adaption de l'Armée de l'Air Française a un Type de Guerre Nouveau’, 109–12; and Facon, ‘L'armée de l'air et la guerre d'Indochine’, 105.
3. CitationGras, L'Armée de l'Air en Indochine, 170–3.
4. CitationFacon, ‘Reconstitution de l'armée de l'air en Indochine, 1945–1946’, 129.
5. CitationCorum and Johnson, Airpower in Small Wars, 145–8.
6. CitationCorum and Johnson, Airpower in Small Wars, 160. At the moment of the cease fire there were 388 aircraft: 180 fighters and bombers, 100 transport, and 108 liaison. This represented about 20% of l'Armée de l'air inventory.
7. Christienne and Buffotot, ‘L'Adaption de l'Armée de l'Air Française a un Type de Guerre Nouveau’, 110–17.
8. Christienne and Buffotot, 115–16; Corum and Johnson, Airpower in Small Wars, 157–60.
9. CitationFacon, ‘L'armée de l'air et la guerre d'Indochine’, 87. The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was also called the Dakota by the British Commonwealth forces after the acronym DACoTA (Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft). Some 10,692 of the C-47s were produced during World War II, and additional numbers were produced in the Soviet Union and Japan. The civilian version was the venerable DC-3.
10. Christienne and Buffotot, ‘L'Adaption de l'Armée de l'Air Française a un Type de Guerre Nouveau’, 113.
11. CitationFall, Street Without Joy, 261.
12. Facon, ‘L'Armée de l'air et la guerre d'Indochine,’ 88.
13. Gras, L'Armée de l'Air en Indochine, 237.
14. Gras, L'Armée de l'Air en Indochine, 242.
15. Fall, Street Without Joy, 262. The ALAT inventory consisted of the Piper L4 Grasshopper, the Morane-Saulner 500 Criquet, and the Cessna L19 Bird Dog.
16. Gras, L'Armée de l'Air en Indochine, 243–4.
17. Fall, Street Without Joy, 262.
18. Facon, ‘L'Armée de l'air et la guerre d'Indochine’, 88–9.
19. Facon, ‘L'Armée de l'air et la guerre d'Indochine’, 103–4.
20. Facon, ‘L'Armée de l'air et la guerre d'Indochine’, 96.
21. Facon, ‘L'Armée de l'air et la guerre d'Indochine’, 103.
22. The USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) was transferred to the French in September 1953 and renamed Bois Belleau (R-97). The ship was returned to the United States in September 1960, stricken from the fleet, and sold for scrap.
23. Corum and Johnson, Airpower in Small Wars, 152–3.
24. Thirteen of the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) fighters and four of the Aichi E13A seaplanes were used.
25. CitationZervoudakis, ‘L'Emploi de l'Armee de l'Air en Indochine, 1951–1952’, 168. The Ju-52 had a gross weight of 20,270 pounds and carried 18 troops, or 12 litter patients, or about 7000 pounds of cargo.
26. Fall, Street Without Joy, 261.
27. Corum and Johnson, Airpower in Small Wars, 148.
28. CitationCross, Conflict in the Shadows, 76.
29. Corum and Johnson, Airpower in Small Wars, 150.
30. Tan Son Nhut Airport was built by the French colonial government in the 1920s as an unpaved airfield in the village of Tan Son Nhut to serve the nearby city of Saïgon. During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army used Tan Son Nhut as a transport base.
31. Fall, Street Without Joy, 261.
32. CitationFrancillon, Vietnam: The War in the Air, 16.
33. CitationFrancillon, Vietnam: The War in the Air, 17.
34. CitationFrancillon, Vietnam: The War in the Air, 19, 233.
35. CitationFrancillon, Vietnam: The War in the Air, 20–1.
36. CitationFrancillon, Vietnam: The War in the Air, 37.
37. CitationFrancillon, Vietnam: The War in the Air, 30.
38. Cann, Counterinsurgency in Africa, 129.
39. Francillon, Vietnam: The War in the Air, 24–5.
40. Cooper, ‘Algerian War, 1954–1962’.
42. Fall, Street Without Joy, 136; and CitationAndré, Ici ventilateur.
43. Fall, Street Without Joy, 137.
44. Fall, Street Without Joy, 107–12.
45. Fall, Street Without Joy, 263.
46. CitationCIA, ‘A Look Back…’.
47. CitationCIA, ‘A Look Back…’
48. CitationFacon, ‘L'adaptation de l'armée de l'air à la guerre d'Algérie’, 32.
49. A fennec is a carnivore of the Sahara and is often called a desert fox (renard des sables).
50. Gras, L'Armée de l'Air en Indochine, 580.
51. Fall, Street Without Joy, 265.
52. CitationHorne, A Savage War of Peace, 113.
53. CitationHorne, A Savage War of Peace, 112.
54. The Sud-Est SE 535 Mistral was a license-built DeHavilland DH-100 Vampire VB Mk5.
55. CitationCooper, ‘Algerian War, 1954–1962’.
56. Cross, Conflict in the Shadows, 77.
57. CitationPfirrmann, ‘Ces homes du 1er Étranger de Cavalerie’, 2120.
58. Cooper, ‘Algerian War, 1954–1962’.
59. CitationLahalle, ‘La vie de dingue en plein ciel…’, 2611.
60. CitationGonçalves, ‘Broussard, Bush Aircraft’, 9.
61. Fall, Street Without Joy, 265.
62. Cross, Conflict in the Shadows, 78.
63. Facon, ‘L'adaptation de l'armée de l'air à la guerre d'Algérie’, 37.
64. Facon, ‘L'adaptation de l'armée de l'air à la guerre d'Algérie’, 38.
65. Facon, ‘L'adaptation de l'armée de l'air à la guerre d'Algérie’ 37–8.