Published: 1 December 2008
Air & Space Power Journal - Winter 2008

My Battle of Algiers: A Memoir by Ted Morgan. Smithsonian Books, imprint of HarperCollins (http://www.harpercollins.com/index.aspx), 10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022, 2006, 304 pages, $24.95 (hardcover), $14.95 (softcover) (2007).

As the United States deals with counterinsurgency operations in the global war on terrorism, it becomes vital to study past counterinsurgency operations. The mistakes and innovations of French forces in Algeria as well as the networks and innovations of their archrivals—the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN)—offer valuable benchmarks in discussing counterinsurgency operations. Sanche de Gramont, now known as Ted Morgan, an American living in New York City, fought this war as a newly minted second lieutenant in the French army from 1956 to 1957. My Battle of Algiers offers a realistic look at this conflict and discusses the efficacy of the use of torture, the importance of maintaining the moral high ground, the erosion of authority through racism, and tactical lessons of this conflict.

Readers will learn that on 8 May 1945, 5,000 Algerians carrying banners asking for Algerian independence were brutally crushed by a French colonial administration attempting to maintain the status quo. Part of the suppression included killing 6,000 Algerians in reprisal for the murder of 21 French settlers. A few of the Algerian officers who saw service in France’s colonial wars and in World War II formed a cadre of discontented cells that would create the nucleus of the FLN, which committed atrocities to provoke reactions from French forces. Among their tactics, its members developed a terror campaign of urban bombing in which women, supposedly French, left bombs in cafes in major cities.

Wishing to concentrate on the Algerian insurgency, France granted independence to Tunisia and Morocco in 1956. But these two nations became friendly border states to the FLN. Violence increased, and the French started a call-up of 180,000 conscripts that would become 3 million troops in an eight-year war to suppress the Algerian nationalist movement. At this time, Gramont received a conscription notice in the United States.

Morgan—winner of a Pulitzer prize in journalism—offers keen journalistic insight in his book, discussing how torture for information affects both the terrorist as well as the person inflicting the harm, and addressing both his involvement in brutal acts and the way he psychologically justified what he calls unimaginable barbarities. He also includes an insightful discussion of the FLN tactic of enforcing Islamic morals as a means of controlling neighborhoods in Algiers. Morgan delves deeply into the mechanics of both sides as they respond to each other’s tactics, which finally led Charles de Gaulle to grant Algeria independence in 1962. My Battle of Algiers is an excellent book for people involved in counterterrorism or civil affairs.

LCDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, USN
North Potomac, Maryland 

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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