Image present in the documentary documentary that raises the veil about French crime on Algerian soil.
“There was a lot of spoken of massacres, violations, torture and populations’ displacements in Algeria, but nothing about the use of chemical weapons.” Some still feel “the smell of gas and also the smell of death.”
The French army used large -scale toxic gas in the caves that served as hiding to the Algerian nationalist combatants during the Algerian War (1956/62), Revelation known in a documentary released this Wednesday by France Télévisions.
One of the last taboos of the Franco-Argeline War, the use of chemical weapons in the conflict is revealed in the 52-minute entitled “Algerie, Sections Armes Speciales” (“Algeria, Special Weapons Sections), from the director Clear postwhich was based on an investigation of almost 10 years by historian Christophe Lafaye, using archive material and testimonies of former French and Algerian soldiers.
“There was a great deal of the massacres, violations, torture and the displacement of populations in Algeria, but nothing about the use of Chemical weapons“The France-PRESse (AFP) news agency told Lafaye in 2020 when he wanted to work on the memory of the Algerian War.
“It looked crazy, I could hardly believe, how could such important historical facts have been swept under the rug?” Billet asked.
The Mission: Kill in the mountains hiding places
In 1956, a section called “Special Weapons” was created, whose members had the mission of dislodging the combatants of the National Liberation Army (ELN) of the mountains hiding places. According to the historian, the section is the result of a “true doctrine” tested for several months before being systematized.
The expression “special weapons” includes poisonous gasesespecially the CN2D, a cocktail composed of one -derived cyanide gas (CN) and another from the arsenic (DM), with irritating effects on the lungs, eyes and mucous membranes, causing headaches and vomiting, gases that can be lethal in confined spaces, such as caves.
“The cave had to be searched, gas and, if possible, the entrance burst,” says Jean Vidalenc, a former 80-year-old, awarded a “gas grenade” and “post 10 out-of-combat opponents” in the mountains of Aurès in December 1959.
Armand Casanova, at the time of 18, was nicknamed the “rat” for his ability to sneak into narrow tunnels. “I still smell the gas and also the smell of death”He said, adding that “a quarter of an hour was enough” to die.
“Tabu” and “State Secret” French
Christophe Lafaye Identificou 440 French operations that involved the use of chemical weapons in Algeria, especially in the mountains of Cabilia and Aupes. “But there have been many more, and throughout Algeria,” he says, estimating that there were between 5,000 and 10,000 actions of this type of “offensive”.
The death toll of this “cave war”, including many civilians, witnesses according to witnesses, remains difficult to determine, mainly due to the inaccessibility of most of the French archives on the subject.
“France has made it a state secret and remains a big taboo“, Says Lafaye, noting that the use is prohibited by the Geneva Protocol, which Paris has been a signatory since 1925, although he said that he was not at war at that time.
Current context “is not favorable” to opening files
Along with other historians and archivists, Lafaye called on the opening of all secret defense archives in 2020, invoking a provision of the French heritage code that automatically suppresses the secret of defense after 50 years, a principle reaffirmed in 2021 by the Council of State.
However, in 2021, “the Ministry of the Armed Forces again made access to its files more complex” by creating, within the scope of an anti -terrorist law, “a new category of files with no time limit for disclosure,” says the historian. This category includes the files related to the “cave war”, with the argument that “allow you to conceive, use or locate weapons of massive destruction, in this case chemical weapons, which is totally absurd,” Lafaye is outraged.
O current context of diplomatic crisis between France and Algeria “is not favorable” to the opening of this type of fileBillet lament, which advocates an apolitical, memory -centered approach. “It is not about taking anyone to trial or controversy,” he said.
In addition to documenting the story, according to Lafaye, the challenge is “to be able to find the missing Algerians’ bodies, first, but potentially also from the French soldiers.”
