Algerian Actions and Methods of Warfare

Guerilla Warfare and Coordination
The Algerian revolutionaries employed guerrilla warfare tactics to take advantage of their ‘home field.’ Rapid attacks to key targets efficiently eliminated potential threats to the FLN forces, and coordination and timing became key factors in the success of these tactics. The very first attack, the Red All-Saints’ Day, was a coordinated attack across all of Algeria on several of these targets that immediately prevented possible French retaliatory actions. At the same time, radio broadcasts from supporters in Cairo encouraged Algerian natives to rise up against the oppressors. With all of these conditions coming together with impeccable timing, the Algerian forces were able to outmaneuver the French and cripple their slower yet better equipped army.

Civilian Support
A unique aspect of the revolutionists’ warfare was their ability to stir an entire nation or more to the cause. It has been hypothesized that the Algerian War of Independence would have been won by the French if the women in Algerian society had not rose to fight alongside the men. Only with the power of their whole population were the FLN able to overthrow French police in place. The FLN even reached to neighboring nations for support, notably to a supportive movement in Cairo, Egypt. The assistance of the people in furthering the revolutionaries’ cause was easily one of the largest contributing factors in their success.

Torture
The Algerian War of Independence had quite a dark and somber quality in the brutal massacre and torture that both sides took part in. While it is true that the French began these actions during the Setif Massacre and their torturing and censorship of revolutionaries, the National Liberation Front was not morally superior in their actions. They met terrible violence with equal measurements of terror. Their guerilla warfare tactics sacrificed some precision for speed and raw power, however this frequently caught innocents in the process. The FLN did not shirk away from using any possible means to achieve their goal, and this included these brutal, inhumane acts. Torturing captured French soldiers became not only a method to achieve information, but even a passive activity to vent anger and express vengeance on the former French colonial government.