Using recently released French official documents and a variety of other sources, this study explains how the French Army, so recently defeated by the Viet Minh insurgents in Indochina, was able to successfully defeat the Algerian nationalist rebels on the battlefield, while nevertheless losing the war at the conference table. This French success, between 1954 and 1962, was due in large part to the superior logistical system of the French Army and the use of the helicopter to enhance French operational mobility. French counter-mobility measures, particularly the construction of heavily defended interdiction zones on the eastern and western borders of Algeria, proved highly effective against the rebels. Such methods essentially cut off the rebel forces from their bases and from sources of supply located outside Algeria, and consequently strangled and destroyed the rebel forces within Algeria. No other work on the Algerian War focuses upon the role of logistics in the outcome of the conflict.
The detailed statistical data and comprehensive description and analysis of the logistical organizations and methods of both the French and the nationalist rebels are supplemented by excellent maps. This study also provides useful insights into the nature of the "wars of national liberation" and counter-insurgency doctrines that dominated military affairs in the mid-20th century.
Using recently released French official documents and a variety of other sources, this study explains how the French Army, so recently defeated by the Viet Minh insurgents in Indochina, was able to successfully defeat the Algerian nationalist rebels on the battlefield, while nevertheless losing the war at the conference table. This French success, between 1954 and 1962, was due in large part to the superior logistical system of the French Army and the use of the helicopter to enhance French operational mobility. French counter-mobility measures, particularly the construction of heavily defended interdiction zones on the eastern and western borders of Algeria, proved highly effective against the rebels. Such methods essentially cut off the rebel forces from their bases and from sources of supply located outside Algeria, and consequently strangled and destroyed the rebel forces within Algeria. No other work on the Algerian War focuses upon the role of logistics in the outcome of the conflict.
The detailed statistical data and comprehensive description and analysis of the logistical organizations and methods of both the French and the nationalist rebels are supplemented by excellent maps. This study also provides useful insights into the nature of the "wars of national liberation" and counter-insurgency doctrines that dominated military affairs in the mid-20th century.
Preface
Introduction
The Physical Environment
The French Armed Forces in Algeria
French Logistics in Algeria: Supply and Maintenance
French Logistics in Algeria: Transportation
The Algerian National Liberation Front and Its Army
The Logistics of the Algerian Army of National Liberation
Mobility, Counter-Mobility, and Interdiction
Logistics and Mobility in Algeria, 1954-1962
Major French Combat Forces in Algeria in 1960
Characteristics of French Transport Aircraft and Helicopters
Glossary
Common French Map Symbols
Selected Bibliography
Subject Index
An explanation of how, between 1954 and 1962, the French Army employed its superior logistical system-enhanced by helicopters-and highly effective counter-mobility measures, to cut off the Algerian nationalist rebels from their exterior bases and inflict upon them a decisive battlefield defeat.
CHARLES R. SHRADER, an independent historian and consultant, currently serves as the executive director of the Society for Military History. His other books include U.S. Military Logistics, 1607-1991: A Research Guide (Greenwood, 1992) and Communist Logistics in the Korean War (Greenwood, 1995).
?The First Helicopter War is an important, even definitive, study
and will be of interest to all those studying in wars of
insurgency. Shrader's statistical information is impressive, even a
bit daunting, but those who make the effort will be rewarded.?-The
Journal of Military History
"The First Helicopter War is an important, even definitive, study
and will be of interest to all those studying in wars of
insurgency. Shrader's statistical information is impressive, even a
bit daunting, but those who make the effort will be rewarded."-The
Journal of Military History
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