Battle of Algiers (1956–57)

Battle of Algiers
Part of the Algerian War
The remains of a house in the Casbah of Algiers destroyed in the explosion that killed Ali la Pointe
Date 30 September 1956 – 24 September 1957 Location Algiers, French Algeria Result Tactical French victory but strategic defeat.
Belligerents
FLN	France
Commanders and leaders
Larbi Ben M'hidi  Saadi Yacef (POW) Ali La Pointe †	Jacques Massu Yves Godard Marcel Bigeard Paul Aussaresses
Strength
24,000 FLN members	8,000 soldiers 1,500 policemen
Casualties and losses
1,000-3,000 dead or missing	300 dead 900 wounded

The Battle of Algiers was a campaign of urban guerrilla warfare carried out by the National Liberation Front (FLN) against the French Algerian authorities from late 1956 to late 1957. The conflict began as a series of terrorist attacks by the FLN against the French forces and civilians in Algiers, reprisals followed and the violence escalated leading the French Governor-General to deploy the French Army in Algiers to suppress the FLN. Civilian authorities left all prerogatives to General Jacques Massu who, operating outside legal frameworks between January and September 1957, successfully eliminated the FLN from Algiers. The use of torture, forced disappearances and illegal executions by the French later caused controversy in France.

In March 1955, Rabah Bitat, head of the FLN in Algiers, was arrested by the French. Abane Ramdane, recently freed from prison, was sent from Kabylie to take the political direction of the city in hand. In a short time, Ramdane managed to revive the FLN in Algiers. On August 20, 1955, violence broke out around Philippeville, drastically escalating the conflict.

In 1956, the "Algerian question" was to be debated at the United Nations. During the summer of 1956, secret negotiations between the French and Algerian separatists took place in Belgrade and Rome.

The Pied-noirs began to organise themselves into a paramilitary group under André Achiary, a former officer of the SDECE and under-prefect of Constantinois at the time of Sétif massacre.

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