Commandos of Africa
The Groupe des Commandos d'Afrique (GCA), which will become the 5th shock battalion, comes from the Corps Francs d'Afrique (07/26/1943). It is a former parachute unit of the French Army, created in December 1942 and dissolved on October 1, 1945 to form the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Airborne Shock Infantry Regiment of the 24th Airborne Division.
Creation and different denominations
12/12/1942:formation of the African Free Corps,
07/26/1943:formation of the African Commando Group (GCA),
09/04/1944:formation of the Provence commando group (GCP),
01/05/1945:the GCA becomes the 5th Shock Battalion
18 /01/1945:merger of the GCA, the GCP and the commandos of Paris/Bataillon Désiré into the 3rd Grouping of Shock Battalions or 3rd Shocks, the GCP becomes the 6th Shock Battalion or 6th Shocks.
01/10/45:becomes the 2nd battalion of the 1st RICAP which will later become the 2nd parachute shock battalion
Note:created in June 1943 in Algeria, the so-called shock formations, capable of carrying out guerrilla or commando actions and responsible for providing assistance to resistance organizations in France, were grouped together in early 1945 into three groups of shock battalions or shock groups comprising two battalions each:
1st group of shock battalions commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Gambiez
the 1st shock battalion composed of the shock battalion (which takes the number 1)
the 3rd shock battalion made up of French commandos
2nd group of shock battalions commanded by Commander Quinche
the 2nd shock battalion made up of the Janson battalion from sailly (or Gayardon battalion)
the 4th shock battalion composed of the Cluny commando
3rd group of shock battalions commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bouvet
the 5th shock battalion made up of commandos from Africa
the 6th shock battalion made up of commandos from Provence
Composition
The GCA is made up of former members of the Corps Franc d'Afrique, volunteers from North African troops, escapees from France and native skirmishers from Algeria and Morocco. In August 1944, it included a commando commando, 3 shock commandos each comprising 206 men (5 officers, 29 non-commissioned officers and 172 commandos) and an accompanying commando for a theoretical strength of 1,061 men1:
commando commando:captain Aquilina
1st shock commando (Europeans):captain Ducournau
2nd shock commando (Moroccans):captain Thorel (died August 17, 44 ) then Métivier
3rd shock commando (Algerians):captain Bonnard
support commando:captain Farret
What characterizes these commandos, writes Patrick de Gmdeline, "a common desire, to fight, to resume the fight within this army of Africa, the only one in their eyes capable of picking up the torch that less valiant people have already dropped three years. But what a mix! First there are the Muslims, Moroccans and Algerians. Their motives are complex, but noble; they fight at the same time for France, for its empire and for themselves. [...] Then come the many pied-noirs, Frenchmen who had escaped from Spain [...]; there are also Yugoslavs, Italians, a Swiss […]. The Spaniards are superb as hidalgos [...]. A few Jews and Lebanese complete the palette...”
World War II
The African Commando Group was created in Dupleix (Algeria) on July 26, 1943 from the Corps Franc d'Afrique. The unit, under the orders of Battalion Commander Bouvet, was stationed in Noisy-les-bains, Mercier-Lacombe and Dupleix (Algeria). In September, the group moved to Staoueli where they underwent intensive training and set out for Corsica in December.
In January 1944, the staff confined to Bastia, Saint-Florent and Ajaccio continued training. A recruitment and training element is installed in Zéralda in Algeria.
After the failure of a raid against the island of Pianosa on the night of February 18 to 19, 1944, a new attempt by the commandos finally succeeded on March 18 to 19. On the 20th, the unit suffered a new setback during an operation on the Italian coast (star missing).
From June 17 to 20, the African commandos are engaged in the battles for the liberation of the island of Elba. After a new station in Corsica, the unit moved on July 10 to Civitta Vecchia in Italy. From July 14 to August 10, she was stationed at Agropoli in the Gulf of Salerno and underwent specialized training for the landing in Provence.
Back in Corsica since August 11, the commandos were transported by boat to the coasts of Provence where they took part in Operation "Dragoon" on the night of August 14 to 15, 1944. Then followed a series of actions:the 17 liberation of Le Lavandou during which Captain Thorel, at the head of the 2nd commando, and his Moroccan orderly, were mortally wounded at the very moment when the La Fossette work fell3, on the 18th taking of the Mauvannes battery, on the 21st that of Fort du Coudon and on the 24th finally it is the entry into Toulon.
From September 16 to October 6, the unit was stationed in Marseille. A second battalion under the orders of Commander de Courson was then formed with the contribution of the FFI from the Commandos de Provence group gathered in the region of Aix-en-Provence.
On October 10 the commandos move towards the Jura and cantonment in Salins-Authusson. From the 16th to the 26th they took part in the fighting in the Vosges at Grosse-Pierre, Haut de Tomteux and in the east of Cornimont.
After a new period of training in Salins, the Commandos of Africa are engaged from November 18 to 22 in the fighting for Belfort:
17 to 20:Chagey – Chalonvillars,
20:capture of Fort Salbert and battles at Cravanche, Belfort, Valdoie,
21:battles at Martinet and Offemont,
22:fighting in Bois d'Arsot.
In December 1944 the unit took up quarters in Giromagny.
At the beginning of 1945, the amalgamation of the Commandos of Provence and the Parisian FFI of the Désiré battalion continued. On January 5, the group of African Commandos formed the 5th shock battalion under the orders of Commander Ducournau while the Commandos of Provence became the 6th shock battalion (Commander de Courson). The whole, under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Bouvet, constitutes the 3rd Shock Group.
From January 19 to February 6, 1945, the shocks are engaged in Alsace in the combats of reduction of the pocket of Colmar:
January 21:attack on Cernay,
February 25 to 6:liberation of Guebwiller and Buhl.
Returning to Giromagny on February 14, a detachment trained on the Doubs then on the Rhône between February 28 and March 16, with a view to crossing the Rhine. The unit carried out a commando raid on the night of March 17 to 18 in the Kembs sector (back and forth on the Rhine), then again, on April 8, in Nambsheim and Kembs.
The group of Commandos entered Germany and crossed the Rhine at Kehl and Neuf-Brisach on April 23, 1945. It was engaged in a new raid on the 24th opposite Istein (60 men), then, on the 25th, the men fought at Eizenbach and the Wieden Eck pass. On April 27 and 30 the unit is involved in cleaning up the Belchen and Feldberg regions, and on May 8 in the Schushsen region.
On September 6, 1945, Commander Ducournau took command of the 3rd shock group and began demobilization operations. On November 1, the 3rd shock group was disbanded and became the 2nd battalion of the 1st RICAP, which in turn became the 2nd shock parachute battalion
The losses of the African commandos during the conflict are estimated at 300 killed in action and around sixty missing.
Traditions
Currency
“No mercy”4. It appears on the pennant.
Insignia
blue background, yellow France, red veil charged with a black Cherifian star edged in yellow, red crescent with yellow letters. The crescent of Islam and the sail marked with the Christian star form a nave symbolizing the vocation to landing operations.
Pennant
The pennant that will serve as a flag is in "[...] blue silk [with] the design of France serving as the background for a stylized nave consisting of a crescent with the inscription "Commandos" and a decorated sail of the Cherifian star. On the obverse, a flame overhangs a crescent bearing the inscription "-Bizerte-", [...]". At the end of the campaign, the obverse received the mention “Commandos d’Afrique Belfort”.
Quotes
“Splendid unit which, under the energetic impulse of its leader Lieutenant-Colonel Bouvet, took a brilliant part in all the operations which led the victorious 1st French Army from North Africa to the Rhine.
Coming from the Corps Franc d'Afrique, after having distinguished herself in Tunisia by the capture of Bizerte, she methodically and energetically prepared in North Africa for special commando missions. Sent to Corsica in January 1944, first carried out several raids on the Italian coast and on the island of Pianosa, then took part in the landing and the conquest of the island of Elba in June 1944.
On August 15, 1944, landing at the head of the French troops on the coasts of Provence, conquered a bridgehead at Cap Nègre then, by vigorous and energetic actions, participated in the capture of Toulon by seizing by surprise the Battery of Mauvannes intact and the Fort de Coudon, key to the German defence.
Engaged in the Vosges in November 1944 in very harsh atmospheric conditions against a tenacious enemy, succeeded, despite severe losses, in pushing deep into the German lines of Haut de Tomteux.
During the operations to break up the Trouée de Belfort in November 1944, took a brilliant part in the capture of the Fort de Salbert which covered the advances of the Place. Finally in April 1945, in charge of guarding the Rhine at Neuf-Brisach, while the 1st French Army crossed the river to the north and went up along the right bank, carried out and succeeded, in order to meet it, a crossing of vive force du rivière, the last and glorious stage of a victorious march during which 400 men of the commando group fell for France. »
— Mention in the order of the Army attributed to the Commandos of Africa, Decision n° 886 of June 28, 1945, Charles de Gaulle
Corps leaders
July 26, 1943:Commander Bouvet, second in command Ruyssen
January 15, 1945:battalion commander Ducournau
September 6, 1945:battalion commander Farret
Achievements
These names appear on the pennant. The Commandos paved the way for the landing in Provence with:
the islet of Pianosa (18 February 1944 and 18-19 March 1944),
the island of Elba (17-19 June 1944),
the Canadel (August 14-15, 1944),
the Mauvannes batteries (August 18, 1944),
the Coudon fort (August 21, 1944),
the Vosges:Cornimont (September 1944), Hauts-de-Brûleux, Belfort (November 1944), Cernay (Alsace:January 16- February 6, 1945),
the Rhine (17-18 March 1945) and the Danube (Baden-Würtenberg),
the Black Forest.
The group received, in April 1945, in Giromagny, the flag of the 310th infantry regiment exhumed on 07/15/1941 and brought back to the free zone by Georges Bouvet.
Personalities who served in the battalion
Jean Lartéguy, French writer and journalist joined the commandos of Africa after the fighting in Provence. From his real name Jean Osty, he composed his pseudonym with the letters of his name and those of his friend Louis Laguilharre who also served with the commandos5.
Monuments and commemorative plaques
Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer (August 1944)
“It is at this precise and now historic point that on the night of August 14 to 15, 1944, the first wave of African commandos landed, the vanguard of the Allied troops”
— Text of the stele of the African Commandos of Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer (1944)
Cornimont (October 1944)
“Infiltrated at night into enemy lines by the Baranges, the African Commandos fought in hand-to-hand combat from October 16 to 25, 1944 in the Cornimont forest (La Grosse Pierre, le Brûleux, le Haut de Tomteux). During these 10 days 92 of them were killed, 347 injured. Cornimont does not forget »
— Text of the commemorative plaque to the African Commandos of Cornimont (1944)
Cravanche (November 1944)
“In homage to the Commandos d’Afrique Combattants of the 1st French Army who liberated Cravanche on November 20, 1944”
— Text of the Memorial in homage to the Commandos of Africa of Cravanch (November 1944)
Offemont (November 1944)
"Passing remember Here from November 20 to 23, 1944 fell 40 Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and volunteers of the Group of Commandos of Africa and Provence"
— Text of the commemorative stele of the group of Commandos of Africa and Provence of Offemont (November 1944)
Belfort (November 1944)
"This is the insignia of the COMMANDOS D'AFRIQUE, a special unit created in 1943, in Algeria, by Commander Georges BOUVET:the crescent of Islam and the sail marked with the Christian star form a nave symbolizing the vocation to operations of landing. After the island of Elba, this unit was the first to land on the night of August 14 to 15 at Cap Nègre and Rayol-Canadel (Var). With the reinforcement of the BATALLON de PROVENCE, it was engaged in October in the Vosges. On the night of November 19 to 20, 1944, crossing the Montbéliard to Haute-Saône canal, at the Châlonvillars lock, it infiltrated the enemy system to seize Fort de Salbert before daybreak. Forty African Commandos, including six officers, died fighting for the liberation of Belfort between November 20 and 22. Always under the orders of BOUVET, with prestigious leaders such as DUCOURNEAU and RUYSSEN, the African Commandos Group continued the fight in Alsace and Germany until the German capitulation. Here, on November 20, 1944 at 8 a.m., the midshipman Jean DELVIGNE entered Belfort first with his section descended from the Salbert. He was followed by Sergeant Robert MAZET who was killed alongside him two days later at Martinet d'Offemont. While DELVIGNE continued his raid in Belfort crossing the vast installations of the ALSTHOM, guided by the engineer Richard de LA HARPE, his captain, Paul METIVIER, commander of the 2nd Commando of Africa, was joined in Cravanche by another of its sections, that of the midshipman Jacques RASCOUAILLES who took position on the railway line where it suffered a violent attack supported by fire from self-propelled guns. Two of his men, two Moroccans, Corporal BOUCHAÏB ben ABDELSELEM and volunteer LAHOUCINE ben BOUJEMAA, were on this morning of November 20, the first two soldiers killed within the walls of Belfort for the liberation of the city. The two sections of the METIVIER commando resisted the enemy attack until the arrival around 3:30 p.m. of the tanks of the 6th African Hunters Regiment, which since the morning had been blocked three kilometers away, for lack of means. crossing the Montbéliard to Haute-Saône canal and the anti-tank ditch which doubled it. They were preceded by the section of the cadet Raymond MUELLE of the 1st Shock Battalion. Jacques RASCOUAILLES will be killed two months later, on January 21, 1945, in the fighting in the forest of NONNENBRUCK in front of CERNAY »
Cernay (January 1945)
In January 1945 (February 19 to 6), the Commandos of Africa fought hard battles in front of Cernay/Thann/Aspach, facing German troops perfectly equipped for the cold and snow (Gebirgsjäger) supported by Jagdpanzer tanks against which the Sherman are inferior. Black targets on the white snow, the 1st commando is massacred. Despite the support of the French gunners, there will remain on the ground 189 killed and missing, 192 wounded:the sacrifice is heavy. But, the German did not pass.