Algeria, Special Weapons Sections

In "Algeria, Special Weapons Sections" a rigorous and relentless documentary, director Claire Billet (who already wrote a long article on the subject for XXI magazine) and historian Christophe Lafaye detail the massive and systematic use of chemical weapons during the Algerian War.

Algerian fighters and civilians, taking refuge in the caves, were gassed by "special weapons sections" of the French army. This historical aspect is little known due to the difficulty of accessing archives, many of which are still classified.

As the historian recalls, the mission of these special weapons sections was twofold. They intervened "to fight against the National Liberation Army fighters who had taken refuge in the caves and to systematically infect the caves, which could not be completely destroyed," and whose walls remain contaminated, more than half a century after the end of the fighting.

The gas identified in military documents is CN2D, a compound of chloroacetophenone (a powerful irritant) and adamsite (an emetic agent). The widespread use of these gases forced insurgents to flee the "treated" sites, at the risk of dying. The method is reminiscent of the "smoke-outs" used by the French expeditionary force during the conquest of Algeria in the 19th century.

Between 8,000 and 10,000 such operations took place on Algerian soil between 1956 and 1962, estimates the academic, who has located only 440 locations so far, hampered in his research by very limited access to operational reports and staff documents. According to the French Heritage Code, resulting from the 2008 law, these items fall under the regime of archives that are incommunicable in perpetuity, on the grounds that they could "lead to the dissemination of information enabling the design, manufacture, use, or location of nuclear, biological, chemical, or any other weapons with direct or indirect destructive effects of a similar level."

Using overseas national archives, private funds, and letters collected from descendants, Christophe Lafaye was nevertheless able to shed light on this use of toxic gas, which began experimentally in 1956 and then became widespread throughout Algeria starting in 1957 with the creation of the Special Weapons Brigade (BAS) and the establishment of 119 cave teams. This organization was streamlined under the Challe Plan (named after General Maurice Challe) in 1959. The investigation he conducted with director Claire Billet sheds light on a dark and little-known chapter of the war: the large-scale use of toxic gas against Algerian combatants.

The previously unseen documentary on the Algerian War was canceled by France Télévisions just a few days before its scheduled broadcast on Sunday, March 16, on the program "La Case du siècle" (France 5). The cancellation of the documentary "Algeria, Special Weapons Sections" is merely a "incident" in the eyes of the historian, but it may help raise awareness of this little-known chapter in history and prompt a reaction from the government: "It was not the army alone that made the decision to use chemical weapons; it was a political decision by Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, Minister of Defense in 1956, approved by the civil and military authorities in Algeria."