French army counts its dead during the colonization of Algeria
Photo: Copyright
French authorities counted 23,652 soldiers and military personnel, during the Algerian Liberation War, from November, 1st, until July, 5, 1962, according to data that was provided by the French army and estimates of historians and academics, about a list deaths among the French armed troops, as the document does not mention the names of the victims of French colonialism, throughout 132 years, and Algerian martyrs as well.
The list that was prepared on an interactive map, based on the French Army data, and estimates of historians and academics, show that Africa was cemetery of the most French military personnel, given its colonial presence in the continent, as it lost 23,652 soldiers in Algeria, between 1954 and 1962.
The map, according to “Liberation” French newspaper, includes those who were killed at the hands of the resistance movements in countries that were colonized by the French troops during the twentieth century, and the Cold War, or during the war on what it called terrorism, in which France engaged, after the attacks of September, 11, 2001 in New York.
French army losses are distributed, to the side of countries that fell in the colonial wars, between operations that were sponsored by the United Nations and NATO, or in the framework of bilateral agreements with countries that were only colonies, and which have become an agreement of military cooperation with Paris after independence, within the framework of what the French General, Bernard Tourette called as”duty of memory”.
In the French army Dictionary, the military operations outside the French territory after Algerian Independence, are called “Foreign Operations” and they are abbreviated as “OPEX” , I.e “Opérations Extérieures”, given the method of calculating deaths, who are not automatically awarded the title of “Dead for France” (Mort pour la France).