"Algerian War" help needed.

[General M@yhem]

Hi,
Apologies if this is the wrong section to post but thought it was colonial and 20th century.
Watched the film "Intimate enemies" the other day about the Algerian war in the 50's.
Can anyone point me in the direction of suitable 28mm scale figs for the French and Algerian opponents?

thanks for any help? Also, apart from Jeeps etc, were tanks ever used in the conflict?

Bryce

[YIU]

I also looked for 28mm miniatures for algerian war but I don,'t think they exist in this scale.

You could use indochina war french troops but the only 28mm algerian miniatures would be WW2 ones such as these :

http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1463

The only french troops for this period are 20mm miniatures I think (indochina):

http://www.rhmodels.com/18.html

[Etranger]

15mm French Indochina figures are available from Eureka & they have a 100 Club submission for 28mm versions. They would be suitable for Algeria. I can't think of any 28mm figures that would be suitable offhand. The French did use some armour in Algeria, but I don't recall the details.

[Leapsnbounds]

Have you seen the movie "Battle of Algiers" directed by Gillo Pontecorvo?

[General M@yhem]

Have you seen the movie "Battle of Algiers" directed by Gillo Pontecorvo?

I haven't.It seems very hard or expensive to get hold of in the UK.

[aecurtis]

Have you seen the movie "Battle of Algiers" directed by Gillo Pontecorvo?

I had the great good fortune to catch it on US television late one night several years ago, and it had me glued to the set for two hours.  I would call it an essential source for gaming this conflict, at least the urban part.  Find it and see it any way you can!

Allen

[Plynkes]

It is on British TV reasonably often for a foreign language film. I'm sure I've seen it at least twice in the past five years or so, late night on BBC2. Keep your eyes peeled when the TV listings magazines come out!

[carlos marighela]

The Battle of Algiers, gets my vote as the war movie of all time. Much of it has an almost documentary aspect to it. Not surprising really, Pontecorvo based it on the account by one of the leading FLN protagonists who appears in the film and it was shot in Algiers a few short years after independence. Apparently the Pentagon arranged a showing to officers deploying to Iraq, not sure the audience drew the right conscluions but...

I have the Eureka 15mm FFL paras. Excellent figures, ideal for this period.  They produce variants in bush hat and steel pot, so you can do both paras and line infantry. Mix up some of these, some DAK and maybe some suitable SCW moroccans and you have what you need for the FLN. Actually the Eureka figures are also 'good to go' for Suez '56.

The French did use small quantities of armour. M-24 Chaffees were the main tanks used. They also used  fair amount of WW2 surplus softskins half tracks and armoured cars.  IIRc QRF do some suitable EBR-75 armoured cars if you want something distinctively French.

Per

[General M@yhem]

Thanks for your help/advice.I managed to get a copy of Battle for Algiers on fleabay so fingers crossed. 'Fraid I'm a 28mm man so the Eureka stuff doesn't help.Guess I'll just have to hope someone reads this and sculpts me a line of figures.

[Leapsnbounds]

You wont' regret it.  The other movie that Pontecorvo made which I believe is the greatest war film of all time is "BURN!" with Marlon Brando.  The music is very haunting.

[nervisfr]

The french wear old style uniform from the WW2 except Paras unit. The armament is a mix of Us weapons (US carbine M1, Cal.50 heavy machinegun) and french material like the machine gun MATT and automatic rifle Mat36...
For the look, they are more closer to a WW2 Chindit with the bushhat but with us and French militaria.

The algerian rebel start with civilian and arabs clothes but finish with a lot of french equipment and armament....

You'll find a lot of blog about this "bad" war on Google images....use this words : "guerre d'algerie"

[huevans]

Histoire et Collections published a now OoP magazine called Militaria which went into demented detail over pretty much the entire French Army in Indochina, including weapons, uniforms, belt buckles, shoelaces (almost). It did a unit by unit series of articles.

I suspect there is still the website and some editions of the mag for back order. I think Osprey has a book on the Indochina War as well. Not sure if they do one on Algeria. The wars were "back to back". So the small differences in attire and kit would not be noticeable in 25mm.

I'm wondering if civilians could not be used from the various "spy" ranges which concentrate on 1960's movie and tv characters. A sports jacket and turtleneck would have been worn in the 50's too. So if you want 1 of your characters to be a left-wing French journalist/ spy, this might be a way to go.

RE armour: IIRC the war was more like contemporary Iraq or Afghanistan than Indochina. The insurgents used boobytraps and small scale terror and reprisal more than military tactics.

Did anyone ever read "The Day of the Jackal" by Frederick Forsythe, also a film adaptation?? It features the aftermath of the Algerian War. The French military putsched the government of France and overthrew it when the govt wanted to shut down the war in Algeria. (Emotions ran pretty high. The French had been humiliated in 1940 and then in 1951 in Indochina and the army took losing again pretty badly). The generals wanted some credibility and called Charles De Gaulle out of retirement and appointed him president. It seemed a good idea. DeG was one of the them and a nice right wing guy from an aristocratic background.

Didn't quite work out. DeG was more of a democrat than anyone thought and he proclaimed the Republic again and had the generals shot. 

The theme of Day of the Jackal is a reprisal assassination attempt on DeG paid for by some of the surviving (and hiding) military guys. It's a kickass thriller than rings true to life.

It would be a great pulp scenario in and of itself.

[Hammers]

Have you seen the movie "Battle of Algiers" directed by Gillo Pontecorvo?

I haven't.It seems very hard or expensive to get hold of in the UK.

It is a film classic. Dirt cheap in Sweden on the Atlantic brand. I can get it for you if you are keen to watch it. I shall check if it has English subs.

[HerbyF]

I think the Askari FFL figures are for the early 20th century. Wouldn't these be correct for this period?

[Le matou rouge]

I think the Askari FFL figures are for the early 20th century. Wouldn't these be correct for this period?

Oh no, far too earlier ! No more white képis at that time 

meow,
Matt