Army of Africa (France)

The Army of Africa ( _fr. Armée d’Afrique) was an unofficial but commonly used term for those portions of the French Army recruited from or normally stationed in French North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) from 1830 until the end of the Algerian War in 1962.

Composition

These included indigenous Arab or Berber volunteers (spahis, goumiers and tirailleurs); regiments largely made up of French settlers doing their military service (zouaves and Chasseurs d'Afrique); and non-French volunteers (French Foreign Legion). The divisions were not absolute and (for example) volunteers or conscripts from mainland France might choose to serve with the Muslim rank and file of the spahis and tirailleurs, while Arab volunteers might appear amongst the ranks of the zouaves.

In May 1913 a limited form of selective conscription was applied to the Muslim population of Algeria. Only 2,000 conscripts a year were obtained by this method out of approximately 45,000 possible candidates and Muslim enlistment remained predominately voluntary in peacetime.As in France itself, military service was an obligation of citizenship and all physically fit male settlers of French origin were required to undertake two years of compulsory service (three years from 1913).

Officers of all branches of the Army of Africa were predominantly French, though a certain number of commissioned positions up to and including the rank of captain were reserved for Muslim personnel in the spahis and tirailleurs.

African Light Infantry

The "Infanterie Légère d'Afrique" (African Light Infantry) was made up of convicted military criminals from all branches of the French Army, who had finished their sentences in military prisons but still had time to serve before their terms of engagement were completed. The preference was not to return them to their original units where they might undermine discipline or brutalise their fellow soldiers.

The first two battalions of the "Infanterie Legere d'Afrique" were raised in 1832 for service in Algeria. Ironically known as "les Joyeux" (the merry ones) these units were generally used for road and other construction work under harsh discipline. They were however used for combat service when circumstances demanded in Africa, Indochina and in France itself during World War I. Three battalions sent to France at the outbreak of World War II to work on fortifications, were rearmed in April 1940 and saw active service prior to the Fall of France.

Officers of the African Light Infantry were seconded from other regiments as were some non-commissioned officers. Many NCOs were however former "Joyeux" who chose to remain with these unusual units and exercise authority, after they had completed their original terms of service.

Camel troops

Camel mounted Meharistes plus Compagnies Sahariennes (desert infantry and later mechanised troops) were maintained in the Sahara. The Foreign Legion provided mule mounted detachments for service in southern Algeria and, from 1940 to 1962, four of the Compagnies Sahariennes.

In addition to the above, units or individuals from the mainland French Army were sometimes posted to service in North Africa, as were detachments of the Gendarmerie and the Tirailleurs Senegalais.

World War I

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Army of Africa in Algeria and Tunisia comprised nine regiments of Algerian Tirailleurs, four of Zouaves, six of Chasseurs d'Afrique, four of Spahis and two of the Foreign Legion. In Morocco nineteen battalions of Tirailleurs and nine of Zouaves were on active service, along with elements of the Foreign Legion and the African Light Infantry. Large numbers of these troops were sent immediately to serve in France, mainly drawn from the peacetime garrisons of Algeria and Tunisia.

In 1914 33,000 Muslim Algerians were already serving with the Spahis, Tirailleurs and other units of the Army of Africa. In the course of the war a further 137,000 enlisted either as volunteers (57,000) or as wartime conscripts (80,000). Of the total of 170,000, 36,000 were killed.

Uniforms

The uniforms of the various branches making up the Army of Africa ranged from the spectacular "tenue orientale" of the spahis, tirailleurs and zouaves to the ordinary French style dress of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, Foreign Legion and Infanterie Légère d'Afrique. Even the latter units were distinguished by details such as sashes, white kepi covers and (for the Chasseurs) fezs which made them stand out from the remainder of the French Army. Some of these features have survived to the present day.

Formal Status

The Armée d’Afrique was formally part of the French metropolitan army comprising a separate army corps. Anthony Clayton writes that the title of the 19th Army Corps (19e Corps d'Armee) was imposed on the Armee d'Afrique in 1873. [Anthony Clayton, 'France, Soldiers, and Africa', Brassey's Defence Publishers, 1988, p.66] As such it was separate from the French Colonial Forces which came under the Ministry of Marine and comprised both French and indigenous units serving in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the French colonial empire.

Post Algerian War

With the exception of a reduced Foreign Legion and one regiment of Spahis, all units of the Armée d’Afrique were disbanded or lost their former identity between 1960 and 1965. A small unit of the "Infanterie Légère d'Afrique" was maintained in French Somaliland until that Territory became independent in 1977. However one regiment each of Chasseurs d'Afrique and Tirailleurs were re-established during the 1990s to maintain the traditions of their respective branches.

Units

*Chasseurs d'Afrique
*French Foreign Legion
*Sipahis
*Zouaves
*Tirailleurs
*Meharistes
*Goumiers
*Infanterie Legere d'Afrique

References