My Battle of Algiers

Posted on 09 November 2017 by Ted Morgan

In My Battle of Algiers, an eminent historian and biographer recounts his own experiences in the savage Algerian War, an event all too reminiscent of America s present difficulties in Iraq.Ted Morgan recalls a war that we would do well not to forget A Yale graduate who had grown up in both France and America he was then known as Sanche de Gramont and was then a French citizen he was drafted into the French Army and served in Algeria 1956 and 57 In this memoir, Morgan relives the harrowing conflict in which every Arab was considered a terrorist and increasingly, many were.As a newly minted second lieutenant, he spends months in the back country the bled where everyone, including himself, becomes involved in unimaginable barbarities You cannot fight a guerrilla war with humanitarian principles, a superior officer tells Morgan early on He beats up and kills a prisoner who won t talk and may have been responsible for the death of a friend He kills another man in a firefight He sees men die in encounters too small to be recorded, ones that his fellow soldiers quickly forget For Morgan, the memories will never go away.Later, in Algiers, Morgan s journalistic experience he had spent all of four months as a reporter on the Worcester, MA, Telegram gets him a job writing for an official newspaper He lives through the day to day struggle to put down an Arab urban insurgency, the first in modern history, with its unrelenting menu of bombings, assassinations, torture, show trials, executions, and the deliberate humiliation of prisoners He misses death when a beach casino explodes just as he is going in for lunch He becomes disillusioned with the war and what it is doing to his country He is himself arrested, but not for the real offense he committed, helping a deserter to escape.Though the events Ted Morgan describes so vividly happened nearly half a century ago in Algiers, they might as well have taken place in Baghdad today. New Read Kindle ePUB My Battle of Algiers author Ted Morgan – kino-fada.fr The journalist Ted Morgan was born in France but grew up mostly in the United States In the 1950s, shortly after he had finished college and journalism school, and had started work as a reporter for a Massachuessetts newspaper, he recieved a draft notice from the French army Thinking that his deceased father would have wanted him to serve, he reported for enlistment in France After basic training, two non commissioned officers schools and then officers training in France, he was sent to AlgeThe journalist Ted Morgan was born in France but grew up mostly in the United States In the 1950s, shortly after he had finished college and journa...Ted Morgan, born in Switzerland in 1932, the son of a French diplomat, his original name was Comte St Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont His family later moved to the US and he attended Yale University and worked as a reporter Then he was drafted into the French Army in 1955 and sent to Algeria in 1956 This book is a memoir of Morgan s time in Algeria, 1956 57 in which he was a reluctant participant in the Algerian War Certainly not a complete look at the Algerian War, but interesting nevert Ted Morgan, born in Switzerland in 1932, the son of a French diplomat, his original name was Comte St Charles Armand Gabriel de Gramont His family later moved to the US and he attended Yale University and worked as a reporter Then he was drafted into the French Army in 1955 and sent to Algeria in 1956 This book is a memoir of Morgan s time in Algeria, 1956 57 in which he was a reluctant participant in the Algerian War Certainly not...Interesting chronicle of the author s years in Algeria fighting a senseless war for France.This is one of the best books I ve read about war Ted Morgan was a french citizen working at an American newspaper his father had been a French diplomat in the United States before he died serving in World War II in the fall of 1955 when he received notification that he had been conscripted into the French Army during that country s effort to stamp out an anti colonial rebellion in Algeria Morgan, who didn t seem to have especially strong loyalties to France, joined out of a sense of obligat This is one of the best books I ve read about war Ted Morgan was a french citizen working at an American newspaper his father had been a French diplomat in the United States before he died serving in World War II in the fall of 1955 when he received notification that he had been conscripted into the French Army during that country s effort to stamp out an anti colonial rebellion in Algeria Morgan, who didn t seem to have especially strong loyalties to France, joined out of a sense of obligation to the memory of his father In this book written and published after the US invasion of Iraq he recounts his personal experience as a soldier in Algeria, focusing on the Battle of Algiers an effort by the French to battle guerrilla terrorism on the part of the nationalist FLN in the capital city.Morgan does a good job of concisely summarizing the reasons for the conflict in Algeria and its course prior to his involvement Where the book really shines is in his...I came to this book by accident, with little previous knowledge of the political or physical landscape it describes What I found rather astonishing were the parallels between the there and then and the here and now The clash of Eastern and Western ideologies, underground rebel cells, marketplace bombings, secret interrogations, an occupied land trying to push out its invaders by any means necessary It reads like dispatches from the Iraq war, from Afghanistan But it s from fifty years I came to this book by accident, with little previous knowledge of the political or physical landscape it describes What I found rather astonishing were the parallels between the there and then and the here and now The clash of Eastern and Western ideologies, underground rebel cells, marketplace bombings, secret interrogations, an occupied land trying to push out its invaders by any means necessary It reads like dispatches from the Iraq war, from Afghanistan But it s from fi...Very gritty tale about a little known war, one that the French said for a long time did not exist, as Algeria was then considered as part of France Colonised since the 1830s, the Arab independence movement really got under way in the 1950s, eventually prompting Paris to bring in the paras elite army troops to act as a police force There followed some of the nastiest terrorism and counter terrorism imaginable and it is well documented, often at first hand, by this accomplished writer and hi Very gritty tale about a little known war, one that the French said for a long time did not exist, as Algeria was then considered as part of Fr...This is a lot better than you think it is going to be Less a work of military history than a personal memoir set amidst a military campaign, it s both interesting and educational Although I studied French as an undergraduate, I feel like I learned a lot about speaking French, and very little about France s colonial experiences in Algeria Given that France struggles with the legacy of that endeavor as much as they did with the execution of it, I guess that is not surprising In any case, one t This is a lot better than you think it is going to be Less a work of military history than a personal memoir set amidst a military campaign, it s both interesting and educational Although I studied French as an unde...Fascinating, engrossing account of the authors experience fighting in Algeirs as a conscripted soldier He did not have to go was living in USA but was a french citizen Sanche de Garmont , but went through officer training and then was stationed in the bled the countryside Saw plenty of disasters, heroism, cowardice, hopelesness, etc A conscript army fighting an unpopular war is not a pretty thing He was transferred to Algiers thanks to his contacts and then saw the start of urban terro Fascinating, engrossing account of the authors experience fighting in Algeirs as a conscripted soldier He did not have to go was living in USA but was a french citizen Sanche de Garmont , but went through officer training and then was stationed in the bled the countryside Saw plenty of disasters, heroism, cowardice, hopelesness, etc A conscript army fighti...I d previously picked up, A Savage War of Peace about the Algerian uprising and found it too dry As I ve always been curious about these events I found this instead This first person account with a judicious amount of sex livened up the story a bit but, most importantly, this is the history of terrorism as we know it Modern urban terrorism was born here as a reaction to, essentially, imperialism colonialism And they re Muslim It s challenging for one s moral center when the first example I d previously picked up, A Savage War of Peace about the Algerian uprising and found it too dry As I ve always been curious about these events I found this instead This first person account with a judicious amount ...Very well written and interesting tale of a complex and often misunderstood time and place Those familiar with the Battle of Algiers film of the late 1960s will be interested in this book, and also will learn if, like me, you didn t know already that the film covers only a very small portion of the actual Algiers and Algerian conflict.The book...

English
09 November 2017

Ted Morgan