Kabyle Regiment

30 years ago while travelling in the Atlas Mountains with three French engineers, I spotted a white structure high on a mountain.
When I asked what it was, my companions were clearly embarassed and reluctant to discuss the subject. They were at first convinced that I knew what it was.
Eventually they told me the following story: -
When DeGaul was heading the Free French forces in Africa in the 1940’s, he asked the Kabyle Mountain Berbers to form a regiment to fight for France.
They agreed on condition that they were granted independence after the war.
DeGaul agreed to this.
They duly formed a regiment, and fought bravely.
After the war they reminded DeGaul of his promise and he had them taken into the mountains where they were massacred.
I have tried over many years to ascertain the truth of this story, but I have never found a single reference to the massacre.

Please can anyone confirm or refute this dreadful story?

 

Never heard of such a thing, but how is the story related to the white building on top of a mountain?

 

Hi Ivordreem. I think a few things are mixed up here. You seem to believe these WWII Veterans were massacred after the war, which is not true.
However there was an uprisal of civilians in 1945 demanding independence, which was followed by a massacre of 27 Christians. Maybe you are refering to the Setif riot and its reprisals. This started on May 8th 1945 when Moslims massacred 103 Europeans. The French army launched a large reprisal offensive including straffings and executions, killing Ofifcially 102 Algerians (in fact Historians admit over 6.000 were massacred by massive bombings of urban zones as a reprisal and for some historians it is the real start of the Algerian Independence war. Nothing to be proud of , many innocents were killed on both sides , hence the embarassment of your friends who probably have Algerian friends and do not wish to dig in the past about this

8 mai 1945 : répression sanglante à Sétif, en Algérie

 

a link for our English speaking friends

Sétif massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia