Algerian War

The Algerian War is the setting in which Creasy and Guido become comrades, and the conflict’s changing political direction ultimately brings their Legion service to an abrupt end. It first appears as an intensifying military confrontation in which the 1st R.E.P. fights at the forefront; later, the struggle over a political settlement draws the regiment into a failed rebellion against the French government. The war thus shapes both the men’s bond and the circumstances that leave them without the military identity they had built together.

A Conflict at the Legion’s Front

As the Algerian War grew into a major confrontation, the Foreign Legion stood at the forefront of the fighting. Guido volunteered after training for the elite 1st R.E.P., based at Zeralda, west of Algiers. The regiment was described as both the most successful and the most feared unit in the French army. Guido joined B Company, where the company sergeant was Creasy, recently returned to active service after nine months as a prisoner of war at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

One early measure of the war’s violence comes in the aftermath of an ambush near Palestro. The Algerian National Liberation Front had attacked a patrol of French conscripts, killing many. Legion forces pursued the attackers, and the 1st R.E.P. caught up with them. B Company was dropped to block their escape route, bringing Guido into his first action. Initially confused by the noise and movement, he quickly settled and used his light machine gun effectively; the Algerian National Liberation Front unit was wiped out. That night, as the company camped in the hills above Palestro, Creasy sat beside Guido while he ate his field rations. The brief acknowledgment of a recruit’s performance connected the larger campaign to the small gestures through which their relationship began.

From Recruits to Comrades

The war’s steady pace gave Creasy and Guido repeated opportunities to serve together. Colonel Dufour, then commanding the regiment, recognized both their ability and their friendship, and arranged for them and their units to be paired whenever possible. Their partnership became formidable and widely known within the Legion. The fighting was therefore not merely a backdrop to their bond: it was the environment in which their skills and mutual reliance became visible to others.

The conflict also altered Guido’s standing within the regiment. By the time the Battle of Algiers began in January 1957, he had been promoted to Legionnaire first class; a year later, he had become a non-commissioned officer. His growing experience paralleled the change in his relationship with Creasy, from a new Legionnaire learning from a veteran to a trusted counterpart. As the war continued, the two were repeatedly placed together, their military partnership becoming one of the regiment’s recognized strengths.

The Political Turn

The Algerian War changes character when de Gaulle’s plans for a political settlement become apparent. The pieds-noirs responded furiously, raising barricades in Algiers and defying the army. Many professional soldiers sympathized with them, particularly the tough paratroop units that had borne much of the fighting. When gendarmes were ordered to clear the barricades, two paratroop units—including the 1st R.E.P.—were sent in support. Both units dragged their feet, and the gendarmes suffered many dead and wounded.

The consequences reached the regiment’s command. Dufour was relieved, but the high command appointed Elie Denoix de St. Marc in temporary charge rather than choosing an officer considered politically reliable. Tough, idealistic, and uncompromisingly brave, St. Marc was worshipped by his men. He led the 1st R.E.P. into the 1961 generals’ rebellion against de Gaulle, making the regiment the cornerstone of the rebels’ plans. They expected the rest of the Legion to join them, but that expectation proved mistaken: only the 1st R.E.P. under St. Marc acted against the government. The regiment even arrested Gambiez, the Army Commander-in-Chief.

Disbandment and Its Aftermath

The rebellion failed. On April 27, 1961, the 1,200 Legionnaires of the 1st R.E.P. dynamited their barracks and fired all their ammunition into the air. As they drove out of Zeralda, pieds-noirs lined the route and wept while the paratroopers sang Edith Piaf’s Non, je ne regrette rien. The departure gives the political collapse a public, ceremonial form: a regiment leaving its base amid both destruction and the grief of those who had supported it.

The regiment was disgraced and disbanded. It had lost 300 men in the war for France, but de Gaulle was in a vengeful mood. Rank-and-file Legionnaires were absorbed into other units; officers either fled to join the Organisation armée secrète or surrendered for trial on mutiny charges. The senior non-commissioned officers, including Creasy and Guido, were discharged. Their punishment is presented as a consequence of political allegiance and military obedience: they had done what they had been taught to do and obeyed their officers, yet they lost their place in the Legion all the same.

Significance of the War in the Narrative

Through the Algerian War, the novel links battlefield competence to a political order that can suddenly make that competence—and loyalty to command—a liability. The conflict brings Creasy and Guido together through shared service, first in action and then in repeated assignments; its political crisis breaks their military careers apart. The contrast between the regiment’s reputation as an elite force and its eventual disgrace gives their discharge particular weight. Their loss is not simply the end of a campaign posting: it is the severing of the institutional bond and purpose that had shaped their lives together.