Damn War: The Algerian War—The Denouement 1961–1962, Roland Chatard

Called up in February 1961, Roland Chatard was assigned as a second lieutenant to the 9th RIMa, whose operational area was near Tizi-Ouzou, then in Algiers. He was a humble participant in this "fucking war," but he observed it perfectly and was able to analyze its sad outcome. It is the harsh experience of a 21-year-old, confronted with commanding and managing a combat section composed of ex-convicts and French citizens of North African origin. Forty-four years later, the memory of this period is still intact because there are facts that time does not erase: the Cherchell reserve officer school, the difficult and subtle adaptation to command, life in the Beni Ouarzedine regroupment center, the role of the OAS and the collective madness in Algiers, the massive and moving exodus of the Pieds-Noirs, the almost unbearable moral ordeal, the scandal of the Harki genocide after the ceasefire. This young Limousin's apprenticeship of life provides a sincere, objective, and deeply sensitive insight into this dark period of our history that some have sought to conceal.