The Commandos de Chasse were a French

Counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionari ...

Commando force raised for the Algerian war.Commandos de Chasse Les "têtes chercheuses" du général Challe, Pierre Andre Cerutti and Jean Christophe Damaisan D'Ares, L'esprit du Livres Collection Histoire & Memoires combattantes, Copyright 2011, (French only) French Air Force General

Maurice Challe Maurice Challe (5 September 1905 – 18 January 1979) was a French general during the Algerian War, one of four generals who took part in the Algiers putsch. A native of Le Pontet, Vaucluse, and a veteran of the Second World War, Challe trans ...

ordered the forming of Commandos de Chasse (Hunting Commandos) in December 1958 and by 1959 there were around 25 commando units in each Army Corps area in

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. Around 150 would be eventually formed with most containing around 140 men but with some ''commando legers'' (light commandos) having only 70 men. Enlisted membership consisted of 30 to 60 percent Moslem volunteers, mostly

harki ''Harki'' (adjective from the Arabic ''harka'', standard Arabic ''haraka'' حركة, "war party" or "movement", i.e., a group of volunteers, especially soldiers) is the generic term for native Muslim Algerian who served as auxiliaries in the F ...

s, "turned" ALN fighters, and veterans of regular French army units. The commandos contained a higher proportion of French personnel than other French colonial units.The Algerian War 1954-62, Osprey Men-at-Arms 312, Martin Windrow, Copyright 1997, The Commandos task was to track and follow ALN units until they were engaged by French army intervention units. The Commandos were designated by either a K (for Kimono) or P (for Partisan) prefix followed by a number. Commandos wore the standard French Army green or

camouflaged Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...

uniforms, often mixed, with

Bigeard cap The Bigeard cap (french: casquette Bigeard) is a field cap worn by the French Army and several others. It was allegedly invented by French General Marcel Bigeard to replace the colorful and less practical colored headgear worn by the French Army ...

s or camouflaged berets. They did not wear bush hats or helmets. They often disguised themselves in partial or full native clothing. They were equipped with standard French army small arms and light machine guns. Mainly of 9 mm MAT 49 submachineguns, 7.5 mm

MAS 36 Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * ''Más'' (album), by Span ...

bolt-action rifles,

MAS 49 The MAS-49 is a French semi-automatic rifle that replaced various bolt-action rifles as the French service rifle that was produced from 1949. It was designed and manufactured by the government-owned MAS arms factory.Huon, Jean; ''Proud Promise— ...

semi-automatic rifles and MAS 49/56 grenade launcher rifles, some

AA52 The ''AA-52'' (full designation in French: ''Arme Automatique Transformable Modèle 1952'', "Transformable automatic weapon model 1952") is one of the first French-produced guns of the post–World War II era. It was manufactured by the French g ...

light machine guns, which supplanted and then replaced the FM 24-29 light machineguns, as well as offensive and defensive hand grenades.

References

Algerian War Army units and formations of France Special forces of France {{france-mil-unit-stub

See also

References