La Septieme Wilaya - Paris 1961

 Paris, September 1961 and the war in Algeria shows no end in sight. John B put on a cheery game covering the authorities response to a planned Algerian Nationalist (FLN) offensive in Paris, complicated by the disgruntled OAS colonialists - Day of the Jackal and all that. 

Rather like our Berlin Noir and Siege of Leningrad games, it was greatly enhanced by Johns provision of period maps. This one was a high resolution map of 1960s Paris, and somewhat useful for figuring out where things were as much of the action took place in les banlieus.

The session was run as a committee game, with us all taking on various roles in the French security forces, headed by Interior Minister Frey (Micheal).

I was cast as this lovely chap, Jacques Furet, head of the Special Services Detachment of the CRS and veteran of the Battle of Algiers in the late 1950s. While the CRS is mainly known for riot control, it is a paramilitary force outside of the Police line of command with a major anti-terrorist role too. Unlike the Gendarmerie, it is a civilian force and not liable for overseas deployment.

I had 10 companies of CRS available, around 1400 men, heavily armed and not averse to banging heads together.

Vive la France! An excuse to wear a lot of silly hats, but mainly berets and kepis (I do have a kepi, but Furet isn't in the police).

I wont run through the entire cast, but Jim was the Police Prefect and John A his trusty deputy with around 7000 police in the Paris area. There were various obscure police intelligence units represented - some 500 detectives under Tim, Russell and Ian both ran undercover infilitration and intelligence units with bizarre acronyms as names. Pete ran a military intelligence detachment. All the units were real, and by and large the characters were all real people too.

This was a more detailed early 1960s Metro map, which came in handy as the incidents unfolded.

Briefly, following the murder of a policeman and a bomb outrage at a school it became apparent that the FLN were active in the city. Intelligence led us to believe that they were operating in areas heavily populated by Algerian immigrants, specifically Clichy in the northwest and Bagneux in the south.

As might be expected, various intelligence gathering and public order measures took place. My main job was deploying units of the CRS to areas of potential or actual unrest, while maintaining a reserve for contingencies. The situation wasn't helped by the OAS who kept stirring things up with a number of provocative shootings across the city.

This was also a very useful map, showing the central Arrondisements. Clichy is north west of the 17e arrondisement and Bagneux southwest of the 14e.

The situation continued to spiral out of control with large demonstrations, 150 detentions of 'people of interest', unrest at the Sorbonne and a curfew imposed on Clichy and Bagneux and the Metro closed. Gunmen made an appearance in Clichy and a CRS officer was shot. The rules of engagement were loosened. In a dire development, a Sorbonne student died under enhanced interrogation.

Intelligence assessed that there were no less than 75 armed FLN operatives in the city, organised as three platoons and a huge demonstration was planned for the centre of Paris, to coincide with armed uprisings in Clichy and Bagneux. As Tuesday evening drew to a close, the Interior Minister passed our assessment of the situation on to President De Gaulle and requested that the Army be placed on stand-by to aid the civilian power.  There had already been one coup attempt, there couldn't be another.

And on that happy note, we broke for the evening.

Things duly went from bad to worse, there was considerable unrest on the streets, not helped when we imposed a citywide curfew. There were more murders of policemen, but so far we'd not managed to capture a single actual FLN terrorist, just local hard men along with incarcerating most of the Muslim clergy in the city. The police complained the CRS were going over the top in their crowd dispersal approach, the CRS complained the Police were being too heavy handed.

Matters came to a head around a large demonstration in the city centre planned for 17th October. The Interior Minister gave us permission to ban any gatherings of more than five people, so our plan was to prevent the demo from even forming up by dispersing and then arresting any large groups making their way into the city centre. We designated a football stadium as a holding area for detainees and soldiers were drafted in to provide perimeter security.

Intelligence indicated the FLN intended to stage an armed uprising to coincide with the demo. It also indicated the OAS planned an assassination campaign against the FLN leadership and leading left wing intellectuals. We were fairly sure there was at least one OAS mole in the command team and the displeasure of most of us was passed on, although it was indicated that a short term blind eye would be turned to attacks on the FLN, given the failure of our own intelligence efforts.

The day of the big demo arrived, and despite our best efforts and thousands of arrests, a large group assembled in the city centre. Rioting broke out in the football ground and even worse, police and CRS came under fire in Clichy and a fierce gun battle raged. The two CRS companies in Clichy were tied up engaging the terrorists, but the police reported they had captured dozens of terrorists, so many that they couldn't hold them and they were 'escaping into the Seine'. Another unit of CRS were despatched to escort the prisoners back to Police HQ, but when they arrived, there were only three left. Bodies washed up in the Seine for days afterwards, the police had murdered the prisoners.

On that rather sombre note, we ended having finally regained a measure of control of the streets and saved De Gaulles regime (again). The game was based on  the real life October 1961 Massacre, which was covered up by the French State for decades. It only came to light in the late 1990s following the conviction of the Police Prefect for his role in the deportation of Jews to concentration camps in WW2. In real life the FLN won Algerian independence in 1962, and De Gaulle managed to hang on to power until 1969 after changing the way Presidential elections were conducted. He finally resigned following the uprisings of 1968.

The only bright spot was that however repressive the measures we'd put in place in the game, they were relatively mild compared to what the French Police and CRS actually did. One of our group had first hand experience facing the CRS in 1968, and said they weren't any better then. Civil Wars really are nastiest, and I cant help being reminded that the perpetrators of the holocaust were just ordinary people, but part of an organisation and culture which promoted racist violence from the top down. It is more shocking as France is supposed to be a western democracy, not rounding up and murdering its own citizens. I'm sure nothing like that would happen today.

An interesting, thought provoking and somewhat depressing session. Wikipedia notes on the massacre here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Paris_massacre 

I have been to... South Africa

After visiting Reunion and Madagascar, our cruise wended its way west until we made landfall in South Africa. We called in at a number of ports with the longest stay being in Cape Town. As before, I'll mainly do historical stuff.  I'll also just say up front, that it is a real tragedy that towns and cities in South Africa is essentially a no go area for tourists on foot due to the high level of street crime, and as we generally like to walk around places instead getting a taxi from one 'safe' area to another, that rather coloured our experience. Anyway... 

Mossel Bay (mussel bay), a few hundred miles east of Capetown on the southern coast, and site of the first Portuguese settlement. There is a fabulous museum with a number of different buildings scattered around the site. There are also a lot of very good vineyards nearby. Ahem.

Centrepiece of the museum is a reproduction Caravel, based on the one which landed here in 1485. I find it astonishing that people could travel such vast distances in such tiny ships, and with no decent maps.

The ship museum was stuffed with things including these nice reproduction outfits, navigation instruments etc

And lots of old maps, showing the evolution of western knowledge of the globe. This one is from the sixteenth century and apart from missing out Australia, it is pretty accurate.

Part of the complex were the 'Munroe Cottages', built in the early nineteenth century by British/Scottish settlers. They have thatched roofs and wouldn't look out of place in the northwest corner of Scotland.

I really enjoyed visiting Mossel Bay, and unusually, it was one of the few places you could walk around and not have to get a taxi from one 'safe' place to another. 

I'm not going to bother with anything about Durban, Port Elisabeth or Richards Bay. We mainly went for the safaris. so didn't see much historical stuff although we did do a city tour of Durban and went to the Botanical Gardens which were very pleasant.

Last stop was Cape Town, which also has a huge crime problem, but some parts of the city centre and waterfront are relatively safe.

This made me laugh, a 'pirate ship' for harbour cruises. It is just like the one in Bridlington. I suspect there is one in every port.

There was a French frigate moored in the harbour. The crew were rolling up the awning over the helicopter deck.

A very interesting ship was moored behind our ship. This is a nautical diamond mining ship. They mainly operate off the coast of Namibia and essentially strip mine the ocean floor looking for diamonds. I never even knew such a thing existed.

We did manage to get out and about to see some sights, being ferried from one safe place to another.

First up was Signal Hill, just above the harbour and with great views of Table Mountain. Originally this had a ships mast and cross trees to hang signal flags off it. There is also (still) a 12pm signal gun which goes off every day.

Right in the centre of Capetown near the main railway station is the Castle of Good Hope. A fabulous star fort, originally built by the Dutch but later taken over by the British. It has a moat, separate bastions and is set up as a large museum.

Originally it fronted onto the sea, but since then land along the coastline has been reclaimed.

It is huge, this is just one of the courtyards. The buildings are a very pleasing honey/ochre colour.

Unlike my Irregular fort, the embrasures are properly sighted to fire along the bastion walls.

The other courtyard, the Dutch style is fairly obvious. Most of the buildings had three levels, horses on the ground floor, stores on the 1st floor and accommodation on the top floor with gantries to haul supplies up to the first floor. All very Amsterdam. The large archways are rooms for storing carriages. 

As it was so close to sea level, the fort had a flooding problem and the powder magazine had to be moved from its original location. It has two fresh water wells though, fed from Table Mountain.

There is a very nice representation of the original view from the front of the fort. Now there is a large road and multiple railway lines!

A model of the original layout of the fort.

And later when it was rebuilt and extended. You an see the original shoreline in the top left.

There are various uniforms in the military museum.

Seventeenth Century Dutch infantryman.

A Pandour.

And some very smart British! I love the coat colour on this mannequin.

Mortar man with a smart leopard print hat.

And some sort of Dragoon I believe.

There were quite a few models of Dutch warships.

And various types of musket.

And some more.

The old Governors rooms are very well preserved. Despite the stifling heat, they were actually (relatively) cool and airy.

A box bed. I first saw one of these in Amsterdam. How on earth you are supposed to sleep in it, I don't know. I guess you get used to anything. 

There is a nice memorial to significant nineteenth century African figures.

King Cetshwayo.

There is an interesting reproduction of the an etching of the original Dutch colony, and you can see the limited extent of the land compared to the modern city. Unfortunately I think the image has been reversed at some point as the Signal Hill and the Lions Head are on the right side of the bay, not the left, and Table Mountain is also the wrong way round.

And as we were in South Africa, yes we did see some animals....

A lone male. He was pretty big.

White Rhino! Fabulous, we saw quite a few of these. They have been saved from being hunted to extinction by being corralled in game reserves.

Zebra

Giraffe

And everyones favourite, Pumba or Warthog. These were very unafraid in the more dense bush, but in more open savannah parks were very nervous as they are easy meat for Cheetahs in the open. We did see some Cheetah, Water Buffalo, Hippos etc too but no Lions I'm afraid. 

That was a nice way to round things off, but I don't think we'll be back. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice webpages has more stuff on crime in South Africa than a whole bunch of deeply dodgy other places put together. You do wonder how much of it is self reinforcing - no-one walks as it is dangerous, but it is dangerous as no-one walks etc. Judging by a despairing thread from Cape Town which popped up on Reddit about how to stop your garden taps being stolen, I think it probably is an actual concern. A real shame as the scenery, climate and wildlife were fabulous.

I have been to.... Mauritius

 We fancied a bit of winter sun, and were drawn to Mauritius after our younger daughter had her honeymoon there, so I've been away for a few weeks. As ever I'll try not to bore you with too many holiday snaps and instead focus on things of historical interest.

We stayed in Chamaral in the southwest corner of the island, which is still largely mountainous tropical jungle (the rest of the island is largely given over to sugar cane production) . This the view from the mountaintop near our hotel, which we slogged up in 30 degree heat and 80% humidity for the excellent view. That big rock in the distance is Le Morne Brabant, tucked in behind the coral reefs. 

Le Morne Brabant from sea level. It was a holdout for escaped slaves on the island prior to the abolition of slavery. Originally colonised by the French, Britain captured Mauritius in 1810 although French (and Creole) is still very much the lingua franca.

We stayed in Chamarel for a few days and then relocated to the capital, Port Louis (named after Louis XIII iirc)

Port Louis features a combined natural and military history museum!

It is pretty easy to spot thanks to the large mortars on the grass outside. 4.2" perhaps?

The military museum is on the upper floor, and features various uniforms like this WW1 one.

And this WW2 one. This was typical of the uniforms worn by the Mauritian defences forces. 35,000 Mauritians served in WW2. Who knew? The majority (27,000) were pioneers.

But many of then weren't. Being French speakers, some ended up employed by the SOE.

There was a nice array of 1/35 scale models.

And some sections on Napoleonic naval warfare.

The natural history museum wasn't huge, but inevitably featured a section on the Dodo.

Including this rather nice reproduction. The museum has some of the few remaining complete skeletons.

Up on a hill in Port Louis is Fort Adelaide, constructed by the British in the 1830s after the island was captured from the French. It is a fair old slog up the hill as it is quite steep.

But is is pretty spacious inside. This is the main courtyard. Even though it is cloudy weather the day was very hot and sultry. Not much fun for the garrison I imagine.

There are various random muzzle loading artillery pieces scattered around. I do like a metal gun carriage.

On top of the bastion is the site of a swivelling gun carriage. The post in excellent condition considering its age, location and weatehr conditions (the island is often hit by cyclones). The carriage wheels would have run around the raised lip below the parapet.

This lengthy battery faces the hills inland, probably its most vulnerable spot, although the fort is in a very commanding position over the city and port.

Courtyard from the ramparts. You can see the hills behind.

After a week in Mauritius, we took a cruise across to South Africa via Reunion and Madagascar.

Reunion was fairly remarkable as it is a French overseas territory, so it is in the EU and treated as metropolitan France. It was settled as an alternative to Madagascar, which proved to be very difficult to subdue, and was originally under the inhabited iirc. 

This battery is along the waterfront in the capital, St Denis, near the site of the original settlement in a natural harbour. 

This rather magnificent monument commemorates General de Gaulles visit in the 1960s.

But really, you could be in any town in the south of France. This is the Great War memorial outside the town  hall. The main difference between Reunion and mainland France are the enormous volcanos on the island. The ones in the centre are dormant, and the active site has moved to the eastern coast. It erupts fairly regularly. The sea is 4000m deep here, so you can imagine how huge the volcano is

After Reunion we had a brief stop in Madagascar, docking at Port Dauphin. Site of the first French colony, the Dauphin in question being the future Louis XIV. Due to a rebellion, Mauritius was a no travel zone until fairly recently, but a military coup has restored some order.

This is Fort Dauphin near the site of the original settlement. It is used as family accommodation for the nearby military base.

The old fort walls are still in evidence. 

It has dominating views across the bay (similar on the other side as it is on a peninsular).

There are still some surviving bastions with rusty cannon placed in them.

There is an interesting museum distributed across some of the buildings on the site. In this case a dugout canoe and fishing gear.

Weapons and other artefacts. The French initially  evacuated Madagascar after fierce local resistance.

Various types of woven goods.

Accommodation blocks in the old fort.

Fort Dauphin commemorative plaque. 

I know I said I wouldn't put up any general holiday snaps, but we were in Madagascar so Lemurs....

They were all very interesting places, although it was very much a whistle stop visit to Reunion and Madagascar (you can hardly do an island the size of a small continent justice in one day!). I'd recommend Mauritius to anyone, lovely place and direct flights from the UK. 

Reunion has no less than four direct flights a day from Paris which also makes it attractive. It has amazing hiking trails and there is a large off grid community living inside one of the old craters, who are supplied by helicopter. 

 Madagascar? Well, one of our friends lived out there for a year working on development projects, and as one of the poorest countries in the world (most of the population live on less than a dollar a day), it is much as you'd expect. We didn't feel unsafe, but the grinding poverty was everywhere, and pretty miserable.