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July 5 will mark the anniversary of Algeria’s independence. 60 years later, some episodes remain unknown. Like that of the “cave war”, during which the French army used poison gas against Algerian nationalist fighters.
At 86, Yves Cargnino, a veteran of the Algerian war, swallows a dozen drugs every day. “It started with bronchitis, then I was hospitalized several times“, he explains. The reason: during the Algerian war, during which he was a paratrooper, he served in a unit which used poison gas, and which carried out an underground war against the Algerian fighters hidden in the caves.
To dislodge them, these units handled special weapons: chemical gases, which can become deadly in a closed environment. The army then speaks of simple tear gas, yet the effects on enemies are devastating. “In Algeria, at a large number of sites, there are still missing Algerians whose bodies lie in these caves“, explains Christophe Lafaye, doctor of history specializing in military history. The army refuses to open the archives linked to the use of these special weapons. According to historians, more than 2,000 French soldiers participated in this “war caves”.
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