| Bataillons d'Infanterie Légère d'Afrique | |
|---|---|
Light infantry of Africa in 1833, during the conquest of Algeria |
|
| Active | 13 June 1832—31 March 1972 |
| Country | France |
| Branch | French Army |
| Type | Penal military unit |
| Role | Light infantry |
| Garrison/HQ | Tataouine (French Tunisia) |
| Nickname | Bat' d'Af' L'Enfer Biribi |
| March | "Les Réprouvés" (The Forsaken ones) |
| Anniversaries | Battle of Mazagran (6 February) |
| Engagements | French colonial Wars French Intervention in Mexico Crimean War First World War |
The Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa (French: Bataillons d'Infanterie Légère d'Afrique or BILA), better known under the acronym Bat' d'Af', were French penal military units, serving in Northern Africa and made up of men with prison records who still had to do their military service or soldiers with serious disciplinary problems.[1]
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Created by king Louis Philippe I on the 13 June 1832, shortly after the French Foreign Legion, the Bat' d'Af' were parts of the Army of Africa and were stationed in Tataouine, Tunisia, in one of the most arid and hostile region of the French colonial empire. The original Ordonnance royale (Royal order) creating this corps provided for two battalions, each of eight companies. A third battalion was created in September 1833. According to the order the rank and file of these units were to be drawn from: (i) serving soldiers who had been sentenced to existing disciplinary companies and who had not completed their period of army service upon release; and (ii) civilian convicts who upon completing terms of imprisonment had still to meet their obligations for compulsory military service[2].
The newly raised Bat' d'Af' saw active service for the first time during the conquest of Algeria. They participated in operations at Bougie in 1835 and took part in the siege of Constantine the following year. Between 3 and 6 February 1840 at Mazagran in Algeria, a detachment of 123 chasseurs of the 1st BILA, under Captain Lelievre, held off repeated assaults by several thousand arabs. This action won the first battle honour for the corps and was subsequently commemorated in all battalions by memorial ceremonies on 6 February each year[3].
As discipline and living conditions in the Bat' d'Af' were extremely harsh, Bataillonnaires, colloquially named Zéphyrs or Joyeux ("Joyous ones"), usually nicknamed their unit l'Enfer ("the Hell") or, ironically, Biribi (a game of chance of that period). However they fought bravely in the Crimean war, won high honours during the First World War and in the various colonial wars. They also assumed the role of construction troops, building not only desert forts but also roads and bridges.[4]
"Biribi" reached a peak between the 1880's and 90's, where it played its most conspicuous role. In May 1888 the corps was enlarged to five battalions, each of six companies. Three battalions (3rd, 4th and 5th) were based in Tunisia while the remaining units served in the southern districts of Algeria. On the eve of World War I two battalions were on active service in Morocco. During 1914-18 three bataillons de Marche ("marching battalions" detached for particular service) served on the Western Front with distinction (see Battle Honours and Fourragères below). The permanent units remained in French North Africa, providing garrisons and mobile columns.
One of the factor fuelling French army's disciplinary battalions was the need to avoid a seeming contradiction : men, whose crime in civilian life resulted in the loss of civil rights, gained an undeserved privilege in being exempted from military service. As their integration into regular formations could have spread indiscipline among soldiers, the solution was to incorporate them into disciplinary battalions.[5]
In opposition with the prevailing discourse about criminality of the time influenced by Cesare Lombroso's eugenistic theories, the disciplinary battalions of the French Republic were supposed to show that criminals could be redeemed through hard work and combat.[6]
"Yesterday, they were "Apaches" (gangsters), anarchists, professional antimilitarists and thieves, delinquents filled with hatred of bourgeois society, men contemptuous of all morality, shirkers, pimps, knife-handlers, pickpockets... Today, they are soldiers."[7]—Louis Combe, military doctor
Georges Darien, a soldier condemned for insubordination was sent for 33 months in the Bat' d'Af'. In 1890, he published a novel, named Biribi, where he described and denounced the horrific treatments and corporal punishments which he endured in the Bat' d'Af'.[8]
Many Bataillonnaires displayed tattoos covering much of the body, as was customary in the French criminal underworld of the early 20th century. [9]
Their bad reputation and doubts about their efficiency as a mean of rehabilitation, led to the dissolution of most Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa during the Interwar period. Following the disbandment of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, serving personnel were transferred to the 3rd Battalion in 1927. In the course of France's general mobilisation in 1939, twelve additional penal battalions of Light Infantry (BIL) were created but the historic title of Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa (BILA) was retained only by those units continuing to serve in French North Africa. During 1939-40 both the BIL and the BILA served primarily as construction units, working on fortifications, railways and roads in France, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. All were disbanded between July and October 1940 following the fall of France[10].
A single company of the BILA was re-established in April 1944, becoming a full battalion in September 1948. It was based at Tataouine, the original garrison of the Bat' d’Af'. This formation provided a marching battalion, renamed Bataillon d'Infanterie légère d'Outre-Mer which participated in the First Indochina War by manning a number of posts in the Bencat sector. Upon returning to Tunisia in November 1952 it was merged with the depot detachments of the BILA. Now designated as the 3rd BILA, the unit was transferred to Algeria following Tunisian independence in November 1956. The battalion was reduced to one company in October 1962, which was stationed near the French nuclear testing facilities in the Sahara from 1963 to 1966. This last remaining component of the Bat' d’Af' was then transferred to French Somaliland where it was disbanded on 31 March 1972[11].
Between 600.000 and 800.000 men served in the Bat' d'Af' from 1832 to 1970, mostly from the working class of Paris and Marseille. [12]
Throughout most of their history the Bat' d'Af' wore the uniform of the French line infantry, modified according to the overseas conditions under which they had to serve and with some regimental distinctions. The latter included yellow piping on the blue and red kepi, yellow collar numbers, and for full dress green woollen fringes on their red epaulettes. As light infantry the Bat' d'Af' wore silver buttons and rank stripes rather than the bronze or gold of the line regiments. A bugle horn appeared on buttons and other insignia[13][14].
Prior to 1914 the most commonly worn uniform of these units was white fatigue dress with white covered kepi and blue waist sash. The medium blue greatcoat of the French infantry was worn on the march. From World War I on the Bat' d'Af' were distinguished by "violet" (light purple/red) collar patch braiding and numbers on their khaki uniforms[15].
Those units recevied the fourragères of the following medals :
On the Regimental Flag of the Bat' d'Af' were embroided those battle honours :
The difficult task of obtaining sufficient non-commissioned officers for the Bat' d’Af' was resolved by creating two categories of sous-officiers. The cadres blancs ("white cadres"), like the officers, were professional soldiers who served a term with the BILA before continuing their careers with other regiments. The cadres noirs ("black cadres") were former bataillonnaires who chose to remain with the Bat' d’Af' on promotion, after finishing their original terms of service[16].
The Bat' d’Af' should not be confused with the compagnies d’exclus ("companies of the excluded" i.e. thieves) of the French Army, which were stationed at Aîn-Sefra in Southern Algeria. These penal units consisted of military convicts condemned to five years or more hard labour and were judged unworthy to carry weapons[17]. Upon completion of their sentences such convicts might however be required to complete their military service in the Bat' d’Af'.