The Battle of Sidi-Brahim was a battle at Sidi Brahim

Sidi Brahim

Sidi Brahim a small Commune of Sidi Bel Abbès Province of Algeria. It gives its name to the Sidi Brahim wine and was the location of a battle in 1845....

 in French Algeria

French Algeria

French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...

 between Berber

Berber people

Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...

 troops under Abd al-Qadir and French troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Lucien de Montagnac

Lucien de Montagnac

Lucien-François de Montagnac was a French soldier and officer. Sent to Africa in 1845, he was responsible for several massacres of civilians during the French conquest of Algeria and was killed at the Battle of Sidi-Brahim.-Life:He took part in the Spanish expedition of 1823 and rose to lieutenant...

 from 22 to 25 September 1845. The French force was made up of the light infantry

Light infantry

Traditionally light infantry were soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry. Heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight...

 troops of the 8th Infantry Battalion and the second squadron of the 2nd Regiment of Hussars.

Battle

The encounter was unplanned and poorly commanded by Montagnac, and went badly for the French troops. After a first encounter, the French's numbers were reduced from 450 to 82 chasseurs and hussars against 10,000 Arabs. Cornered, the chasseurs of the carabinier company took refuge in a marabout, from which they repulsed all assaults. After a siege lasting many days, without food or water and short of munitions, they were reduced to cutting up their musket balls in order to keep firing. Emir Abd al-Qadir captured captain adjutant major Dutertre and taken under guard to the front of the marabout to demand the chasseurs' surrender, but instead used his time there to exhort the survivors to fight to the death, for which al-Qadir beheaded him. Al-Qadir then demanded that the French bugler sound the retreat, but he instead sounded the charge, whilst one chasseur replied to another of al-Qadir's other demands for their surrender with the word "Shit! (in reference to Cambronne's answer at ). When the remaining 80 survivors completely ran out of munitions, they managed to break through the enemy lines with a bayonet charge, but only 16 of them managed to rejoin the French lines (5 of which died some days later). Among the dead was Montagnac himself. The remains of the soldiers killed at Sidi-Brahim were gathered at Djemmaa Ghazaouet in the "Tombeau des Braves" then reburied at the Musée des Chasseurs at the old fort in Vincennes in 1965.

Legacy

The extreme bravery shown by the battalion led to its being nicknamed the battalion of Sidi-Brahim and the battle being written up among its battle honours. However, according to Gilles Manceron, the soldiers "were led in quite an inconsiderate manner" by colonel de Montagnac "whose writings boast, with no remorse, of several war crimes". The expression "faire Sidi-Brahim" became a motto of the chasseurs. During the First World War, the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins took a German pass for several days and, lacking munitions, managed to repulse the German attack with stones. There the chasseurs won the nickname "schwarzen Teufel" (black devils), which later became "blue devils", which they still use. The insignia of the 7th is a devil (representing them and their Sidi-Brahim) in a hunting horn (representing the chasseurs).

External links

• Les Zouaves et les Chasseurs a Pied, Duc d'Aumale, Henri d'Orléans - pseudonym - M. Lévy frères - 1859 - 184 pages
• Sidi-Brahim - 23, 24, 25 et 26 septembre 1845, Esquisse Historique - Charleville - Imprimerie Nouvelle - 1889 - 58 pages