A number of people and organizations referred to in the original French text of Jérôme Ferrari’s novel relate to the period of rebellion and war in French Algeria between 1954 and 1962 which led to Algerian independence. The F.L.N. (Front de Libération Nationale) was the independence movement and the A.L.N. (Armée de Libération Nationale) was its military wing. The revolutionary committee divided the country into six autonomous zones or Wilayas. Kabylia is the region of Algeria on whose coastline Algiers is situated: it has a distinct landscape and culture, the Kabylian Berber people have lived there over many centuries. The French settlers in Algeria (who left for metropolitan France after independence) were known as pieds noirs. The harkis were Algerian Muslims fighting on the French side. Général Raoul Salan was Commander-in-Chief of the French army in Algeria from 1956 until he retired in 1960. An opponent of Algerian independence, Salan was one of the generals who led an attempted coup against the French government in 1961 and launched the O.A.S. (Organisation Armée Secrète), using underground techniques of terrorism. Général Jacques de Bollardière, who had fought at El Alamein and in the maquis, and who was sent to Algeria in 1956, was shocked by the attitudes of the French army and requested posting back to France. In March 1957, a letter from him was published in L’Express voicing his criticisms and he was sentenced to sixty days of “fortress arrest” for this breach of discipline.
The military ranks of caporal, sergent, adjudant-chef, sous-lieutenant, lieutenant, capitaine, commandant, lieutenant-colonel, colonel and général, which I have left in French in the text, are approximately equivalent to the British military ranks of corporal, sergeant, warrant officer, second lieutenant, lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel and general.
I am indebted to a number of people, including the author, for assistance and advice in the preparation of this translation. My thanks are due, in particular, to June Elks, Ben Faccini, Scott Grant, Don Hill, Russell Ingham, Pierre Sciama, Simon Strachan and Susan Strachan, as well as Christopher MacLehose, who commissioned it.
G.S.