Gendarmerie d'Haïti
The Gendarmerie d´Haïti was a Haitian gendarmerie founded by the United States Marine Corps as a colonial police force in December 1915 during the US military intervention in Haiti . In addition to purely police and administrative tasks, it was mainly used to combat insurgents (so-called "cacos") who opposed the occupation regime. The first and best-known gendarmerie commander was Major Smedley D. Butler , who held the rank of Haitian major general in this capacity . In 1927 the force was renamed the Garde d´Haiti , which in turn served as the core of the later Haitian armed forces.
Foundation and development
The gendarmerie was founded in December 1915 as an instrument of the transitional government founded by the USA, since the Haitian army and the local police forces had been dissolved by the occupying forces and the police service was only provided temporarily by the marines. From February 1916 the gendarmerie under Butler was ready for action. Butler had already served during the US military intervention in Nicaragua .
The officers of the gendarmerie were provided until well into the 1920s by officers , non-commissioned officers and crew ranks of the Marines and the US Navy , who received a much higher Haitian rank for the period of their service and were financed by the Haitian government in addition to American pay . The members of the gendarmerie were preferably recruited from the black Haitian population, as the mulatto upper class initially rejected the service for patriotic or social reasons. The salary of the Haitian gendarmes ranged from $ 10.00 to $ 25.00 per month.
The gendarmerie was an important factor in US occupation. Above all, it relieved the Marine Corps, which could limit itself to only serving in the cities. In 1919 a special unit, the "Provisional Company A", was founded. The company was not permanently stationed, but operated throughout the state. It was temporarily led by Captain "Chesty" Puller ; one of its Haitian members, Lieutenant Augustin Brunot, was the first Haitian gendarmerie officer .
Strength, uniform and armament
In 1927 the strength of the troops was 160 officers, 2,533 gendarmes and 551 rural police officers. Even ten years after it was founded, only 40 of the 160 gendarmerie officers were Haitians.
The khaki uniform corresponded to the contemporary Marine Corps field service suit including gaiters and bush hat without the U.S. insignia. The armament consisted of the Krag-Jørgensen - gun .
Second Caco War 1918–1920
While the gendarmerie under construction had not yet been used in the First Caco War in 1915, it played a key role in the Second Caco War 1918–1920, which was led on the Haitian side by Charlemagne Péralte .
Participation in the 1924 Olympic Games
The Haitian team at the 1924 Olympics in Paris consisted entirely of gendarmes and won the bronze medal in free-hand shooting .
Dissolution, role model for other armed forces and concepts for counterinsurgency
In 1927 the gendarmerie was renamed "Garde d´Haïti" for political reasons, as the term gendarmerie was seen as a provocation. It remained de facto under US control until the United States withdrew in 1934
In Nicaragua , the Haitian gendarmerie became a model for the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua in 1927 in the fight against the rebellious liberal General Augusto César Sandino , in the Dominican Republic in 1916 for the Guardia Nacional Dominicana . The latter was used against the gavilleros ; Insurgents who were basically called bandits by the USA . The Haitian experience was also incorporated into the Small Wars Manual , which was published in its final form by the Marine Corps in 1940.
literature
- Faustin Wirkus : The White King of La Gonâve , Garden City, NY 1931.
- James H. MacCrocklin: Garde d'Haiti 1915-1934. 20 years of organization and training by the US Marine Corps , Annapolis, MD 1956.
- Lester D. Langley: The Banana wars. United States intervention in the Caribbean, 1898-1934 , Chicago 1988. ISBN 0-256-07020-2 . Originally published under the title The banana wars. An inner history of American empire, 1900-1934 , Lexington, KY 1983. ISBN 0-8131-1496-9
- Ivan Musicant: The banana wars. A history of United States military intervention in Latin America from the Spanish-American War to the invasion of Panama , New York 1990. ISBN 0-02-588210-4 .
- Hans Schmidt: The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 , New Brunswick, NJ 1995. ISBN 0-8135-2203-X .
- Mary A. Renda: Taking Haiti. Military occupation and the culture of US imperialism, 1915-1940 , Chapel Hill 2001. ISBN 978-0-8078-2628-7 .
- Leo J. Daugherty III: Counterinsurgency and the United States Marine Corps. The first counterinsurgency era 1899-1945 , Jefferson, NC 2015. ISBN 978-0-7864-9698-3
- Alan McPherson: A short history of US interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean , Chichester, West Sussex, UK / Malden, MA 2016. ISBN 978-1-118-95399-0 . ISBN 978-1-118-95400-3