Service action

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The Service Action ( SA ) is a secret French military unit founded in 1946 in the context of the Indochina War , which reports to the Directorate des Opérations (DO) of the French foreign intelligence service Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE = General Directorate for External Security ). It is not to be confused with the Service d'action civique . The SA was and is responsible for the planning and implementation of intelligence and terrorist operations on behalf of the French government.

The historical roots of the SA lie in Free French units that worked together with the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II . The headquarters of the SA are in Fort de Noisy in Romainville , and the workforce includes a good 800 men. The SA became internationally known in 1985 with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior .

tasks

The SA is responsible for the planning and implementation of intelligence operations with paramilitary components. A distinction is made between two types of surgery:

1. operations "arma" (operations " weapon "): sabotage and destruction of material.

2. operations "homo" (operations "human"): The liquidation or kidnapping of people.

history

The institutional forerunner was founded in 1946/47 by Colonel Jaques Morlanne for the SDECE from members of the SOE who were deployed in World War II.

The members came from different units of the French army, preferably the paratroopers . These units were designated in 1947 in the 11e régiment parachutiste de choc , or 11e Choc for short . The 11e Choc was converted into a half- brigade with other units in 1955 and used in the Algerian War. It was dissolved in 1963 because its officers were considered supporters of the Franco Algerians and thus opponents of President de Gaulle . According to a report published in L'Humanité in 1996, the SA killed 135 people, sank six ships and destroyed two aircraft during the Algerian War in 1960 alone . As far as is known, these operations often overlapped with attacks by the Red Hand , which was a cover organization of the SA . Their most spectacular operation in West Germany was the sinking of the Bremen freighter Atlas in the port of Hamburg in 1958 by underwater stick mines.

The tasks of the SA were taken over from 1963 by the 1er régiment de parachutistes d'infanterie de marine and the 13e régiment de dragons parachutistes . After the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985, the 11e Choc was set up again and dissolved in 1993 due to restructuring due to the end of the Cold War .

present

Since 1993 there have been three so-called DGSE centers as Center d´Instruction des Réservistes Parachutistes ( CIRP = training center for reserve paratroopers):

1. Center Parachutiste d´Entraînement Spécialisié ( CPES ) in Cercottes / Département Loiret , responsible for secret operations,

2. Center Parachustiste d´Instruction Spécialisée ( CPIS ) in Perpignan for special commands . It is the successor to the training center for special warfare.

3. Center Parachutiste d´Entrainement aux Operations Maritimes ( CPEOM ) in Quélern / Roscanvel , Brittany for special maritime training.

Air support is provided by the Groupe Aérien Mixte 00.056 ( GAM 56 ) of the French Air Force . The French Navy supports operations of the SA with the warship Alizé .

The SA was deployed along with the British SAS and Arab units also in the initial phase of the international military operation in Libya in 2011 .

See also

literature

  • Pierre Martinet, Philippe Lobjois: Un agent sort de l´ombre. DGSE, service action. Paris 2005, ISBN 2-35076-020-0 .
  • Gérard Desmaretz: Service Action, un service secret pas commes les autres. Formation, method and pratique. Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-7027-1225-2 .
  • Jean Sassi, Jean-Louis Tremblais: Opérations spéciales, 20 ans de guerres secrètes. Resistance, Indochine, Algérie. Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-915243-17-8 .

Web links