Battle of Timimoun

On November 21, the 3rd company of the 3rd RPC was airlifted near the Hassi-Rhambou well where the ALN mujahideen were located. At 12:30 p.m., the 4th company was airdropped, then a section of the squadron was airlifted. The fighting, which began at 9:30 a.m., raged, and the T6s then appeared and targeted the 65 mujahideen^[9] (14 of whom had no weapons^[3]). The fighting was fierce and lasted until 6:45 p.m.

According to the academic Dahmane Touati^[3] at the end of the fighting the ALN deplores 40 mujahideen killed.^[10] The French army deplores 12 killed including Lieutenant Pierre Rhoer, Sergeant-Major René Sentenac, Voltigeur Jackie Schneidenbach of the 4th company and medic Roland Fialon of the 3rd company, and 8 wounded.^[1]

But the analysis of seized documents and the interrogation of prisoners confirmed that the ALN mujahideen had split into three, and the French army was then to continue its operations in the region.^[11]

On December 7, after Bigeard intensified the ground and air searches, a plane spotted a man near the Hassi-Ali well, several units were airlifted to the mujahideen and fighting began. At the end of the day, the ALN deplores 45 killed and 6 prisoners^[12] and the paratroopers of the French army deplore 4 killed and 6 wounded^[1] as well as the loss of a plane.^[3]

After successfully breaking the encirclement of the French army, Commander Ferhat and his men reached the region of Figuig, in Morocco.^[3]

Operation Timimoun began on November 21 and continued until December 8, 1955. The 3rd RPC left the Timimoun region on December 22.^[1] During the operation, four helicopters crashed into the dunes.^[13]

The Battle of Timimoun and the events that preceded it (desertion of Hassi-Sakka and ambush of Tasselgha) allowed the FLN to undermine the plans of the OCRS^[14] by threatening French oil activity and to demonstrate the strategic and political importance that it had for the Sahara.^[15][16] Operation Timimoun cannot be considered a French victory, given the considerable resources mobilized: 1,750 paratroopers and legionnaires benefiting from the use of planes and helicopters as well as media propaganda against an adversary (the ALN) with infinitely weaker resources (150-200 mujahideen not all armed and 225 camels) and given the poor results obtained in relation to the objectives that were set: the location of deserting camel riders and other ALN elements (they will be located a week after the arrival of Bigeard despite the land and air operations started since mid-October), the elimination of the latter (which was partial, some of the fighters and Commander Ferhat succeeded in breaking the encirclement and establishing contact with the ALN in the region of Figuig^[17]) and the creation of a psychological shock (which was a failure, the fighting continued in the region of Timimoun^[18] and the attachment of the population already acquired to the FLN remained intact).