Photoshoot: 3e RPC in Kabylie, Algeria, 1955-56

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The following photos are from a reenactment of the French 3rd Colonial Parachute Regiment (3e Regiment Parachutiste Coloniaux) during the Algerian war. Depicted are paras conducting a search and destroy mission to find an ALN arms cache in the wilderness of Kabylia during the winter months of December 1955 to March 1956.

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[Chris Boonzaier]

Oooof.... wow... thats fantastic!

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Mark:

Thanks for showing these pictures, even though my computer threw a tantrum again, enough of them showed to congratulate you on this program. While I was spared field service upon my return from Vietnam in early 1956, I know how very cold it gets in winter in practically all parts of Algeria.

In your photo shoots I recognized a number of weapons, equipment and radios ( SCR 536 having been a radio operator). The Sub Machine Gun MAT 49 ( I believe) was a most reliable, simple weapon, the FM 24/29 could also be counted on. The single shot rifle MAS 36 had only a crude aiming device but the Grenade Launcher system was great. I could not make out the paratrooper issue with the folding butt, I have not seen any for sale here in the USA at militaria shows so perhaps they are hard to obtain.

Two commanders of the 3.RPC as you would know were famous : the earlier mentioned Col. and later General Bigeard and Lt.Col. Trinquier.

A job well done,

Bernhard H. Holst

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Hi Bernhard,

We have looked everywhere here in Great Britain for a MAS 36 CR 39 folding stock rifle but sadly they are just not available. I keep looking though...

I am slowly increasing my collection of French weapons. Other than the MAS 36 CR 39 the only MAS variant I do not have is the MAS 49 semi-automatic rifle, which is similarly rare here.

Thank you for your comments. I will post a series of photos we took as the 1er BEP at Dien Bien Phu in a day or so.

Regards

Mark