Gil Bernardi: "Le Cap Nègre was reputed to be impregnable"

They are behind Captain Ducournau, the Saint-Cyr student, who is leading them to the "dance". The men of the 1st commando set foot on the rocks of the scree, at the foot of the sinister and dizzying cliff that they will have to climb. Silently.

To try to surprise the enemy, to neutralize the cannons, at the very top of the promontory, hidden beneath the concrete blockhouses. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE This impossible mission, conceived by a genius strategist or a deranged mind, is for them, the Commandos d'Afrique! But try as they might to count and recount themselves.

They are only 35 war demons at the foot of the objective, instead of the 60 initially planned. The rest of the detachment missed the target. No use waiting for them.

They must head up into battle.

They only discovered the "worksite" the day before, in Propriano. While they had expected—somewhat disappointed—to be sent to the front line in the Balkans. This suicide mission, they all accepted it. They received it as a gift. They would be the first to land in Provence.

Cette mission impossible, conçue par un stratège génial ou par un esprit dérangé, c’est pour eux, les Commandos d’Afrique ! Mais ils ont beau se compter et se recompter. Ils ne sont que 35 démons de guerre, au pied de l’objectif au lieu des 60 prévus initialement. Le reste du détachement a raté la cible. Inutile de les attendre. Il faut monter au combat. Le « chantier », ils l’ont seulement découvert la veille, à Propriano. Alors qu’ils s’attendaient – un peu déçus - à être expédiés en première ligne dans les Balkans. Cette mission suicide, ils l’ont tous acceptée. Ils l’ont reçue comme un cadeau. Ils seront les premiers à débarquer en Provence. Et de son succès dépend la réussite de l’opération Dragoon.Le Lieutenant-colonel Bouvet la leur a présentée comme un honneur. Comme une magnifique preuve de confiance qu’il est allé arracher au Quartier Général Allié de Naples. Ses hommes sont aguerris, intrépides, capables d’affronter n’importe quelle situation de combat, et seront fiers d’être les premiers à se faire tuer pour libérer le Sud de la France. Avec l’acceptation, dès l’origine, du sacrifice. Simple et totale. Portée par l’idéal fait de patriotisme, ce sentiment de devoir dans l’amitié fraternelle. Pourtant, cette « mère Patrie », si exigeante des vies de ses enfants pour recouvrer la liberté, la plupart la découvrent. Bien peu ont foulé son sol métropolitain. Cette bande de volontaires, de têtes brûlées, rassemble tous ceux que l’armée régulière n’a pas encore intégrés. Les « pieds-noirs », bien sûr, mais aussi les évadés de la France occupée, passés par l’Espagne, les rescapés des Corps Francs dissous, les engagés des « bleds » et du désert, les Tabors Marocains, les Tirailleurs d’Afrique, les anciens Légionnaires. Français libres de Brosset, coloniaux de Magnan, Africains de Monsabert, goumiers de Guillaume. Ils sont de toutes origines, de toutes confessions. Chrétiens, juifs, musulmans, coptes. De tous rangs, bergers des Aurès, officiers d’active, simples civils, fondus dans le même creuset d’une unité d’élite vouée à percer les lignes ennemies. Là où personne ne les attend, là où personne ne veut risquer sa peau. Bouvet est sûr d’eux. Ce sont les meilleurs parmi les meilleurs. Il a poussé leur entraînement à l’extrême pour affronter n’importe quelle situation. Jusqu’à la limite de l’endurance humaine, depuis le serment de la plage de Sidi Ferruch, en décembre 1943.

And on its success depends the outcome of Operation Dragoon. Lieutenant-colonel Bouvet presented it to them as an honor. As a magnificent proof of trust that he went to secure from the Allied Headquarters in Naples.

His men are battle-hardened, intrepid, capable of facing any combat situation, and will be proud to be the first to be killed to liberate the South of France. With the acceptance, from the very beginning, of sacrifice. Simple and total.

Borne by an ideal made of patriotism, this sense of duty in fraternal friendship.

Yet, most of them are discovering this "Motherland", so demanding of her children's lives to regain freedom. Very few have set foot on her metropolitan soil. This band of volunteers, of daredevils, brings together all those whom the regular army has not yet integrated.

The "pieds-noirs", of course, but also those who escaped from occupied France via Spain, survivors of the disbanded Corps Francs, volunteers from the backcountry and the desert, the Tabors Marocains, the Tirailleurs d'Afrique, former Legionnaires. Free French under Brosset, colonials under Magnan, Africans under Monsabert, goumiers under Guillaume. They come from all backgrounds, all faiths.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Copts. Of all ranks, shepherds from the Aurès, active-duty officers, ordinary civilians, melted into the same crucible of an elite unit dedicated to breaking through enemy lines. Where no one expects them, where no one wants to risk their neck.

Bouvet is sure of them. They are the best of the best. He pushed their training to the extreme to face any situation. To the very limit of human endurance, since the oath of the beach of Sidi Ferruch, in December 1943.

THE TAKING OF LE CAP NÈGRE Le Cap Nègre is one of those objectives reputed to be impregnable. A "big undertaking". But he knows they are capable of it.

So much have they become hardened through live-fire exercises, handling all kinds of weapons, infiltrating behind German lines, parachuting as well as climbing and amphibious operations, ziplines and "monkey bridges". These young volunteers for hell have learned everything. They know how to kill sentries silently, dynamite redoubts, pierce lines, and outsmart minefields.

Bouvet transformed them, in a few months, into real war machines, capable of adapting to all adversities, taking the wildest initiatives: capable of fighting one against a hundred— He is sure of them, ever since he presented them with the Commando badge: the crowned crescent of the lateen sail struck with the gold star – on the beach of Staoueli where the "cirque Bouvet" pushed their training beyond the bearable, to keep only the best.

Georges-Regis Bouvet, whom they revere. Bouvet, who welded them together beyond their diversity. And above all, who instilled in them the sense of improvisation, the intelligence to outsmart traps, and the capacity to turn a precarious situation into a genuine option for victory – the Commando spirit.

"I only know one way to flee: fleeing forward." "When you are surrounded, let them think they have you, then turn the situation around through firepower, and kick their asses. You will be the ones capturing them" (...)

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