Faceless Warriors of the SAHARA

Facel
aceless
Of the
SAHARA
For centuries the Tuareg tribesmen were unchallenged rulers of
their desert lair. Then the French arrived on the scene.
BY EDWARD LBIMBERG
E
ven by desert standards it was a strange caiavan that set out from the Sahara Desert town
of Ouargla in December 1880. More than 300 camels carded the supplies of 10 Frenchmen
and 78 natives, including provisions for four months and lavish gifts for the chieftains of
southern deseri tribes.
The expedition was led by Lt. Col. Paul Francois Xavier Flatters, a French officer who had some
experience in Saharan exploration. Its purpose was to trace a possible roLite for a prxjposed transSaharan railway fix)m the Mediteiranean across the unknown wastes of the desert to the Sudan, with
its supposed riches.
Among the French members of the expedition were two army officers, four noncommissioned officers, three mining engineers and an army doctor. There were also about 30 native camel drovers,
mostly from the northern Saharan Chaamba
tribe, plus another 50 drovei^s who were actually
Algerian tirailleurs, light infantrymen of the
French army disguised as civilian cameleers. It
was to be a peaceful expedition, not a military
campaign. These were the days when Eui^opean
nations were carving up Africa, and the French
were reluctant to let other powers know of their
immediate plans. The Flatters mission was intended to be an exploration, not a conquest.
The country through which the caravan would
travel for the next few hundred miles was mostly
unfamiliar to Europeans. Romans and Carthaginians had explored it to some extent, and
during the 18th and 19th centuries adventurous
individuals and small parties of Europeans had
crossed its barren wastes. It was viitually waterless and trackless. Only the natives knew the lo-
Left: The Tuaregs, one of whom is depicted here
by S.M. Durban, were fiercely independent and
unwilling to countenance European intrusions in
their desert realm. Right: French and Algerian
cavalry and camel troopers fight off an attack by
Tuareg warriors in French Mon-oco.
22 MILITARY HISTORY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 MILITARY mSTORY 23
In 1899 a French captain in dress uniform (third from left) and a lieutenanl in desert fatigues Cfourth] confer amid troops of tirailleur
Sahariennes and Meharistes, local auxiliaries whose knowledge of the North African desert made them essential to French efforts.
cation of its few wells, and they weren't teUlng. Commercial caravans had been crossing the desert for centuries using a few
well-known tracks, but these were always dangerous journeys.
Heat, exhaustion and disease inevitably look their toll, as did
ihe depredations of brigand bands—particularly the Tuaregs.
Colonel F]attei"s was actually a poor choice to lead the expedition. Although he was familiar with parts of the Sahara, he
was in his 50s. over the hill for leadei^ship of such a perilous
journey, and in poor health. He was described as having "a nervous and choleric temperament" and bedeviled by "personal
problems." He was thought by some to have been attracted to
the expedition by a death wish.
for centuries had raided oases, plundered caravans that refused
to pay them tribute and tert^orized travelers in general.
Exceptionally tall for desert dwellei^s, they were lean, tough
men of Berber origin armed wilh unique Crusader-type
broadswords, long lances, antelope-skin shields and. more recently, rifles. Fierce, treacherous, swaggering lords of all they
surveyed, they wore long indigo robes that reached their ankles,
accentuating their height. Most striking, their entire heads were
concealed behind a veil, the traditional Tuareg liiluiiii, a 5-fo()t
length of blue or white cotton wound around so that only iheir
eyes were uncovered. Designed to protect their faces from the
sun and sand, the litham also gave them a mysterious, menacing look that added to their terrifying reputation.
FAR TO THE SOUTH WAS A BAND OF desert wairiore cheerFlatters had sent a messenger ahead to Ahitigal, chieftain of
fully waiting to fulfill that w ish. Thev were membei^s of the Kel the Kel Aliaggar Tuaregs. through whose teiritory in the Hoggar
Ahaggar Tuaregs, one of the northernmost tribes of the great Mountains the expedition planned to pass. The chieftain !"ealconfederation that roamed the desert from In Salah in the cen- ized what the French were up to. In some mysterious way the
tral Sahara, east to Libya, as far south as Chad and as far west word was out in the desert, even to this remote comer ol the
as Timbuktu. The Tuaregs were camel breeders and herdsmen Hoggar, that a railroad was being planned to cross the Sahara.
\\ ho also organized and managed some of the caravans that To Ahitigal this was bad news. It meant French soldiei^s in his
conducted trade across the desert. They were also brigands, who teiritory and no more caravans to raid. He sent a message back
24 MILITARY HISTORY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006
to Flatters: Stay away. Find another route.
Colonel Flaltei-s paid no atlenlion. That was his fii-st big mistake. By this time he and his party had traveled more than 400
miles from Ouargla over some of the world s woret territory. In
spite of the bui'ning sun and teirible heat during the day, the
freezing cold at night and other perils, the Flatters party had
done fairly well in the month and a half it had taken them to
reach the wells of Amguid. The colonel was feeling pi etty good
about himself, and confident of the mission's eventual success.
Amguid was then the entrance to the totally unknown countr\ of the Hoggar Tuaregs. There, the party picked up two Ifora
Tuareg guides—the Ifora were at the time friendly to the
French^—and started in a southeasterly direction into the tenifying plain of Amrador, the banen and unknown wastes that
lay between the Tassili Mountains on the north and the Hoggar
on the south.
The Hoggar Mountains are among the most unusual geologic
fomiations in the world. Rising to 9,000 feet in places, they are
mostly extinct volcanoes that thrust skyward in fantastically
shaped peaks and cones, with huge boulders strewn about.
Throughout this desolate landscape are patches of scnib gi'ass
and weeds on which Hoggar Tuareg camels and goats fed. This
was their land, the almost impenetrable lair hxjm which they
deployed to caiTy out their depredations in the less forbidding
parts of the Sahara.
When he learned that Flatters was drawing near, the wily
Ahitigal changed his tune. He sent a messenger to the Frenchman to come deeper into the Hoggar, suggesting that he could
help guide him further on his way to the Sudan. The bearera of
this were a party of Hoggar Tuaregs who rode into Flatters'
camp on the Amrador Plain. It was led by Ahitigal's son, Attici
ouid Chikat.
The Tuai^g appeared friendly. Attici volunteered to help guide
the party through the Hoggar region. He suggested that Flatters dismiss his llora guides, since they were unfamiliar with
the territory ahead. The colonel agreed. That was his second big
mistake. Attici and his party rode away, leaving four Hoggar
Tuareg guides to replace the Ifora.
The Flattei's mission moved ever closer to the mountains. Two
days later it was seiiously short of water. The guides suggested
that part of the e.xpedition ride ahead to the wells of Tadjemout,
taking all the baggage animals with them, along with empty
watei^skins to be refilled and brought back to the main body.
Flattere split his forces, setting out with a French officer, the
doctor, two of the engineers and a complement of tmulleurs,
plus the Tuareg guides and all Ihe expeditions camels, leaving
the main body bivouacked behind. This advance party reached
the wells in the Hoggar foothills, watered the animals and let
them graze on the sparse gi^ass nearby while Flattei-s and the
others rested in the shade of the few trees alongside the wells.
All seemed well, but then it was noticed that the guides, including tfie one who was holding Flatters' horee, were edging
away Flatters called out, but by that time the guides had disappeared among the i"ocks.
At the same time, a group of camel-mounted Tuaregs led by
Attici himself came chaiging out of the ravine straight for the
colonel and his men. Flatters and the other French officer barely
had time to draw their pistols and fire an elective volley before
the Tuaregs were upon them. Lance thrusts and rifle fire dispatched all the Frenchmen. The attackers savagely hacked their
Although he had previous experience in the Sahara, Lt. Col. Paul
Frangois Xavier Flatters made some fatal errors in judgment
during his 1880 expedition to the Hoggar region.
bodies to pieces with their swords. The tirailleurs put up a spirited defense but were soon oveiwhelmed. A few managed to slip
away in the confusion and make it back to alert the main body
Flattei's had blundered into an ambush, and now what was
left of his party was in a bad way. They were stranded in the
middle of a frightful desert, in the temtoiT of a treacherous
enemy and short of water and provisions. Fven woi-se, thc\ weir
without camels. The entire herd had been scattered in the tighting at the wells and recaptured by the Tuaregs. The good news,
however, was that they still had their weapons and plenty of ammunition to fight off any more attacks.
Bui the mastei"s of the Hoggar did not attack, not there and
then. They simply waited, knowing that the intaidei"s were' some
750 miles from their base at Ouargla and without the camels
that were so necessaiy for desert sut\ival They had simply lo
keep them in sight and wait for hunger and thirst to weaken
them. Then the final massacre would begin.
It was decided by the French lieutenant, who was now the
only officer .still alive, to tn' to make it back to Ouargla on loot.
Although he was nominally in command, much of the decisionmaking would now depend upon (he Chaamba member's of the
party, the only ones who knew the northem desert well enough
to guide the group to safety.
After an unsuccessfiil attempt to find some of the scattered
camels, the party started towai d Ouargla. Their first objective
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 MILHARY HISTORV 25
the wells of Amguid, where they knew they could get
enough water, and perhaps food, to cairy on. Tirailleurs were
immediately sent out to the flanks to scout and soon reported
they had company. A band of about 200 camel-mounted Tuareg
w^uTioi^ was also mairhing northwai'd on a parallel route, keeping out of sight. There was no doubt that the Tuaregs would
strike before their victims reached Amguid, for those wells
marked the northem border of their territory.
It was a long, hard march. For days the column struggled on,
the \eiled wairiors riding silently, patiently on their flanks. Altliough the French mission was still amied, the men were now
tmly fugitives. Their strictly rationed water had all but run out.
They were starving, living on whatever they could find. Somewheie along the march they had rounded up a few stniy camels,
used them as baggage animals and then slaughtered them for
food. They were also able to occasionally snare some small
desert lizaixis, which, while not gourmet fare, kept them alive.
When the column was still two days from Amguid they were
surprised to see a small party of Tuaregs ride up to their encampment making friendly signs. Communications with the
Tuaregs was always difficult because they had their own language and knew httle Arabic, but these men seemed to have
sympathy for the column's plight and offered to bring them
food. The starving men were grateful. Hunger had stilled their
suspicions. The next day the same Tuai egs rode up and dropped
ofl some bundles of dates. As they rode off, the tirailleurs fell
ravenously on the unexpected gift.
It was typical Tuareg treachei>. The dates were poisoned.
Among the desert tribes the drug was called ifalezlez'. it resulted
ip hallucinations and disorientation, not unlike LSD. Within a
jhort time the men ran screaming into the desert. Others raved
around the encampment, and some tried to kill themselves. The
last of the civilians died as a result of the diTJg.
Why the Tuaregs didn't attack then is a mystery. Eventually
tiie effects of the poison wore off, and the pitiful column moved
on, although many of the men were suffering gi"eat pain and
some were still half crazy.
i T LAST THEY REACHED AMGUID. There they were not
jurprised to see a line of camel-mounted Tuaregs stretched
across their path, silently watching, lances and swords at the
ready. The tirailleurs halted, and the antagonists simply stared
at each other. Then suddenly the Tuaregs charged.
Amazingly, the tirailleurs found the courage and discipline
to meet the onslaught with a volley of well-aimed rifle fii'e. A
dozen Tuaregs fell and the rest turned back, but they were not
long discouraged. They charged and chained again, each time
tiking severe casualties. Finally they gave up on mounted attacks and settled down to shaipshooting fi om behind the rocks
of the sun ounding hilly terrain.
Now the Tuaregs practiced some of their primitive and savage
psychological warfare. They had taken a number of prisoners
in ihe original fight at Tadjemout, and at this point, in full view
of the tirailleurs, these were executed. Some they simply threw
oif the sunounding cliffs, othei's they beheaded. If they hadn't
fully realized it before, the hon ified spectatoi^s now knew what
would happen to them if they were captured.
The sniping continued until dark, with heavy casualties on
both sides. The remaining French officer was killed, and the last
French noncom, a Sergeant Pobeguin, was now in chaise. As
26 MILITARY HISTORY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006
Femand Foureau, backed by Commandant Frangois Joseph
Amadee Lamy's Algerian tirailleurs, sets out from Ouargla on
October 22, 1898 (Rue des Archives/TAL).
the sniping died down, Pobeguin took advantage of the dai"kness to lead his tattered band around Amguid and continue
north. Perhaps the Tuaregs simply let them escape. If any of the
tirailleurs made it back to Ouargla, their sad tale could serve as
a warning to the French to stay out of Tuareg territoTY At any
rate, apparently satisfied that they had taught the intixidei's a
sufficient lesson, the veiled men turned back toward the Hoggar.
The remaining part of the tirailleurs' desert odyssey was a
nightmare. They were still 450 miles from Ouargla, and they
were still starving. They found some water along the way, but
Uttle food. They were reduced to eating lizards and chewing on
their leather belts. At firet the bodies were left where they lay,
but eventually famished tirailleurs tumed to cannibalism. To
stay alive, they ate the flesh of their fallen companions.
On March 28,1881, a dozen ragged scarecrows stumbled into
Ouargla. Sergeant Pobeguin, the last of the Frenchmen, was not
among them—he had died on the terrible trail. Over the following weeks a few more survivor, some of whom had escaped
Tuareg captivity, wandered into other desert outposts, and the
w hole sad tale of the disaster came to light.
Paris was horrified, and the French public demanded some
sort of action to punish the Tuaregs. Gradually, however, the
conquest of the Sahara, while not actually forgotten, was put
on the back burner. It was not until 17 years later that another
attempt was made to cross the Sahara to the Sudan.
ian lirailleurs, an experienced Saharan soldier who comprehended the requirements of such an expedition. This time it was
to have enough muscle to be successful, and by the lime the
Foureau-Lamy mission left Ouargla on October 22, 1898, Lamy
had seen to that. It took 1,000 camels to cany all the men and
equipment needed.
Included in the expedition were four civilians, 10 officers, 32
French NCOs, 213 Algerian tirailleurs. 50 Sahaixin tirailleurs and
13 spahis, native Algerian cavab-ymcn. There weie also 49 camel
drovers, 20 Chaamba guides and six holy men, both Chaamba
and Tuareg. Adding to the expeditions striking power were two
42mm Hotchkiss guns, heavy aitilleiy for desert waifare. To be
on the safe side, a Compagnie Saharienne. a unit of the newly
organized French army camel coips of Chaamba tribesmen,
joined the column for the first pan of the journey, scouting the
flanks.
When Colonel Pierre Laperrine was appointed commander in
chief of the Saharan oases at the tum of the 20th century, the
region became relatively quiet-except for the Hoggar Tuaregs.
This new endeavor was ostensibly a scientific expedition led
by a civilian, Femand Foureau, a seasoned ti^aveler and topographer who knew the northern desert well. He'd had previous
dealings with the Ajjers Tuaregs, enough to know how volatile
and unpredictable any wearer of the veil could be. And he was
aware that he needed a military escort, no matter what tribe
was involved.
Foureau found the right military man in Commandant
Frangois Joseph Amadce Lamy of the 1st Regiment of Alger-
FOUREAU AND LAMY'S HUGE caravan followed the track
of the Flatters mission into the Hoggar country and right past
the scene of the massacre without incident. There were no Tuaregs to be seen. The word was out in the desert that this new expedition was too well armed to assail. Even the always belligerent Hoggar Tuaregs got the message. As the column
tra\'eled ever deeper into the leniloi-y of Kel Ahaggar, it found
the hastily abandoned campsites of Tuareg bands. But the veiled
men themselves had completely disappeared,
There were other troubles, however, The countiy the expedition was now in was utterly unknown to Europeans. Foureau
wrote in his diaiy: "This is appalling desert, desolate, treacherous, and discouraging to any but the stoutest hearts. The skeletons of camels litter the route and we add ceaselessly to their
number. The figure of our camel losses over a week has risen to
over 140 animals."
The camels of the Foureau-Lamy expedition had begun to die
of exhaustion, as well as lack of fodder and water. As it moved
into the plateau of the southem mountain region, most of the
camels were gone. Since there were few animals left to carry
supplies, much had to be burned and extra ammunition buried.
And now there was Tuareg tiouble. The column reached
Ighezzar, a trading center where Lamy hoped to buy camels
from the local tiibes. The tribesmen of the Kel Oui Tuareg, while
appealing to be friendly, were as vacillating, untmstworthy and
uncooperative as their northern brothere. At firet they agreed to
sell the camels. Then they changed their minds.
Held up at Ighezzar for lack of pack animals, Lamy stalled
building a fort thei-e. Apparently that was too much for the Kel
Oui. Some 400 strong, they attacked the French encampment
in a wild camel charge with spear and sword, but were beaten
off. They never returned. Evidently the Hotchkiss guns h id
something to do with the French victory. Deadly in their dest^rt
environment, the Tuaregs and their medieval weapons were no
match ibr modem aimament when engaging in open, pitched
battle—i.e. on the Europeans' terms.
Eventually the expedition acquired enough camels to move
on. Pei'haps some strong-ann methods were used to accomplish
this. Charles Guilleux, a French sergeant of tirailleurs, who kept
a diary, wrote: "Those cureed Tuaregs won't sell us any camels
and most of ours are cluttering our tracks with their carcasses.
Luckily, we have captured a nomad and won't set him free
except for a ransom of 50 camels." They got their camels.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 MILITARY HISTORY 27
oi in Salah. It was a low-profile affaii" under the command ol
an obscure young French officer. Lieutenant Gaston Cottenest.
Although it was a small expedition, it was apparently extremely
well organized, well equipped, well disciplined and well led.
Starting out from In Salah on March 25, 1902, Cottenest and
his men trailed the miscreants, never quite catching up with
them. The Tuaregs threw many obstacles in ihc small force's
way, including blocking the wells that marked the trail lo llic
Hoggar. Il was moi e than a month after starting oui thai the
pursuers actually sighted their quaiTy. Four days alter the first
tentative contact on May 7, al a village in the foothills of the
Hoggar, the Tuaregs turned to fight.
Cottenest was ready for them. He had ihe high ground, and
his men were dismounted and spread in a line along the rocks,
awaiting the attack. The Tuaregs. greatly reinforced antl
mounted on their best camels, came on at a slow trot, so slowly
that for an instant the young lieutenant thought they were not
going to charge. Then suddenly they broke into a gallop,
screaming war cries and waving lances. In his after-action
report, Cottenesl described il this way: "The ground allowed the
Tuareg to advance up to us tiding their camels, with their besi
mounts to the tore. Barbed spears whistled toward us and the
men who had hurled them Irom the height of their camels dismounted with a riile in their left hand, a spear in iheirrighland
a sword at their side. They were all ai med more or less the same
and to our astonishment they nearly all had rifles. They were
men of great height, of an imposing appeal ance, who marched
straight ahead wilh a complete ct)ntempt of danger."
In June 1902, one month after their defeat at Tit, the Tuaregs
The disciplined fire of the Chaamba created great gaps in the
returned to In Salah to ambush another French convoy, but they
Tuareg ranks, but slill they came on. Their ovenvhelming nimibegan to submit to the French soon after that incident
bers pushed the French force back, but Cottenest hiid planned
well. He suddenly withdrew his men lo a pivarianged posilion
higher up among the rocks and continued his heavy and accuThe Foureau-Lamy expedition stiTiggled on, enduring all the iiile fire.
usual hardships of the desert: heat, sandstorms, thirst and
The contest tumed into a fierce fiix'fight, which the Tuaregs
hunger. More camels died, and Tuareg spies buzzed around gradually lost. At what point they decided to retreat is not
their column, thieatening to attack. They never did. The expe- recorded, but the casualties tell the story. In the rather grandly
dition was finally successful, reaching its goal at Zinder in the titled Battle of Tit, named for the village nearest the scene of the
Sudan in the fall of 1899.
fighting, the French lost three men killed and 10 wounded. The
It was a gi'eat triumph foi" Femand Foureau and Comman- Tuareg counted some 90 dead, 22 of whom were killed, acdant Lamy. But Lamy didn't live to enjoy it long. Some months cording to Cottenest, "in our pursuit alter the battle."
later he was killed leading a chaise against the king of Bomu
Although Cottenest's people have been described in some acnear Lake Chad. The place where he died in now called Fort counts as an ill-armed partisan band, the results indicate othLamy and is the site of an airfield.
eiAvise. Perhaps the Chaamba were French-trained veterans ot
Lapenine's Sahariemies. Their disciplined victory against overNOW, AT THE HEIGHT OF FRENCH EMPIRE building, the whelming odds would lead one to think so.
pace ol Saharan pacification quickened. Colonel Piene LaperThings changed in the Sahara after the Battle of Tit. The most
nne. the creator of the Coiupagiiie Sahoiieuue. was named com- belligerent of Tuareg tribes, the Ke! Ahaggar ol the Hoggar,
mander in chief of the Saharan oases. The entire region became made theii' formal submission to the Fix'nch. Others followed
relatively quiet.
suit. And with the patrols of the Saharan companies criss-crossOuiet e.xcept for the Hoggar Tuaregs, that is, who were biding ing the desert, the French Sahara remained relatively peaceful
their Lime. Since they had massacred ihe Flatters mission, the Kel for many years. MH
Ahaggar had grown more confident ihan ever. They continued
their raiding outside the Hoggar, then disappeared back into it, Edward L. Bimberg served with a Nalional Guard cavalry regidefying ptu^suit. Something had to be done, but the government ment in North Africa, Corsica and Italy during World War II. For
in Paris, fearing intemational criticism for its blatant imperial- the past 30 years he has owned riding schools in Nevwlersey. He
ism in Alrica, was reluctant to draw attention by mounting a is the author of The Moroccan Goums: Tiibal Warriors in n
major military effort. Instead, the authorities quietly sent out a Modem War. For more information on the Tuaregs and the
small party of 130 Chaamba iiregulars to recover some camels French in the Sahara, read Touaregs: People of l!ie Desert. b\
stolen by a Hoggar Tuareg band in a raid neai' the oasis town Ednioud Benms and Jean-Marc Duron.
28 MIMTIRY HISTORY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006