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November 1, 2015 - 61st Anniversary of the Algerian Revolution

Considered as one of the strategic means of fighting against the colonial army, transmissions allowed the National Liberation Army (ALN) to gain offensive efficiency and win valuable battles. It was Colonel Si Abdelhafid Boussouf known as Si Mabrouk, leader of Wilaya V, who tasked one of his companions with finding an advanced radio station allowing them to listen to the enemy. He recovered a band station spread over trawler frequencies, corresponding to the limit of the bands used by the French gendarmerie. It was thanks to this post that the ALN was initially able to receive messages from the colonial gendarmerie of Ain Témouchent and Tlemcen. These were very important messages broadcast by voice. A former communications officer in the French army formed, among the student strikers of May 1956 who joined the ALN, a team with knowledge in the field of communications; This pool of young fighters manipulated and decoded Morse code, used radio equipment and repaired it if necessary. On January 8, 1957, the work of the listening service evolved rationally by including VHF. The ALN could, therefore, follow French operational radio traffic and intercept voice discussions between French soldiers during skirmishes with Mujahideen units. The collection of intelligence was important in quality and quantity because the information that the French provided was considerable and valuable, which allowed the General Staff to communicate, by means of radio transmissions, to the ALN units, in particular forecasts of enemy troop movements.