French commanders waged war against insurgents’ land and food supplies

Evidence

Attacked at night by “brigands” who came on with an “incredible ferocity,” one unit nevertheless pushed the insurgents back and killed five of their “chiefs.” Soon afterward the commander of this unit, General Desfourneaux, captured an insurgent camp near Sainte-Suzanne and killed several of the “most feared chiefs.” He had burned everything he found to the ground, as he did in another nearby camp, destroying several hundred ajoupas—huts—built by the insurgents. Their blood, he wrote, was so thick after the battle that it covered the soles of his boots. He was fighting a war against the land as well, uprooting provisions and cutting down banana trees. Doing so, he declared, would hurt the insurgents “more than our guns.” — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 510

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes contemporary scorched-earth and counterinsurgency doctrine on cutting food supply to guerrillas; connects to the mountain-base passage at 506. — connects to: French counterinsurgency repeatedly traded military advantage for political costs — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 693
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 510

Broader Connections

• French counterinsurgency repeatedly traded military advantage for political costs #expands (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 693