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Background: GROUPEMENT D'INTERVENTION DE LA GENDARMERIE NATIONALE (G.I.G.N.)
The Gendarmerie Nationale, or Nationale Police Force, is a 60,000 member strong paramilitary unit under the control of the Ministry of Defense, but with many functions of the FBI. By 1971, it was considering forming a notional Hostage Rescue Unit (HRU). This decision was finally implemented in November 1973, after the 1972 Munich massacre and the 1973 Saudi Arabian Embassy siege made it obvious that such a capability was required.
In the formative years, GIGN was divided into two separate commands, GIGN 1 located at Maisons-Alfort outside Paris (responsible for Northern France), and GIGN 4 located at Mont-de-Marsan (responsible for Southern France). As GIGN 1 was under operational command of the Commanding Officer of the two units, it was the far better trained of the two. By 1976, the two commands had merged into a single unit, and the unit size grew as its responsibilities grew, from 15 men in 1973 to two officers and forty NCOs by 1979. Three strike units were available, with one always on 24-hour stand-by alert.
GIGN not only serves as the National HRU, but is also charged with such diverse tasks as the transportation of extremely dangerous criminals, training of foreign units, VIP protection, nuclear power plants and other sensitive installation security, and deployment as a national SWAT team. Its use in the latter role has added to the benefit of allowing the members to keep the unit's skills sharp through regular deployment.
By 1982, the unit had been deployed operationally approximately 85 times, for an average yearly deployment of fourteen occasions. The unit has successfully liberated 212 hostages, and made 63 arrests. Hostage incidents fell from eighteen to twenty a year in 1973-74 to three in 1981-82. It must be noted that while most of these deployments involved criminals rather than terrorists, they were still fraught with risks. The first unit C.O., Captain Prouteau, was wounded in 1980 during a barricaded suspect siege.
The unit follows a police philosophy rather than a military one. However, an old French legal maxim states "Sagesse commence avec la peur du gendarme" (Good Behavior begins with the fear of the gendarme.).
The full training for a candidate lasts eight months, during which time he is assimilated into an operational team under probationary status. Physical training is constant throughout the tour with the unit, martial arts are practiced full contact in order that members not flinch or hesitate when deployed operationally. Ski and mountain training is carried out at the 11th Parachute Division school at Bar'ges, in order to maintain a deployment capability in the Alps. All GIGN members are trained combat swimmers, spending at least fours hours a week on underwater swimming exercises, which combine endurance tests with the ability to stay calm and think clearly.
All members receive parachute training at the Jump School at Pau, and all must make five jumps per year, at least one a wet jump, in order to remain qualified. Rappelling exercises are also stressed, as this is considered the most important insertion method into buildings, though techniques for helicopter insertions are also drilled.
Motor vehicle training includes high speed driver training at Le Mans, the Citroen being the primary GIGN car. Marksmanship and small arms training is stressed in order to instantly neutralize opposition if deadly force is required. Exact shot placement is therefore required, with every man being able to engage six separate targets within five seconds. Unlike other units which have specialist marksmen, all GIGN troopers are trained to be expert shots, 98 out of 100 scores without telescopic sights at 200m being the norm for the unit. Unit Organization: The basic strike unit is a twelve man team of NCOs. This is further broken down into a team commander, a dog handler, and two five-man assault teams. As of 1984, four of these 12 man strike units existed, as well as a command team of two officers.
Uniforms: The standard uniform of GIGN, while on operations or during training, consists of blue-black pants and navy blue jacket. The jacket is adorned with unit patch on left sleeve and para wings on right chest. Gun belt and revolver are worn, resulting in the general appearance of a police officer. Operationally, heavy duty ballistic vests may be worn over the jacket, as well as gas masks, PNG, or communications equipment. Combat swimmers wear a blue wet suit with an orange head patch, and unit patch over the regulator, while parachutists wear the green and orange jump suits worn by C.R.A.P., the French HALO para-commandos.
The initial recon of the area led the commander, Lt (then) Prouteau, to decide that a direct assault was impossible due to lack of cover. He therefore deployed his men with their FR-F1 rifles, with orders to dispatch the terrorists from a distance simultaneously. Each terrorist was given a number, and each sniper an area of the bus to cover. All members were in contact through laryngophones (microphones placed at the larynx to provide hands-free operation). Snipers were to call out the terrorist numbers and when all were covered simultaneously, Prouteau would give the order to fire.
However constant movement by both terrorists and children made this all but impossible. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that four terrorists stayed on the bus at all times, others would nip across the nearby Somali border for a rest. Finally, the terrorists agreed to accept food, which had been laced with tranquilizers to put the children to sleep.
After a long ten-hour wait, the simultaneous shot opportunity arose at 3:47pm, and the order was given. Four terrorists on the bus were killed, as was one just outside. However the Somali border guard post opened fire on the snipers, who along with men of the 2nd REP in turn opened fire on the post. In the battle, ten Somalis were killed, but unfortunately, under the cover of the battle, the sixth terrorist had reboarded the bus. Prouteau and two men sprinted the two hundred meters and quickly dispatched the terrorist, but not before a little girl had been killed.
Commando Training
Melee Weapons
Small Arms
H.H.G.L.
Rocket Launchers
Boating
Demolitions
Gunsmith
Law Enforcement Procedures
Skiing
Climbing
Driving
Parachuting, Static Line
ParaSCUBA
SCUBA, Basic Open Water, Night Diving
Recon
Stealth
Tracking
Cartography
Tactics, Counter-Terrorism
Sniping
Concealment
Perception
Stealth
Small Arms
Hand-to-Hand
Contacts: National Police Authority
By Matthew Sztajnkrycer
