"Le terrain commande !" is a common saying in the French military. You can translate it as "the ground commands" or rather as "Welcome to the real world !". War is not just about commandos and epic infantry assaults like those we love watching in cinema. It is a massive logistical operation. Water, food, gas, mechanical parts and vehicles, ammunitions and equipment, many wars were lost due to poor logistical planning and organization. I translated this interesting documentary about the logistical effort of the French army in Mali in early 2017, in the framework of Opération Barkhane. I hope you'll appreciate it and you'll better understand the role and difficulties of this mission.
Opération Barkhane is a French-led operation taking place in Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. It was launched on August 1, 2014 and has been tasked with fighting islamist insurgency in Sahel region, after the victorious offensive to recapture Northern Mali from these groups (Opération Serval).
This video is a tribute to all those who were physically or psychologically wounded in this operation and also to the 11 French soldiers killed in this operation since August 1, 2014:
- Thomas Dupuy (CPA 10)
- Samir Bajja (4e RHFS)
- Jean-Luc Ronis (2e RMat)
- Baptiste Truffaux (21e RIMa)
- Alexis Guarato (CPA 10)
- Mickaël Poo-Sing (511e RT)
- Damien Noblet (511e RT)
- Michael Chauwin (511e RT)
- Fabien Jacq (515e RT)
- Julien Barbé (6e RG)
- Albéric Riveta (1er RCP)
