The Siege of Zaatcha took place from 16 July to 26 November 1849 at Zaatcha, Algeria. It pitted French forces under General Émile Herbillon against Arab and Chaoui fighters led by Sheikh Ahmed Bou Ziane (Bû Ziyân). The event, an important episode of the French conquest of Algeria, ended with the capture of the fortified village of Zaatcha by French forces.
The conflict, characterized by considerable violence on both sides, resulted in approximately 3,000 deaths between the two camps. The fierce fighting and brutal actions attributed to both sides made the siege particularly intense.
Background
Geographical setting
South of the Constantinois region, between the northern Sahara and the foothills of the Aurès Mountains, lies the Zibans region, located in the Biskra district. The region constituted one of the routes between Central Africa and the Mediterranean coast. At the time of the battle, it was home to numerous nomadic tribes from the Tell Atlas, living alongside sedentary populations. The former frequently engaged in raiding at the expense of the latter.
The fortified village of Zaatcha was located northwest of the oasis and was surrounded on all sides by palm trees. Roads leading to the village were bordered by walls enclosing gardens at varying elevations.
Zaatcha was difficult to conquer. As early as 1833, Ahmed Bey had pacified the rebellious region, with the notable exception of the Zaatcha oasis. In 1844, the Emir Abdelkader failed in an attempt to capture Zaatcha, giving the oasis a reputation for being impregnable.
Nearby, in the forest, were the villages of Lichana and Farfar. The oasis of Tolga was also nearby.
The difficult conquest of southern Algeria
In 1844, the Duke of Aumale took possession of Biskra, a city at the heart of the oasis region known in Chaoui as the "Zibans". In the same year, the French garrison established there was massacred.
In September 1847, Thomas Robert Bugeaud resigned as Governor-general of Algeria, marking the end of a period of expansion in the French conquest of the country.
On 23 December 1847, Emir Abdelkader surrendered to the French authorities. In 1848, Ahmed Bey, the Bey of Constantine, who had taken refuge in the Aurès massif since 1837, also reached an agreement with the French. These events did not end the rebellions.
After 1848, five governors succeeded one another in Algeria within seven months.
In 1848, General Émile Herbillon assumed command of the province. He had been present in Algeria for a decade and was distinguished by a measured attitude and a constant concern for maintaining local balances. His actions at Guelma were a notable example of this policy.https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20171214185611/http://guelma.piednoir.net/histoire/herbillongeneralsepoctobre2017.html
Religious and military leader
Ahmed Bouziane (also Bou Zian or Bû Ziyân), probably from Bordj Oulad Arouz, a small village in the Oued Abdi valley in the Aurès Mountains, according to Lieutenant Seroka, was a religious preacher and marabout. He had served as sheikh of Zaatcha under the Emirate of Abdelkader. After being removed from his position and disappointed by the failure of his personal ambitions, he claimed to have received divine visions, including visions of the Prophet. At the beginning of 1849, he proclaimed a holy war, or jihad.
Ahmed Bouziane mobilized neighboring villages in order to raise fighters for the capture of Biskra, predicting the rapid defeat of the Christians. He settled with his family, consisting of his wife, daughter and two sons, in the oasis village of Zaatcha, thirty-five kilometres southwest of Biskra in the Zibans. Zaatcha belonged to the group of oases known as Zab-Dahri, whose palm groves were owned by influential members of local tribes. Described as the wealthiest man in Zaatcha, intelligent and well organized, Bouziane used an increase in the palm tax, known as the lezma, as a pretext to begin the Zibans uprising.
On 18 May 1849, Lieutenant of Arab Affairs Joseph Adrien Seroka took measures to suppress the ongoing revolt. The operation intended to capture Bouziane failed, as he escaped capture. The French officer narrowly withdrew from Zaatcha, escaping an attempted decapitation.
The 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment was conducting a police tour between Batna and Sétif when it departed for the Zaatcha oasis.
Course of the siege
Hasty engagement (16 July 1849)
On 16 July 1849, Colonel Carbuccia appeared before the fortified village of Zaatcha accompanied by the 1st Battalion of the Foreign Legion and the 3rd Battalion of Light Infantry of Africa (3rd BILA). He had approximately 900 men.
Bouziane had gathered approximately 600 fighters to foment an uprising. Despite General Émile Herbillon's contrary orders, the bold Carbuccia immediately engaged the enemy.
The French army initially dominated its opponents, causing their leader to pursue them towards the village. The oasis proved to be a labyrinth of low walls and plantations poorly suited to combat. In addition, a crenellated wall flanked by a ditch seven metres wide and three metres deep, filled with water, blocked the route into Zaatcha. French troops, accustomed to fighting on plains or in mountains, were disadvantaged by this unusual terrain.
Forced to retreat, Carbuccia had no other option. He realized too late that the structure of the site greatly complicated its capture. The oasis and its buildings presented specific military challenges for which Carbuccia had made no adequate preparations.
French soldiers who had been wounded were reportedly finished off with edged weapons by Bouziane's forces.
At the same time, a column of nomadic rebels heading towards Zaatcha was defeated at Seriana under the command of Commandant Emmanuel Gaillard de Saint-Germain, who was killed in the fighting. Colonel Carbuccia, confronted with the situation, reported the need for reinforcements. The assault caused the French forces to lose 32 men. The defeat provoked an intense reaction among the insurgents, strengthening their determination and mobilization.
Installation under fire
On 7 October 1849, after a delay of almost three months, deliberately chosen to avoid the intense summer heat, General Émile Herbillon took direct command of the operations. He led an expeditionary force of 4,000 men towards the oasis. The force was equipped with siege equipment.
Supported by artillery, the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment, under the renewed command of Carbuccia, captured a group of houses north of the palm grove known as the Zaouïa, where a valuable spring was located. Despite the installation of cannon by the soldiers, these positions could not be maintained under enemy fire.
The engineer colonel Mathieu Petit was seriously wounded in the arm during the operation while supervising the installation of a new battery. Lieutenant Seroka, who participated in the assault on 9 October, was also struck by the same projectile. Evacuated to Biskra, Colonel Petit underwent amputation of his arm and died on 2 November. The siege of Rome absorbed considerable resources, complicating the replacement of Petit, a senior engineer officer and former student of the École Polytechnique, whose absence significantly hindered operations.https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20171207150553/http://guelma.piednoir.net/villes-villages/colonelpetitsjanv08.html
The troops ventured into the labyrinth of the surrounding gardens, where they were quickly defeated. Arab and Berber fighters inflicted severe mutilations on the wounded, including Adjutant Davout.
Failure of the first assault (20 October 1849)
The French forces then erected rudimentary siege fortifications in an attempt to breach the defenses of the ksar of Zaatcha. On 20 October, sappers launched an assault supported by legionnaires and the 43rd Regiment of the Line. The attack failed. The ditches, poorly filled, remained almost impassable, while the village's structures were heavily mined.
The attackers suffered significant losses and were repulsed by strongly entrenched defenders.
The women fighters of Zaatcha were reported to have killed wounded French soldiers by tying them to palm trees. Arab insurgents decapitated French soldiers killed during the fighting at Zaatcha. They subsequently transported the heads to surrounding villages and displayed them to the inhabitants in an attempt to encourage rebellion.
The insurgents' counterattack failed to dislodge the French army from its position, which held firmly. French troops repeatedly repelled indigenous columns attempting to aid the besieged, who were by then regarded as heroes. Because the encirclement of Zaatcha was ineffective, the village received frequent reinforcements and supplies at night. French supply and communications lines were vulnerable, with convoys constantly harassed by populations from the Tell.
By this date, nearly 600 French soldiers had lost their lives. Their conditions as besiegers were extremely difficult, and they were exhausted.
Reinforcements and improvement of the siege
General Herbillon ordered the felling of 10,000 palm trees, the principal wealth of the oasis, on the grounds that the trees served as firing positions for Zaatcha's rebels. This took place in November, during the date harvest.
On 8 November, Colonel Canrobert, highly respected in the Army of Africa, arrived at Bou Saâda from Aumale with two battalions of zouaves. Having served in Algeria since 1833, Canrobert encountered several thousand enemy fighters blocking his advance towards Zaatcha. To disperse them, he spread a rumor that the zouaves were carrying plague, referring to the cholera epidemic then raging.http://www.helioxplongee.fr/wa_files/Canrobert.pdf
On the 12th, the 8th Battalion of Chasseurs à Pied joined the besieging forces, increasing their strength to 7,000 men.
Cholera, which spread among Canrobert's zouaves, caused losses comparable to those inflicted by the enemy.
Pierre-Napoléon Bonaparte was temporarily incorporated into the newly arrived forces.
During the night of 10–11 November, fighting took place near Farfar. The opposing forces contested possession of the French wounded.
On 12 November, two engineer officers finally replaced Colonel Petit, who had died on 20 October. Engineer operations resumed intensively.
On 16 November, French cavalry attacked the camp at the Oued Djedi and captured livestock, providing food reserves for the army.
On 19 November, as siege works advanced, artillery pieces were brought into position. The towers of Zaatcha were captured. The fort remained strongly defended by its reinforced fighters.
On 24 November, Arab insurgents organized a surprise attack during a change of guard and assaulted the French trenches. Chaoui fighters and women from Zaatcha launched a brutal melee attack characterized by extreme intensity. During the attack, a chasseur à pied was decapitated and his wrists were severed, while several other French soldiers were also brutally decapitated. The chasseurs à pied, supported by Algerian tirailleurs under Captain Bourbaki, repelled the attackers in a violent direct engagement.
Following this night engagement, the rebels mutilated and massacred wounded French soldiers captured during the night. The defenders of Zaatcha then displayed the severed heads of soldiers of the Army of Africa on the ramparts.
Final assault (26 November 1849)
On 24 November, General Herbillon issued an ultimatum to the besieged, informing them of the imminent assault. The offer was rejected, Bouziane ordering the decapitation of close supporters who favored surrender.
On 25 November, the ends of the trenches reached the ditches, allowing their effective filling to begin. During the night of 25–26 November, three breaches were opened in the wall, facilitating further filling of the ditch.