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[Ithri]

It looks like a handful of the most important leaders of our Revolution died in the month of March!

29 March 1959



Amirouche Ait Hammouda (aka Colonel Amirouche) was born on October 31st, 1926 in the Tassafth Ouguemmoune village, in the great mounts of Djurdjura.
He received his first political education by Bachir Boumaaza when he was working on the dam of Kherrata.

He moved to Ghelizane and got a job in a shop, and joined the MTLD (Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties). He collected funds and distributed tracts for the movement.
This intense activity led to his arrest twice in 1947 and in 1948 during which he's been tortured.

He then became the deputy of Ounnes Benattia in the OS (Special Organization) whom he replaced after his arrest. Then because of the pressure exerted by the French on the OS, he traveled to France in 1950 to pursue his political activity, then came back to Algeria two months before the revolution started.
He joined a group of Moudjahidine in Ain El Hammam in Tizi-Ouzou and started his preparation (explosives taught by Mokhtar Kaci Abdellah) for the 1st of November. On this date, he was in the group under the command of Amar Ait Chikh and took part in the first military activities

The talent and abilities he showed in organizing the combats were so obvious that he got promoted very quickly. He became the responsible for the Ain El Hammam zone then was appointed as the commander of the "petite kabylie". The Soummam Congress took place under his protection and the congressists were safe despite the fact the region was circled by no less than 60000 French soldiers!
Before the congress, he successfully faced one of the most dangerous military operations imagined by Robert Lacoste, the "espoir et le fusil" operation.

After the death of Mustapha Ben Boulaid and the killing of Abbas Laghrour and Bachir Chihana in the Wilaya I, Colonel Amirouche was sent by the CNRA (National Council of the Algerian Revolution) to the Aures to investigate about these killings and clear the situation. He did so with success and on his way he saved the life of Colonel El Haoues whom he met before in Tunis in 1957.

Amirouche became a colonel and the commander of the Wilaya III after Krim Belkacem and Said Mohammedi left to Tunis as members of the CCE (Coordination and Execution Committee).

Another French operation he faced was what's commonly known as "La Bleuite". The French launched many rumours about many moudjahidine in Wilaya III (Kabylie) creating doubts about their reliability. Colonel Amirouche was firm and clever dealing with this point. He started counter-rumours; but he also had to kill many soldiers since they couldn't prove they weren't working with the French. This "Bleuite" operation had a very negative effect on the moral of the troops and I guess many valuable soldiers got killed by mistake. But Amirouche, together with his deputies (Ahcene Mahiouz, Hmimi, Moh Ouali, Ali Azzi and Lamara Hamel) got over it and reunited the army of the Wilaya III.

At the end of 1958 some Colonels (Commanders of the wilayas) gathered in a meeting to discuss about the revolution etc and decided to complain to the GPRA (Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic) because they didn't like how things were going in Tunis with the leaders abroad. So they decided to send Amirouche and Si El Houes to Tunis. They were in a group of 40 and on their way they faced 2500 French soldiers. The battle took place in Djbel Thamer and Colonel Amirouche got killed on the 29th of March, 1959.

One version of the story says that Amirouche sent a message to Ali Kafi (Commander of Wilaya II) before he went to Tunis and Kafi informed Lakhdar Bentoubal who reported the news to Krim Belkacem (who promoted Amirouche to the rank of Colonel) and Abdelhafid Boussouf. These latter would have decided not to destroy the message so the French army could decipher it and thus kill the colonels... I guess we would never know the truth...

It is only in 1980 that the Algerian authorities decided to bury his corpse in El Alia cemetery.

The video below shows Colonel Amirouche after his death, Allah yarahmou weywassa3 3lih. He's known in DZ as the Lion of Djurdjura, a name he well deserves.

[Ithri]

29 March 1959



Ahmed Ben Abderazzak Hamouda (aka Colonel Si El Haoues) was born in 1923 in Mchouneche in the Aures. His father tought him Arabic, and some of Islamic theology.

When his father died in 1937, Si El Haoues started a business activity and traveled a lot in DZ. During his travels, he met important people such as Larbi Ben Mhidi, Mohamed Cherif Saadane and Mustapha Ben Boulaid who introduced him to the nationalist movement.

He joined the MTLD which increased the French surveillance around him. This pushed him to move to France where he resumed his political activism.

He went back to DZ before the beginning of the revolution but was sent back to France a few days after the 1st of November 1954 to help organize the Algerian immigration and inform them about the revolution and its goals.

He traveled again to DZ in 1955 and joined the ALN. He gave the soldiers outfits and moneys.
In September 1955, he was sent to the Sahara with the mission of launching attacks there.

In 1957, Si El Houes met Amirouche in Tunis and they discussed the ways to apply the Soummam Congress's resolutions.
He went back to Tunis in June 1957 and became a captain, commanding the third region of the Wilaya I. Then he was promoted to the rank of Commandant and became the commander of Wilaya I after the death of Ali Mellah.

In November 1958, He took part in the Colonels' meeting and accompanied Amirouche to Tunis in 1959 in order to discuss with the GPRA.
On their way they had to fight against the French army in Djbel Thamer. Si El Haoues died during this battle on the 29th of March, 1959.