National Gendarmerie Intervention Group
| Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (French) | |
|---|---|
Official GIGN insignia
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| Active | 1973–present |
| Country |  France |
| Branch |  National Gendarmerie |
| Type | Special operations |
| Role | Counter-terrorism and hostage rescue |
| Size | c. 380 operators |
| Garrison/HQ | Satory, Yvelines France |
| Nickname(s) | GIGN |
| Motto | S'engager pour la vie ("To enlist for life").[1] |
| Engagements |
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| Decorations |  Croix de la Valeur Militaire |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
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The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, commonly abbreviated GIGN (French: Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), is a special operations unit of the French National Gendarmerie. Its missions include counter-terrorism, hostage rescue and other sensitive police tasks. One of the better known GIGN operations is the successful assault on a hijacked Air France Airbus jet at Marseille Marignane airport in December 1994.
Contents
History[edit]
GIGN was formed in 1973 in the wake of the Munich massacre and other less well known events in France. It became operational in March 1974, under the command of then-lieutenant Christian Prouteau and performed its first mission ten days later. GIGNs initial complement was 15, later increased to 48 by 1984, 57 by 1988, and 87 by 2000.
In 1984, it became the SWAT branch of a larger organisation called GSIGN (French: Groupement de sécurité et d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale), together with EPIGN, the Gendarmerie Parachute Squadron,[2] GSPR (Groupe de sécurité de la présidence de la République), the Presidential Security group and a training center for French and foreign operators.
On 1 September 2007, a major reorganization took place. In effect, GSIGN was renamed GIGN and its former components (the original GIGN, EPIGN, GSPR and the training center) became "forces" of the new GIGN which now reached a total complement of 380 operators.
More than a simple name swap, the new organization aimed at :
- reinforcing command and control functions
- providing better integration through common selection, common training and stronger support.
- improving the unit's capability to handle complex situations such as mass hostage-takings similar to the Beslan crisis.[1]
In 2009, the Gendarmerie, while remaining part of the French Armed Forces, was attached to the Ministry of the interior, which already supervised the National Police. The respective aeras of responsibility of each force did not change however as Police already had primary responsibility for major cities and large urban areas while the Gendarmerie was in charge of smaller towns, rural areas as well as specific military missions. Under the new command structure, GIGN gendarmes can still be engaged in military operations outside of France due to their military status.
Coordination between GIGN and RAID, the national police elite team, is handled by a joint organization called Ucofi (French: Unité de coordination des forces d’intervention). A "leader/follower" protocol has been established for use when both units need to be engaged jointly,[3] leadership belonging to the unit operating in its primary aera of responsibility.[4]
Motto and Values[edit]
- Until 2014 Sauver des vies au mépris de la sienne ("To save lives without regard to one's own")
- Since 2014 : S'engager pour la vie ("To enlist for life")[1]
Although the Gendarmerie is part of the military, it is a police force primarily engaged in peacetime operations. Respect of human life and fire discipline have always been taught to group members since inception and each new member is traditionnally issued with a 6 shot .357 revolver as a reminder of these values.[1]
Structure[edit]
GIGN is now organized in six "forces" under two headquarters (administrative and operationnal):[5]
- Force intervention or Intervention force (the original GIGN) : approx. 100 men divided into 4 platoons (sections), 2 of which are on permanent alert. All GIGN operators are qualified paratroopers. Two of the intervention sections are specialized in high altitude jumps, the other two are specialized in diving.
- Force Observation/Recherche or Observation & search force (from the former EPIGN) : approx. 40 operators, specialised in reconnaissance work in relation with judiciary police work and counter-terrorism.
- Force Sécurité/Protection or Security & protection force (from the former EPIGN and GSPR): approx. 65 operators, specialized in executive protection and site protection.
- Détachement GSPR or The Gendarmerie detachment of the GSPR Presidential Security Group (originally a Gendarmerie unit, now a joint Police-Gendarmerie unit). Their main mission is the close protection of the French president.
- Force Appui opérationnel or Operationnal Support force, with specialized cells (long range sniping, breaching, assault engineering, special devices etc.)
- Force Formation or Training force. This force is tasked with selection, training and retraining (called recycling) not only of GIGN operators but also of selected Gendarmerie or foreign force personnel.
All members undertake a one week pre-selection screening followed, for those accepted, by a fourteen months training program which includes shooting, long-range marksmanship, an airborne course and hand-to-hand combat training.[1] Mental ability and self-control are important in addition to physical strength. Like for most special forces, the training is stressful with a high washout rate, especially in the initial phase - only 7–8% of volunteers make it through the training process.
Female gendarmes are admitted in all forces except the intervention (SWAT) force.
There are several tactical specialities in the group among which are : long-range sniping, breaching, observation and reconnaissance, executive protection, free fall parachuting with HALO/HAHO (high altitude low/high opening) jumps and diving.
Operations[edit]
GIGN reports directly to the Director general of the Gendarmerie Nationale (DGGN) ie the chief of staff of the Gendarmerie [6] who reports directly to the Minister of interior and can take charge in a major crisis. However, most of the day to day missions are conducted in support of local units of the Departmental Gendarmerie. GIGN is also a member of the European ATLAS Network, an informal association consisting of the special police units of the 28 states of the European Union.
Since its creation, the group has taken part in over 1600 operations, liberated over 600 hostages and arrested over 1500 suspects,[1] losing two members killed in action and seven in training.
Some of the best known GIGN operations include:
- The liberation of 30 pupils from a school bus captured by the FLCS (Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis, "Somali Coast Liberation Front") in Djibouti in 1976.
- Planning the liberation of diplomats from the French embassy in San Salvador in 1979 (the hostage-takers surrendered before the assault was conducted).
- Advising Saudi authorities on regaining control during the Grand Mosque Seizure in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in November and December 1979.
- Arrest of several Corsican terrorists of the National Liberation Front of Corsica in Fesch Hostel in 1980.
- Liberation of hostages of the Ouvéa cave hostage taking in Ouvea in the New Caledonia in May 1988.
- Protection of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville.
- Liberation of 229 passengers and crew from Air France Flight 8969 in Marseille in December 1994. The airliner had been hijacked by four GIA terrorists who were shot during the assault. Three passengers had been executed during the negotiations with the Algerian government before the plane was allowed to leave Algiers, but the assault resulted in no further loss of life for the passengers and crew, at the cost of 25 persons wounded (13 passengers, 3 aircrew and 9 GIGN). The mission received a wide coverage as news channels broadcast the assault live.
- Arrest of the mercenary Bob Denard and his group during a coup attempt in 1995 in Comoros.
- Operations in Bosnia to arrest persons indicted for war crimes.
- Capture of 6 Somali pirates and recovery of part of the ransom after ensuring that Le Ponant luxury yacht hostages were freed in the coast of Puntland in Somalia on the Gulf of Aden. In conjunction with French Commandos Marines (Naval commandos) in April 2008.
- Neutralization of the two terrorists involved in the Paris Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015.
- Deployment of a team of 50 GIGN operators to handle an al-Qaeda hostage situation at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali on November 20, 2015, exactly one week after the attacks in Paris, France (but the situation had already been taken care of by local police with assistance from US and French special forces when the team arrived).
The GIGN was selected by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to teach the special forces of the other member states in hostage-rescue exercises aboard planes.
Training[edit]
- Weapons handling
- Combat shooting and marksmanship training
- Airborne courses, such as HALO or HAHO jumps, paragliding, and heliborne insertions
- Combat/Underwater swimming, diving and assault of ships
- Hand-to-hand combat training
- Undercover surveillance and stalking (support in investigating cases)
- Infiltration and escape techniques
- Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and NRBC devices neutralization
- Survival and warfare in tropical, arctic, mountain and desert environments
- Diplomacy skills, such as negotiating
GIGN leaders[edit]
- Chef d'escadron (Major) Christian Prouteau: 1973-1982
- Capitaine (captain) Paul Barril: 1982-1983 (Interim)
- Capitaine (captain) Philippe Masselin: 1983-1985
- Chef d'escadron (Major) Philippe Legorjus: 1985-1989
- Chef d'escadron (Major) Lionel Chesneau: 1989-1992
- Chef d'escadron (Major) Denis Favier: 1992-1997
- Chef d'escadron (Major) Eric Gerard: 1997–2002
- Lieutenant-colonel Frédéric Gallois: 2002-2007
- Général de Brigade (Brigadier general) Denis Favier: 2007-2011
- Général de Brigade (Brigadier general) Thierry Orosco: 2011–2014
- Colonel Hubert Bonneau: 2014–present
In popular culture[edit]
Books[edit]
- GIGN is mentioned in the Phoenix Force 1984 book Phoenix in Flames.
A French member of the Rainbow Six squad is mentioned as having a GIGN background in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. (1998, Rubicon Inc., Suom. Iskuryhmä Rainbow ISBN 951-0-23805-8)
Cinema[edit]
GIGN is featured in L'Assaut, a 2010 French film about the Air France Flight 8969 hijacking. It was done with the collaboration and the advice of the GIGN.
L'Ordre et la Morale (Rebellion) was released in 2011 and is about the controversial 1988 Ouvéa cave hostage taking in New Caledonia as seen from the perspective of then GIGN leader Captain Philippe Legorjus. Even though he had played a major role in the negociations, Legorgus's leadership during and after the action was contested even in his own unit and he left GIGN a few months later.
In Michael Bay's The Island, Djimon Hounsou plays Albert Laurent, a French private military contractor and GIGN veteran hired to bring back Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson).
Video games[edit]
GIGN members are present in several video games such as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strike, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege, Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Hitman: Contracts, Battlefield 3, Modern War, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. GIGN uniforms are available in the games Counter-Strike and SWAT 4. Players can also choose their avatar on the Xbox 360 gaming platform to have the GIGN special ops costume, from the Modern Warfare 3 Avatar content pack on the avatar storefront. It is labeled as French Special Ops costume, but is the GIGN Special Ops uniform in reality.
See also[edit]
- Counter-terrorism
- List of special police units
- ATLAS Network
- National Liberation Front of Corsica
- RAID
- GIPN
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f Gend'info magazine (Official Gendarmerie information magazine in French). GIGNs 40th anniversary issue. December 2014.
- ^ Squadron in the British sense of the term. The equivalent US unit would be a troop or a company.
- ^ As was the case following the January 2015 "Charlie Hebdo" assassinations.
- ^ « Colonel Bonneau interview, L’Essor de la Gendarmerie nationale n°478 – February 2015 issue.
- ^ Le GIGN par le GIGN (in French), 2012 p. 9
- ^ The current DGGN is general Denis Favier, who twice led GIGN, led personnally the Marignane assault in 1994 and conducted the reorganization of 2007.
Bibliography[edit]
- Collective (2012). Le GIGN par le GIGN (in French). éditions LBM. ISBN 978-2-9153-4794-4.
- Collective (2006). Encyclopédie de la Gendarmerie Nationale, tome III (in French). éditions SPE Barthelemy, Paris. ISBN 2-912838-21-5.
External links[edit]
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