One hundred commandos are equivalent Alpine GCP of the 11th Parachute Brigade and crew HUMINT (human intelligence) of the 2nd Hussars .
According to the French Army, the expected objectives of the GCM, when it is not used by the COS are of various types: contact and inquire in depth, facilitating the mobility of other units, perform actions offensive guide strikes in depth. This list is not restrictive. Thus the GCM incurred Afghanistan are as OMLT (Operational Mentoring Liaison Team) responsible for training and advising the Afghan National Army (ANA). Le groupement de commandos de montagne (GCM) est une unité spécialisée de la 27e brigade d'infanterie de montagne.
Pour emploi, le GCM dépend de l'état-major de la brigade mais ses sections restent intégrées dans chacune des unités (bataillon ou régiment) de la brigade. Ces unités peuvent utiliser la section GCM qui lui est rattachée pour un usage propre, hors temps de crise ou de mobilisation OPEX1. Les GCM sont les héritiers directs des URH 27 (Unités de recherche humaine) de la 27e BIM, composées à cette période des sections de renseignement (SR), ces dernières ayant succédé aux sections d'éclaireurs skieurs (SES) de la Seconde Guerre mondiale2.
Les sections de renseignement (des sections composées à l'époque de la conscription à 50 % d'appelés VSL et 50 % d'engagés) étaient reconnues pour leur rusticité et leur capacité d'adaptation en haute montagne. Pour perpétuer ces spécificités, les GCM suivent des stages d'aguerrissement au froid extrême3,4.
La fin de la conscription, décidée en 1997 par le Président de la République française Jacques Chirac, a entraîné une évolution des sections de renseignement et de leurs missions dans le cadre de la professionnalisation des armées françaises. Les compétences initiales des anciennes sections de renseignement de l'URH 27 sont complétées par l'apport de techniques spécifiques à caractère plus offensif. C'est ainsi que sont créées en 2004 les GCM1. Le 21 septembre 2007, l'adjudant Laurent Pican5 est tué lors d'une mission en Afghanistan. Sa disparition révèle alors l'existence du groupement de commandos de montagne qui n'avait jusqu'alors pas été rendue publique6.
Le 29 décembre 2011, deux sous-officiers, le major Mohammed El Gharrafi7,8 et le sergent-chef Damien Zingarelli9, tous deux membres du GCM du 2e régiment étranger de génie et déployés au sein du Battle Group TIGER, Task Force La Fayette (TFLF), sont abattus lors de l’opération « Hunting Spear 2 »10 en vallée de Tagab, dans le Sud de la province du Kâpîssâ.
Ces deux militaires sont les deux premières victimes françaises en Afghanistan11 d'une attaque de type « green on blue »12,13 : une attaque par des soldats afghans de l'armée régulière afghane (ANA) qui trahissent et se retournent contre des forces occidentales.
Nearly two hundred and twenty-six commandos form the mountain commando group and are distributed as follows : 1
four sections of around thirty mountain observer men distributed among:
4th Chasseur Regiment , based at the Guillaume headquarters in the town of Gap ( Hautes-Alpes ),
7th Alpine Hunters Battalion (section “NOIR”), based in Varces-Allières-et-Risset ( Isère ),
13th Alpine Hunters Battalion , based in Barby ( Savoie ),
27th Alpine Hunters Battalion , based in Cran-Gevrier (Tom Morel district, commune of Annecy in Haute-Savoie ) located 4 kilometers from the city center of Annecy;
A fifth section is made up of several reconnaissance and support groups to provide the GCMs with specific know-how. These groups come from:
93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment ( deep observation team), based in Varces-Allières-et-Risset 22 ,
27th mountain command and transmission company ( transmission and communication) based in Varces-Allières-et-Risset,
2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment , with the Intelligence and Offensive Intervention Section (SRIO) whose commandos are all qualified sappers, that is to say they bring to the GCM their expertise in mine clearance, trap clearance, destruction by explosives, hot and cold break-ins to enter the infrastructures to be recognized 23 . In addition, the GCM of the 2nd REG also has among its ranks combat engineer divers , that is to say, specialists in offensive diving in fresh water, in non-free surfaces (natural or artificial underground galleries), and in high- altitude lakes , based in the Maréchal-Koenig district , on the Albion plateau, north of the commune of Saint-Christol ( Vaucluse ), on the site of the former strategic nuclear missile base 24 . The GCM of the 2nd REG is one of the two commando groups of the Foreign Legion, with the Parachute Commando Group of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment.
According to the Army , the capabilities expected of the GCM commandos are multiple25 :
provide information in contact and in depth (behind enemy lines) on the area, axis, crossroads, day and night, the personnel being camouflaged on the surface or underground (hidden). This specific position is referred to as "mountain observer". The techniques and means used in this operational context are close - because very directly inspired - by those of the intelligence teams of the 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment 26 ;
facilitate the mobility of other units: tracks for tricky approaches in ski touring, assistance with vertical crossing in combat configuration (equipment of walls and ridges) 27 ;
assist in the exfiltration of civilian personnel by any means, including by airrope , or by twilight tactical flights in two-seater paragliders (a specific feature of GCMs) 27 ;
carry out offensive actions, in urban or non-urban environments, such as:
participation in the arrest (in collaboration with judicial authorities for example) of criminals or high-profile officials 28 , 29 , 30 (known as high-value targets) 31 , such as persons wanted by the International Criminal Court for example, or leaders of armed groups 32 ;
hostage extraction, enabled by the acquisition of combat skills in a closed environment, and by the training of two personnel per section in precision shooting on the ground or on board 33 ,
the capture of key objectives on the ground 27 ,
the search and action missions in depth 31 , during which enemy personnel are pursued on their preferred terrain and according to a copy of their own tactical modus operandi 34 . This objective as well as the chosen operating mode echo - in French military history - those of the hunting commandos during the years 1959-1962 35 ,
the destruction of designated infrastructures, but also mine clearance, thanks to elements from the 2nd REG 36 ,
guiding strikes ( artillery , air-to-ground fire , close air support ) in depth and observing the results: know-how initially held by the NFO (national fire observer) and JTAC ( Joint terminal attack controller ) personnel 37 , 38 , 39 of the EOP (deep observation team) section then BRB-S attached to the 93rd mountain artillery regiment 22 ,
defense and support during rescue operations and recovery of personnel following an aircraft crash, with the GTD-A in Mali for example 40 .
This list of multiple objectives is ultimately neither exhaustive nor limiting: for example, the GCM commandos engaged in the Afghan theatre were able to be so as Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams (OMLT), responsible for training and advising the soldiers of the Afghan National Army . As they have also been able to distinguish themselves since 2001 in Afghanistan 41 , 42 , or since 2014 in the territories of the Sahel-Saharan strip 31 (rotation of GCM teams within the framework of Operation Spartan 43 , 44 , Aconit 45 , 46 ), by intelligence operations with the populations, intense offensive actions of a tactical nature , this within the framework of an asymmetrical type of war in mountainous and desert environments on Afghan terrain 41 , 42 , 47 as well as Malian terrain 48 , 49 , 50 . In a context of war in Ukraine , NATO is strengthening the dissuasive presence of the tactical group established within the framework of the "reactivity" action plan in Northern Europe, and particularly in Estonia , a country sharing part of its borders with Russia . France has chosen to send GCMs there, nearly one hundred and thirty kilometers from the Russian border, - among other units - in order to join the exercises of Operation Baltic Hawk in early 2023. The main tasks of the GCMs then consisted of intelligence operations conducted jointly with British teams, as well as harassment actions on "adversary positions" 51 , 52 . These high-intensity symmetrical military training exercises in extreme cold, within the framework of the Atlantic Alliance and the war in Ukraine, were repeated from January 24, 2024 with Steadfast Defender 24 53 , the largest inter-allied exercise since the end of the Cold War 54 , 55 ; 450 Alpine soldiers from the 7th BCA were deployed in northern Norway for Operation Nordic Response 24, during which the GCMs were mobilized for intelligence actions in depth 56The terrains for these GCM actions are preferably located in hostile environments such as mountain areas or very cold areas (arctic zones, for example) 57 , but practice shows that the places of action are not limited (with the development of the GCM's skills for urban combat or in closed environments).
Although not officially attached to the list of French special forces units, the GCM commonly use the techniques, training methods, operating procedures and equipment of the latter. In the field, it has been observed that the versatility, the capacities for autonomy and adaptation, as well as the advanced mastery of techniques by the GCM commandos are similar in practice to the talents identified and necessary within the special forces 1 - with which they are sometimes called upon to cooperate 1 - this however without having as clearly the attributes and objectives of a strategic nature.
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