Sola (Société Luxembourgeoise d’Arms) was a company in Luxembourg that attempted to get into the arms business in the 1950s making simple, stamped 9mm open-bolt submachine guns. They produced two models, the Solar Super and the stripped-down Sola Leger (light). Neither one found any military or commercial buyers, and instead the company became embroiled in a scheme to smuggle arms to the FLN in Algeria. The plot was discovered by authorities in 1957 and the factory was shut down, with the Luxembourg police keeping 50 examples of the guns for study and destroying the other 2,260 complete and 2,350 partial examples.
Many thanks to the French National Forensic Police Department for allowing me access to film these two examples for you!
There were probably more than enough German Mp40s, Italian M38s, American Thompsons, and etc. floating around the bazaars to make the Solas rather superfluous.
For that matter, by 1957 the FLN could have had all the PPS43s and PPSh-41s they wanted, from Russia, for free, simply by having a few marathon readings of the Collected Speeches of Lenin.
clear ether
eon
The FLN was and is not a terrorist organization. It was a nationalist movement formed to free Algeria from French colonialism. It successfully did so. As usual any homegrown movement that opposes the imperialist power is always labeled as terrorist. Fighting to take control of your own country from an invader is a noble enterprise. And before the pile on don’t forget the sordid history of your own country, wherever that may be.
Dear Stephen,
Yes indeed!
Very true and correct.
Sincerely,
Andreas
Well put, though petsonally I side with the French as having provided competent rulership
They did kill a lot of civilians, included Algerians… but speeches in clean environments are always easy to make.
Surprising and disturbing to see this type of incorrect and unjust titling and word usage here on this channel!
I would think that the phrase “ terrorist organization” is quite appropriate if same said group employs terror as a means to an end.
Clear blather,
ACES&EIGHTS
Exactly. Shooting up a school with small arms is terrorism. Taking it out with a drone whose operator is halfway around the world is martial valor and commendable. Some of us swallowed our dose of indoctrination we did.
See The Battle of Algiers (1966)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Algiers
The FLN used strategies and tactics (such as “eliminating” police officers) often associated with terrorism today. the French Army responded with strategies and tactics reminiscent of Vichy and the Gestapo during the German occupation.
Algeria of course went on to become one of the more virulently Islamist Arab states, which it remains today.
From my professional POV, there were no “clean hands” or “heroes” on either side.
/I will be amazed if the commenting system allows this to post.
clear ether
eon
Actually Ian has one of the few sites that petmits free speech
The commenting system (which Ian does not control) “flags” certain words. I have had literally dozens of posts rejected because of such words. Ask Kirk how often he gets the same treatment.
WordPress used to make it impossible to use the word “cock”. That made discussing firearms a bit difficult, not to mention any reference to SF/fantasy author Michael Moorcock.
“Te****ism” is a word this system frequently ‘flags”, causing post rejection.
It’s not a question of “free speech”. It’s a matter of sorting algorithms.
cheers
eon
Erm, I am NOT a speaker of French, but I always thought that in fire selector markings R stands for Rafale, or FA, not for Repetition (this was an English for semiauto – see the Sten selector with A and R).
eon has a point. The commenting system here is schizoid about what it considers worth stopping you from saying. Not Ian’s fault, but it can be annoying.
On the issue of “terrorism” vs. “freedom fighting”, I’m afraid I’m on the side of terming a spade a spade.
If you use threats and intimidation to get your way? Terrorist. I don’t care about the merits of what you’re fighting for, if you do not follow the conventions of war, you’re a terrorist. Fight from among civilians, wearing civilian clothing? No uniforms? Terrorist, bandit, whatever. You are not a legitimate combatant, and have discredited whatever you are fighting for.
I suspect that if the FLN had not had external support, had not conducted terroristic operations, then it would have lost and Algeria would today still be a department of France. This speaks to the legitimacy of their cause.
There is a distinct difference between the two methodologies, and the morality of them makes a huge difference. The US revolution was fought on more-or-less legitimate grounds, through legitimate means, and that showed in the way things worked out. French Revolution? Expediency ruled the day, the methods were terroristic, and what resulted? Horror.
You resort to things like the Vendee, or what the FLN did in Algeria, you’re a monster. Plain and simple, and the work-product of your efforts will demonstrate that fact. See “Russian Revolution” for other examples, along with just about every single Soviet-sponsored “freedom fighter movement” around the world. Castro claimed virtue, but executed mass numbers of innocents. Same-same with Mao; ask the victims of the Cultural Revolution how they feel about legitimacy of the CCP.
There are differences between the two things, and if you think the FLN wasn’t “terroristic”, examine the end result. I know few Algerians who take any joy from the repressive regime that their little “revolution” put in place, and if you feel that those decades of repression were justified, well… What did the fine work of the Algeria-based Barbary pirates “justify”?
Frankly, given the centuries of slave-taking and piracy, I think the French would have been completely justified in actually genociding the lot of them, instead of making a failed attempt at civilizing the locals.
It’s always mystified me that there are apparently cut-off dates for “justification”. France “raped” Algeria, but for some reason, the fact that the French, Spanish, and Italian (also, Ireland and Iceland…) were raped for centuries by the Arabs based in Algeria is somehow not germane to the discussion…
It’s almost like the arguments are all framed disingenuously by lying liars who lie…
We’re on the same page here.
Algeria was never anything but a dog’s breakfast going back to ancient times. In case people don’t remember, it was where the Carthaginian Empire was. The Romans had the right idea about that and the French probably should have taken the hint.
When the FLN “went to work”, over 40% of Algeria’s “native population” were of French descent going back three or more generations, from 1830 on. They were disparagingly referred to as “pied noirs” (“black feet”) by not only the Arab radicals but also by Frenchmen from the other side of the Med.
Part of the FLN “strategic plan” was “eliminating” or at least “running out” the “pied noirs”. The parallel with the ANC’s policies toward “Boers” in South Africa since majority rule and Zimbabwe since the Jimmy Carter-caused “settlement” are fairly obvious.
As for the French plan, the Fourth and Fifth Republics, from Coty to DeGaulle, apparently didn’t actually have one. Except maybe “Send in the Paras, don’t look too closely at what they do, and wait for things to get better on their own“. Which of course they didn’t.
The punch line is that the Élysée Palace and the Palais Bourbon would have been more than happy to “wash their hands” of Algeria, the last major “overseas department” of France proper and one they didn’t want to deal with after 1946.
All the FLN really needed to do was…wait.
But Islamist culture doesn’t do “patience” very well. Especially not when an opportunity to indulge in violence for its own sake is perceived.
And that was exactly what motivated the FLN. It was a classic, tribalist Islamist clan feud on the largest scale since Mohammed himself.
The moral is that whether you want a war or not, if the “other guy” wants one, odds are that you are going to have one.
clear ether
eon
I am pretty sure Sola Leger actyally have a crude drop safety. The fact that charging handle is a multi-piece part with separate sleeve and that receiver have a circular holes at the both ends of the handle track suggests that either the handle can be pulled slightly out (bad design) or the handle sleeve can be pushed in (better design), effectively locking the bolt in position.
If the Algerians won how come so many live in France?
Maybe the Algerians won in more ways than one.
Algeria and Algerians didn’t “win” that war. The extremists did. Most of whom were sponsored by the Soviets and Islamicists of the era.
My thoughts on Algeria are colored by the one victim of the whole thing that I know. Beautiful woman, whose life story started out in a completely neutral village in Algeria. Neutrality wasn’t good enough for the FLN, so they came in one night and killed everyone and completely destroyed the place. She was found in the rubble by some of those evil pieds noir, who dug her out of the cellar she’d been hidden in by her mother, and then they took her in and raised her as their own, taking her with them when they returned to metropolitan France. She never fit in there, and eventually wound up here in the US. Her ideas about the whole idea of Algeria being “liberated” from the French are, shall we say, ambivalent.
The FLN and their fellow “activist” types were terrorists, and the results of their work are still there to be seen. You feel like you need to kill uninvolved civilians? You’re evil. Period.
Nothing good ever comes out of that sort of thing. Ever.
This Leger thing having welded on fcg heavily reminds on stuff like Liberator, that was meant to be disposeable. Germans would be proud of stamped p. grip.
However some elements are unseen anywhere as far as I know, like that ribbed chamber area (in smg at least). Some other machine gun having such chamber ?