Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale

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Image:French GIGN Seal.gif The GIGN (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale) is the French Gendarmerie's elite counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit. It is composed of 110 men, including 11 officers.

Its missions include the arrest of gunmen, in particular those taking hostages, counter-terrorism, including airplane hijacking, or prevention of mutiny in prisons.

It is headquartered in Satory, west of Paris. Along with the EPIGN it forms the GSIGN (Groupe de Sécurité et d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale, Group of Security and Intervention of the National Gendarmerie).

1 History
2 Former leaders
3 Structure
4 In fiction
5 See also
6 External links

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History

After the tragic events of the Munich massacre during the Olympic Games in 1972, and a mutiny in Clairvaux the next year, France started to study the possible solutions to extremely violent attacks, under the assumptions that these would be extremely difficult to predict and deflect.

In 1973, the GIGN was created as a permanent force of men trained and equipped to respond to these kind of threats while minimising risks for the public and hostages, for the members of the unit, and for the attackers themselves. The GIGN became operational on the first of March, 1974, under command of Lieutenant Christian Prouteau.

Ten days later, a terrorist group was successfully stopped in Ecquevilly, validating the techniques of the unit and proving its necessity.

Since its creation, the group has taken part in over 1000 operations, liberated over 500 hostages, arrested over 1000 suspects, and killed a dozen terrorists. The unit has seen 1 member killed in action, and 6 in training, since its foundation. [1]

Past actions included:

Liberation of 30 children from a bus captured by the FLCS (front de libération de la côte somalienne, "Somaly Coast Liberation Front") in Djibouti in 1976.
Liberation of diplomats from an embassy in San Salvador in 1979.
Arrest of a Corsican commando in Flechen Hostel in 1980
Hostage liberation in Guipry in 1989
Liberation of personnel taken hostage during the mutiny at the prison at Moulin.
Protection of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville
Operations in Bosnia in 1992 and 1995
In December 1994, liberation of the 164 passengers of Air France Flight 8969 in Marignane. The plane, hijacked by four GIA terrorists that wished to destroy the Eiffel Tower, had been completely mined, and three passengers had been executed during the negotiations with the Algerian government. The mission was widely publicised.
Arrest of Bob Denard in 1995 in Comoros

The GIGN was selected by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to teach the special forces of the other member states.

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Former leaders

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Structure

The GIGN is divided into four groups: negotiation, special equipment section (mechanics, video, weaponry), a language group (individuals specialized in teaching foreign units), and a technical group which provides the unit with modified and high-tech equipment, by either selecting or designing it.

Training includes shooting, marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat techniques (Krav Maga). Members of the GIGN are widely regarded as having some of the best firearms training in the world. It is for this reason that many of the world's special operations and counterterrorist units conduct exchange programs with the GIGN.

Optional competences: police dogs, diving, parachutism, explosives, survival, the education in those various capabilities being dispensed by the appropriate training centres of the French military.

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In fiction

GIGN is one of the playable counter-terrorist groups in the game Counter-Strike. GIGN is also present in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown. In the expansion to the video game SWAT 4, characters are able to wear a GIGN uniform. A former GIGN member appears as the leader of a private security unit in the 2005 film The Island.

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