Oued Fodda

Oued Fodda is a town and commune in Chlef Province, Algeria. According to the 1998 census it has a population of 36,187.
Description.
Oued Fodda is one of the communes of the Chlef Province in Algeria, it is located 20 km east of the town of Chlef, and it was founded in 1883, at the confluence of Oued Fodda and Oued Chelif rivers. It is crossed by the national road 04, and the "way of wilaya 132".
Historical note.
During the Algerian War, the French armed forces based the Centre d'Entrainement et de Perfectionnement des Commandos de Chasse No.1 here. It was a special operations school that trained the "Commandos de Chasse". It opened in July 1959 and closed in March, 1962.
"Commandos de Chasse" were company-sized security units of Algerian "Harkis" ["Volunteer Auxiliary Troops"] led by French officers and NCOs. Their job was to track and pin down FLN "Katibas" ["irregular units of Section or Company strength"] infiltrating from Tunisia and Morocco or operating in the "bled" ("high desert") so they could be attacked by larger conventional French Union forces.
Army units had the callsign "Pagoda" or "Kimono" and Gendarmerie units had the callsign "Pirate" or "Partisan".