3. TIL the GIGN (French counter-terrorist group) has lost more men during training ...

TIL the GIGN (French counter-terrorist group) has lost more men during training than during their 1000+ operations, for a total of 9 losses since its creation in 1973.

GIGN are some of the best in the business when it comes to counter-terrorism.

GIGN, or Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale - the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group - have had some amazing successes in the past. They are a "Tier One" unit, and are recognized as one of the most devastating counter-terror teams on the planet. They train as they fight, and that means their training regimes (like other Tier One units) are very realistic, and therefore highly dangerous.

If you wanna see an amazing example of GIGN in action in real-world combat, check out this crazy video from December 26th, 1994. This is the incredible aircraft storming and hostage rescue that GIGN pulled off when Air France Flight 8969 had been hijacked a couple days earlier. The plane flew out of Algeria, and the hijackers eventually were forced to land in Marseille, France in order to refuel. It is believed that the hijackers goal was to refuel the aircraft and then fly it on a suicide mission (a la what happened on 9/11), crashing it into the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

During this storming of the Air France flight by the GIGN commandos at Marseilles, all the hijackers were killed, and while several GIGN members were wounded (one seriously), NONE of the 166 remaining passenger/hostages or crew were killed during the rescue (though three had been executed by the hijackers earlier).

The way the GIGN commandos assaulted this aircraft using mobile "airstairs" was incredible, gaining quick access and then rapidly going to work. GIGN snipers in the nearby control tower were also able to pump rounds into the cockpit through the windows during this takedown, keeping the hijackers in the cockpit at bay and not allowing them to attack the passengers.

This was a brilliant ,and because it happened at a major airfield in front of TV cameras, a public display of how good these guys are.

/r/todayilearned Thread Link - en.wikipedia.org
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