The Battle of Philippeville, also known as the Philippeville massacre or the August Offensive was a series of raids launched on 20 August 1955 on various cities and towns of the Constantine region by FLN insurgents and armed mobs during the Algerian War between France and Algerian rebels. The raids, which mostly took the form of ethnic riots, resulted in the massacre, in extremely gruesome ways, of several dozens of European settlers known as Pieds-Noirs. These massacres were then followed by very brutal and blind reprisals by the French army and Pieds-Noirs vigilantes, which resulted in the death of several thousands native Algerians. The events of late August 1955 in the Constantinois region are considered to be a major turning point of the Algerian War.