A failed frontier offensive sparked a colonel-led coup plot against the G.P.R.A.

Evidence

Selecting, symbolically, the All Saints anniversary of 1 November, a full-scale offensive had been mounted to breach the Morice Line and get supplies through to the suffering Wilayas 1 and 2. It was too obvious a date for the French army to be caught napping, and—like so many of those disastrous “big pushes” on the Western Front of 1914–18—it ended in a welter of blood and total failure in the barbed wire of the Morice Line. Morale among those involved hit rock bottom and four colonels, led by Colonel Lamouri, decided to act. With secret support, apparently, from Nasser (whose relations with the new G.P.R.A. were icy) they intended to march on Tunis, chuck out the G.P.R.A. and liquidate the “three Bs”, replacing it with a completely “military” regime. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 988

Categorization

• XREF: Analogizes A.L.N. offensives to Western Front ‘big pushes’ — a recurring comparison device in the book. — connects to: The Si Salah fiasco triggered the Generals’ Revolt. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1201
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 988

Related

• The Si Salah fiasco triggered the Generals’ Revolt. (similarity 0.80)
• France believed wrongly that toppling Nasser would collapse the Algerian revolt. (similarity 0.80)
• Boumedienne abandoned frontal assault for pinprick harassment to freeze French troops (similarity 0.79)
• Army officers plotted a synchronized double coup for Bastille Day 1960 that was aborted. (similarity 0.79)
• The failed December 1960 coup irrevocably committed part of the French army to revolt (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• The Si Salah fiasco triggered the Generals’ Revolt. #corroborates (0.90) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1201