French leaders saw new arms inflows as the main threat to military victory

Evidence

Through 1956 and into 1957 the overall military picture of the war did not improve for the French. It may have looked rosier in some areas (notably General Beaufre’s command), but it worsened in others; while all the time those blotches on the “smallpox chart” were spreading. With the arrival of Mollet’s reservists and national servicemen numbers on the ground increased, and so did the efficiency of the paras; but at the same time the numbers of the F.L.N., and their expertise and equipment, were also on the upward path. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 512 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: French escalation was matched by rising FLN strength and expertise — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 512; Louverture warned France that reenslaving Saint-Domingue would provoke a war it could not win

Related

• French escalation was matched by rising FLN strength and expertise (similarity 0.92)
• French forces reached 160,000 and intelligence on the F.L.N. improved late in 1955 (similarity 0.83)
• The French army in Algeria transformed from clumsy to effective by 1956 (similarity 0.82)
• Massive French troop increases failed to halt the rebellion’s spread in 1955-56. (similarity 0.81)
• Aurès rebels held a decisive intelligence and mobility edge over French columns (similarity 0.80)
• French operations had reduced the interior A.L.N. to 8,000 scattered men (similarity 0.80)
• The French army’s will to win sprang from 1940 humiliation, not colonial ideals (similarity 0.80)
• Military victory elevated the army to ultimate political arbiter in Algeria (similarity 0.79)
• The A.L.N. reached peak military strength in 1958 despite heavy losses (similarity 0.79)
• The French army won militarily while losing the political and world battle (similarity 0.79)
• The French army’s 1940 humiliation fueled its determination not to lose Algeria. (similarity 0.79)
• By 1956 the French army’s overriding aim became political, pushing Algérie française. (similarity 0.78)
• Suez delivered captured Western arms to the F.L.N. and bolstered its morale. (similarity 0.78)
• French troops faced guerrilla warfare that negated their conventional military advantage. (similarity 0.78)
• Military success on the battlefield coexisted with a sense that political betrayal was imminent. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• French escalation was matched by rising FLN strength and expertise #expands (0.55) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 512