French penetration of the F.L.N. netted a whole zone’s general staff

Evidence

At the end of January 1958 Hani Mohamed and Safy-le-Pur made a rendezvous at the zone’s headquarters outside Bordj-Menaiel, on the western approaches of Kabylia. With them came Léger, disguised in a cachabia, Surcouf and several other members of the G.R.E. The F.L.N. leaders were completely deceived; by the following dawn the zone’s entire general staff was aboard helicopters bound for French prisons; a large bomb factory and arms depot had been captured, as well as quantities of incriminating documents that would lead to the mounting of further deadly bleu operations. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 806

Categorization

• XREF: Pays off the ‘bleu’ double-agent theme from chapters on the Battle of Algiers. — connects to: French offensives shattered the F.L.N.’s interior command-and-control network by 1959; Aurès rebels held a decisive intelligence and mobility edge over French columns; French escalation was matched by rising FLN strength and expertise — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 512 (+2 more)

Related

• French forces reached 160,000 and intelligence on the F.L.N. improved late in 1955 (similarity 0.86)
• Aurès rebels held a decisive intelligence and mobility edge over French columns (similarity 0.85)
• French counterinsurgency used turned F.L.N. members as infiltrators in the Casbah (similarity 0.83)
• French offensives shattered the F.L.N.’s interior command-and-control network by 1959 (similarity 0.81)
• French agents staged their own side’s bombings to win the F.L.N.’s trust (similarity 0.80)
• Algerian informers for the colonial police were highly dangerous to the F.L.N. (similarity 0.80)
• French double agents inside the F.L.N. betrayed Yacef and Ali la Pointe (similarity 0.80)
• FLN gained most from French brutal strike-breaking methods. (similarity 0.80)
• French operations had reduced the interior A.L.N. to 8,000 scattered men (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• French counterinsurgency used turned F.L.N. members as infiltrators in the Casbah #expands (0.75) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 661
• French escalation was matched by rising FLN strength and expertise #exemplifies (0.40) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 512