Killing French conscripts turned the army decisively against the O.A.S.

Evidence

Three events now marked the climax of pure civil war, of Frenchmen killing Frenchmen. On the 23rd two army trucks loaded with young conscripts were surrounded by hostile pieds noirs in Bab-el-Oued. A new addition to Degueldre’s Deltas, called an “A-Commando” after its leader Jacques Achard, arrived on the scene and attempted to disarm the soldiers. Apparently a Muslim private nervously cocked his sub-machine-gun; Achard’s squad ruthlessly opened fire, killing outright seven of the conscripts and wounding another eleven. … Salan’s instructions had been obeyed, but the massacre of the young conscripts totally transformed the attitude of the army — hitherto almost passively neutral — towards the O.A.S. A determination to avenge fallen comrades took over. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1601

Categorization

• XREF: Shows how the O.A.S. self-destructed by alienating its own potential military allies, a pattern relevant to other settler-colonial resistance movements. — connects to: The OAS escalated to total war against French authority to force general paralysis; French forces fought a pitched urban battle against the O.A.S.; The Palestro massacre of conscripts turned metropolitan French families against the war — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 726 (+1 more)

Related

• The OAS escalated to total war against French authority to force general paralysis (similarity 0.89)
• French forces fought a pitched urban battle against the O.A.S. (similarity 0.88)
• French troops stormed Bab-el-Oued with tanks and planes to crush the O.A.S. (similarity 0.82)
• OAS believed attacking French Communists would trap de Gaulle politically, but miscalculated. (similarity 0.80)
• The OAS death toll in one month reached 553 through forced civilian mobilization (similarity 0.79)
• The Palestro massacre of conscripts turned metropolitan French families against the war (similarity 0.79)
• The Palestro ambush killed all but six of a French reservist platoon (similarity 0.78)
• France deliberately sacrificed its barbouze operatives to distract the O.A.S. (similarity 0.78)
• Pied noir civilians enthusiastically participated in killing O.A.S. targets directly (similarity 0.78)
• The O.A.S. continued assassinating de Gaulle long after Algeria fell. (similarity 0.78)