The Challe Plan’s pressure drove the A.L.N. near starvation and defensive paranoia.

Evidence

“One could no longer move,” stated one of Mohand Ou El-Hadj’s lieutenants: … One no longer ate. I was so weak that I could no longer even manage to carry my sub-machine-gun. The establishment of military posts, the multiplying of self-defence communities and intelligence agents was making life impossible, and even survival itself…. It was only by executing traitors one after the other that we did manage to survive. But one was never able to regain the initiative. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1015

Categorization

• XREF: Firsthand rebel testimony of collapse echoes the theme of the ‘savage war of peace,’ and the rebels’ own terror of traitors. — connects to: The A.L.N. reached peak military strength in 1958 despite heavy losses; Challe’s net starved the A.L.N. into losing the operational initiative; Regroupement bred resistance even as it hampered the A.L.N. militarily. (+5 more)

Related

• Challe’s net starved the A.L.N. into losing the operational initiative (similarity 0.93)
• Pre-Challe French tactics wasted vast firepower while letting the A.L.N. slip away intact (similarity 0.87)
• French military pressure by 1958 drove A.L.N. morale collapse and mass defection (similarity 0.86)
• By 1960 French operations had destroyed most regular A.L.N. katibas inside Algeria (similarity 0.86)
• The A.L.N. reached peak military strength in 1958 despite heavy losses (similarity 0.85)
• Regroupement bred resistance even as it hampered the A.L.N. militarily. (similarity 0.84)
• French operations had reduced the interior A.L.N. to 8,000 scattered men (similarity 0.84)
• Boumedienne’s retreat to Tunisian sanctuary deceived France about Challe Plan success (similarity 0.83)
• Political crisis in Algiers interrupted Challe’s offensive just as the A.L.N. neared collapse (similarity 0.82)
• Challe aimed to disrupt rather than annihilate the F.L.N. (similarity 0.82)
• Challe’s military victory was illusory because guerrilla forces could regenerate. (similarity 0.81)
• French offensives shattered the F.L.N.’s interior command-and-control network by 1959 (similarity 0.81)
• Challe confined the coup to Algeria to keep fighting the ALN (similarity 0.80)
• Challe’s military victories proved hollow because Boumedienne was rebuilding rebel strength abroad (similarity 0.80)
• The A.L.N. appeared statistically defeated by early 1960 (similarity 0.80)