The F.L.N. had only twenty mortars and ten machine-guns before the Athos

Evidence

On 14 October it was reported heading for the Moroccan coast, and two days later it was stopped and boarded by a French escort vessel. … Though sailing under a Sudanese flag, with a Greek captain, the Athos was revealed to be carrying over seventy tons of arms and ammunition — all loaded in Alexandria and purchased with Egyptian money. The inventory read as follows: … An insignificant cargo, perhaps, in terms of a major war, but its value to the F.L.N. can be appreciated when it is recorded that, up to that date, it possessed no more than twenty mortars and ten machine-guns throughout the country. The Athos cargo represented the biggest arms shipment yet to the F.L.N.; by far the greatest significance attached to it, however, was that it was the first major Egyptian arms delivery to the F.L.N. — the fruit of the months of badgering by Ben Bella and his colleagues. The weapons were believed to be intended for the opening up (on 1 November, the second anniversary of the war) of a new front in the hitherto peaceful area to the west of Oran. In the mind of the astute Nasser, this was to serve an additional tactical purpose by distracting the French, who were by now making very threatening noises about Suez. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 482

Categorization

• XREF: Quantifies the F.L.N.’s weapons poverty, linking to the broader theme of how Nasser’s Egypt became the revolution’s external hub.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 482

Related

• F.L.N. began its revolt with only 350 to 400 mostly sporting firearms (similarity 0.80)
• The Algerian revolt began with only 350-400 mixed firearms (similarity 0.79)
• Suez delivered captured Western arms to the F.L.N. and bolstered its morale. (similarity 0.78)