The F.L.N. massacred 301 peasants at Mélouza and blamed the French paras

Evidence

In a mood almost of desperation, Zighout and Ben Tobbal convened a council of war at the end of June to launch, for the first time, a policy of total war on all French civilians, regardless of age and sex. Justifying it, Zighout declared: “To colonialism’s policy of collective repression [author’s italics] we must reply with collective reprisals against the Europeans, military and civil, who are all united behind the crimes committed upon our people. For them, no pity, no quarter!” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 373 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Lamp-post bombs killed almost equal numbers of Muslims and Europeans, hurting F.L.N. image.; F.L.N. killed 301 male peasants in the Mélouza massacre of 1957.; The F.L.N. justified civilian massacre as reprisal for collective repression — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 373 (+1 more)

Related

• The F.L.N. justified civilian massacre as reprisal for collective repression (similarity 0.91)
• The F.L.N. mirrored French collective responsibility with collective reprisals (similarity 0.87)
• France’s collective responsibility doctrine mirrored the principle behind Nazi massacres. (similarity 0.86)
• Lamp-post bombs killed almost equal numbers of Muslims and Europeans, hurting F.L.N. image. (similarity 0.83)
• The F.L.N. adopted total war against French civilians in direct retaliation. (similarity 0.83)
• The F.L.N. adopted total war on civilians as its strategy (similarity 0.82)
• Collective responsibility led French units to execute innocent Arab farmhands (similarity 0.82)
• Mélouza massacre grew from F.L.N.-M.N.A. rivalry, not solely French action (similarity 0.81)
• Collective responsibility backfired by giving the F.L.N. a key propaganda weapon. (similarity 0.81)
• F.L.N. attacks on French schools were targeted war against French culture, not random savagery (similarity 0.81)
• The F.L.N. moved its terrorism into metropolitan France in summer 1958 (similarity 0.80)
• French retaliation massacres played directly into the F.L.N.’s strategy (similarity 0.80)
• French soldiers retaliated against Arab civilians with mass killing after rebel attacks (similarity 0.80)
• The F.L.N. justified civilian bombing as morally equivalent to French air attack. (similarity 0.80)
• The Palestro massacre paradoxically aided the F.L.N. by weakening French resolve for war. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• F.L.N. killed 301 male peasants in the Mélouza massacre of 1957. #corroborates (0.95)
• Official and F.L.N. casualty counts for the massacre diverged by a factor of ten. #expands (0.60)
• The F.L.N. justified civilian massacre as reprisal for collective repression #expands (0.55) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 373