This was the last straw which led to Dufour's posting. He disappeared and entered into active plotting with General Jouhaud. In his absence Pierre Sergent, the veteran Legionnaire with the small and wiry figure of a jockey, became temporarily the communications centre of the dissident military. Sergent states that, while on leave in Paris, he received instructions from Maître Tixier-Vignancour, the lawyer who for many years had been a rallying-point of the extreme Right in France. Flying back to Algiers that night, he was instructed to relay urgently to Jouhaud the message: "Salan gives the green light." To this day Sergent does not know whether this message actually originated from Salan, or through what channels. In fact, it seems improbable that it did, in that the "Mandarin" and his court in Madrid were still largely isolated from events in both Algiers and Paris. On receiving this message, which was, in effect, to mark the beginning of the army revolt, the choleric Jouhaud grumbled, "Why doesn't Salan come himself?"

QUESTION: The 'green light' message's true origin remains unknown — Sergent never learned whether Salan actually authorized it.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1296