THE choice of All Saints’ Day for launching the revolt was by no means fortuitous. Striking on a night when the staunchly Catholic pieds noirs were celebrating so important a festival would, it was argued, find police vigilance at its minimum; while the choice of such a date would carry with it the maximum propaganda impact. For a people as fond of symbolism as the Algerians, and with memories of Sétif still etched in their minds, the fact that All Saints commemorated the persecution of the early Christian martyrs was also not without significance.

XREF: Classic insurgent timing tactics — choosing a date of symbolic meaning to opponents to exploit low vigilance and maximize propaganda. Connects to other revolutionary/insurgency timing patterns.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 253