By June 1958 the A.L.N. had been forced to reduce its basic fighting unit to the katiba, or company; by the following year it was to be found seldom operating on larger than a platoon level. The shortage of arms and ammunition was becoming particularly pronounced; by December 1958 Wilaya 1 (Aurès) was reporting to the G.P.R.A. that no less than 600 of its combatants were without weapons. The loss in leaders was proving equally grave; in November 1958 Wilaya 4 (Algérois) lost its military chief, Azedine, captive to the French, and two months later one of its best field commanders, Captain Si Rachid, was also killed. In March 1959 there followed the deaths of the leaders of both Wilayas 6 and 3, Si Haouès and the ferocious Amirouche, in circumstances shortly to be described. The consequence of all this on the morale of the Wilayas could be detected in the fact that, whereas in 1956 the monthly total of moudjahiddine defectors to the French would barely occupy the fingers of one hand, by July—August 1958 it had risen to an average of 300.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 979