The process had started with Mollet's expansion of the army by recalling the reservists, and it was under that good Socialist that it had been truly introduced to politics through his encouraging it to indulge in political warfare. With Massu's takeover of civil powers during the Battle of Algiers, a point of no return had been reached. By January 1958 an estimated 1,600 army officers and 1,000 N.C.O.s—among the best in the army—were totally employed in civil affairs of one category or another.

XREF: Connects to the broader narrative of the Algerian War and French civil-military relations, and to patterns of militaries assuming political roles in decolonization contexts.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 824