But, in fact, the speech and the news that the "authorities" had withdrawn from Algiers together produced an unexpectedly powerful effect on the insurgents, and were to mark a turning-point in "Barricades Week". The insurgents were dumbfounded by the inexplicable withdrawal, which reminded some disquietingly of the tactics of the Soviet army during the Budapest uprising, reculant pour mieux sauter, then returning to smash ruthlessly the surprised freedom fighters.

XREF: Recalls the Budapest 1956 precedent of forces withdrawing before a crushing counterattack — a tactical pattern echoing elsewhere in 1960s decolonization upheavals.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1113