Deleplanque immediately telephoned the captain of the gendarmerie in Batna, ordering a state of alert for all units. Next he telephoned Army headquarters, but here there was an aggravating delay while a sleepy colonel (the same who had recently claimed never to have seen a fellagha in front of his jeep) at first insisted on receiving written orders “through the proper channels”.

XREF: Connects to the colonial-era Algeria civil-military dynamics Alistair Horne documents throughout 'A Savage War of Peace'; the sleepy colonel's obstructionism reflects the French army's institutional frictions. QUESTION: Was the colonel's insistence on written orders genuine procedure, or a form of passive resistance against Deleplanque's initiative?

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 267