But on the eve of launching “Binoculars”, Challe’s intelligence received news of A.L.N. movements in the Hodna mountains which link Kabylia with the Aurès. Overnight Challe switched regiments due to move into Kabylia, and struck a lightning, surprise sideswipe at the Hodna which in twelve days (he claims) knocked out fifty per cent of the rebel strength there. Typical of the speed and flexibility with which Challe operated, it also, in effect, created something of a moat or cordon sanitaire across which it would be difficult for Mohand Ou El-Hadj’s Kabyles to escape into the Aurès when fleeing from the impending pressure of “Binoculars”.

XREF: Connects to broader reading on counterinsurgency tactics and the flexibility of commanders in asymmetric warfare.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1013