But, for all the trumpeting, there was no bombardment — called off after much argument. As predicted, the army gained the worst of both worlds, bringing down on itself as much ridicule as the fruitless ratissages that repeatedly let Ben Boulaid and his men slip through the teeth of the “fine” comb. And with such losses of face, combined with the inevitable rigours and humiliations imposed on the Auresians in the course of ratissages, a steady flow of the uncommitted began to join the F.L.N. — "more impressed by their cunning and agility than by our ineffectual power", comments Leulliette.

XREF: Counterinsurgency dynamics where heavy-handed operations backfire and recruit for the insurgency — parallels other colonial/suppression campaigns.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 327