In his book Les Français d'Algérie, Pierre Nora recounts an episode that was to become, depressingly enough, perhaps not so exceptional as the war dragged on: near Sidi-Bel-Abbès a Foreign Legion patrol systematically searched a pied noir farm where they believed fellaghas were hiding, and discovered two in the corner of a barn. They were interrogated, with blows of rifle butts, but appeared not to understand French. This enraged the Foreign Legion lieutenant, who accused nine agricultural workers on the farm of complicity. After further interrogation had produced nothing, the two rebels, plus the nine farmhands, were put against a wall forthwith and shot in the presence of wives and children, according to the pied noir proprietor (who told the story).

QUESTION: How representative was this episode amid the broader war, and how were such incidents documented?

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 360