This determination did not entirely spring from a belief in the sanctity of the présence française — less still from any kindred feeling for the pieds noirs — and to understand it one needs to recall sympathetically the recent history of the French army. Generals like Beaufre were captains at the time of the 1940 debacle, regimental commanders like Bigeard either N.C.O.s or lieutenants, and all remained profoundly conditioned by it.

XREF: The 'never again' mentality of French military officers carried into later conflicts, echoing similar patterns in German and Israeli military culture shaped by foundational defeats.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 526