To various units across the country he gave these categoric assurances: "There will be no Dien Bien Phu in Algeria. The insurrection will not throw us out of this country. Pacify. There is time. No need to be hustled…." Then, in scathing terms, he dismissed Ferhat Abbas's call for "independence", terming it "a monstrosity", which could signify for the country nothing but "misery, a reduction to beggary [clochardisation], catastrophe…. When the Algerians will be able to choose, I do not think they will choose that. France must not leave. She has the right to be in Algeria. She will remain there…."

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1143