Among the élite formations that had borne the brunt of the fighting in Algeria, the lieutenants were to be found working upon the captains, and captains upon the majors and colonels — though the colonels needed little enough pressurising. As in May 1958 and January 1960, it was they, not the generals, who provided the true dynamos of revolt. Insouciantly little emphasis was placed on the views of the rank and file. There were good enough reasons of security for this omission; it was later to prove, however, the Achilles’ heel of the whole movement.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1333