But Sergent was shocked by the “brief briefing” given by Jouhaud, presupposing that all was ready to go — which it was not. By the 12th Masselot had changed his mind. As always when the paras were confronted with having to make a direct choice between the pieds noirs and the Muslims, especially when it involved shooting demonstrators, ambivalence set in. The colonel was disgusted by an F.A.F. leader who warned him that he could hold his men back no longer, and that there would be a ratonnade. He reminded him that “I too am a pied noir, and get it into your head that there cannot be any Algérie française without the Arabs!”

XREF: Connects to the broader colonial framework of uneasy relations between pieds noirs and Muslims in colonial Algeria.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1313