Salan explained that, in his view—as well as that of “the entire population of Algeria”—only de Gaulle legitimately at the head of a government could save both Algeria and France. Pflimlin hung up. Salan had stepped firmly across the Rubicon; the army in Algeria was publicly committed; the bridges with metropolitan France were down.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 884