Though its title had been invented by Lagaillarde and Susini while in exile in Madrid, the O.A.S. was actually the direct successor of those pied noir counter-terrorist organisations that had flourished ever since 1956. It had started its ugly new career with the assassination, in January 1961, of the young liberal Algiers lawyer, Maître Popie, following it up with the even more irrelevant killing of the mayor of Evian on the eve of the first peace talks there. Its first leaders came from the ranks of the "ultras" whom most of the para leaders — for all that they might share the same ideals of Algérie française — heartily despised. Now, however, born of despair, the O.A.S. attracted — in their despair — those regular officers, like Sergent, whom the failed putsch had turned into "fallen angels".

DEFINE: Clarifies the origin and lineage of the O.A.S., distinguishing its true roots from its exiled Madrid title inventors.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1459