By historic chance, this first full meeting of the C.R.U.A. took place the day that the fall of Dien Bien Phu was announced. The impact on the Algerians, many of whose kinsmen had been fighting alongside the French in the besieged camp, was electric. Employing subtlest techniques of psychological warfare, the Viet-Minh suggestively quizzed the Algerians captured there: "Since you are such good soldiers, why do you fight for the colonialists? Why don't you fight for yourselves and get yourselves a country of your own?" Suddenly this unbelievable defeat deprived the glorious French army of its baraka, making it look curiously mortal for the first time. Wild rumours exaggerating the defeat began immediately to take root at home in Algeria, greatly facilitating the C.R.U.A.'s work of recruitment

XREF: Connects to a broad theme of decolonization and how anti-colonial movements learned from and inspired one another across regions. QUESTION: Did the Viet-Minh actively support or arm Algerian nationalists beyond psychological warfare? Worth exploring the extent of direct cooperation.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 241