 In France, the war was known as ""la guerre sans nom"" ("the war without a name") while it was being fought as the government variously described the war as the "Algerian events", the "Algerian problem" and the "Algerian dispute"; the mission of the French Army was "ensuring security", "maintaining order" and "pacification", but was never described as fighting a war; while the FLN were referred to as "criminals", "bandits", "outlaws", "terrorists" and ""fellagha"" (a derogatory Arabic word meaning "road-cutters", but which was popularly mistranslated as "throat-cutters"-a reference to the FLN"s favorite method of execution, namely making people wear the "Kabylian smile" by cutting their throats, pulling their tongues out and leaving them to bleed to death).After reports of the widespread use of torture by French forces started to reach France in 1956–57, the war become commonly known as ""la sale guerre"" ("the dirty war"), a term that is still used today, and which reflects the very negative memory of the war in France.Lack of commemoration

As the war was officially a "police action", for decades no monuments were built to honor the about 25,000 French soldiers killed in the war while the Defense Ministry refused to classify veterans as veterans until the 1970s.