April 21st, 1961, four French generals who led a paratroop regiment in a coup in Algeria, a French colony at that time, took over Algeria amid the negotiations between the French government and Algerian nationalists. French President de Gaulle, fearing that the rebel troops might take over the French government as well, requested for resistance by "all means", even those violent. However, throughout the entire resisting campaign, in which soldiers and civil servants were particularly active, there was no known violence. Pilots feigned mechanical failures in planes so they could not be flown. Generals disobeyed orders from the putschists. Other soldiers purposefully lost orders and documents or deliberately slowed communication and transport systems. Civil servants either stayed away from work to demonstrate their resistance or hid documents and files. After four days, as the resistance continued to grow, the four generals fled Algeria, and the rebel troops withdrew from their occupations.