François Darlan

François Darlan
122nd Prime Minister of France (as Vice-President of the Council) Head of State and nominal Head of Government : Philippe Pétain
In office 9 February 1941 – 18 April 1942
Preceded by	Pierre Étienne Flandin
Succeeded by	Pierre Laval
Personal details
Born	7 August 1881
Died	24 December 1942
Political party	None

Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan (7 August 1881 – 24 December 1942) was a French naval officer. His great-grandfather was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar.^[1] Darlan rose through the French Navy, ultimately becoming Admiral of the Fleet, and was a major figure of the Vichy regime in France during World War II, becoming its deputy leader for a time.

Youth and advancement in Navy

Darlan was born in Nérac, Lot-et-Garonne and graduated from the École Navale in 1902. During World War I, he commanded an artillery battery that took part in the Battle of Verdun.^[2] He remained in the French Navy after the war, and was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1929 and Vice Admiral in 1932. Darlan was made an Admiral in 1936 and Chief of Staff from 1 January 1937. In 1939 he was promoted to "Amiral de la flotte," a rank created specifically for him, and given command of the entire French Navy.

Vichy government

When Paris was occupied in June 1940, Darlan was one of those who supported the premier, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain. Darlan was rewarded by retaining his post as minister of the navy, and he quickly ordered the majority of the fleet to French North Africa. Despite Admiral Darlan's assurances, he refused several invitations from Royal Navy officers to surrender the French Fleet to British control or move them to 'safe' locations in the Caribbean, consequently Churchill feared the French fleet based in Africa would fall into German hands, so he ordered the Royal Navy to attack it at Mers El Kébir on 3 July, killing around 1,300 Frenchmen who only days before had been allies. Darlan's forces bitterly resisted further British attacks on French colonies in Africa, including Senegal and Madagascar.

In February 1941, Darlan replaced Pierre-Étienne Flandin as Pétain's deputy. He was also named minister for the interior, defence and foreign affairs, making Darlan the de facto head of the Vichy government. In January 1942, Darlan took control of a number of other government posts. Though Darlan came from a Republican upbringing and never believed in the National Revolution, he was as much a collaborator as was Pierre Laval, who twice served as prime minister in the Vichy government, and Darlan promoted a political alliance between French Vichy forces and Nazi Germany through the Paris Protocols. However, the German government had become suspicious of his opportunism and malleable loyalties. In April, Darlan was made to surrender the majority of his responsibilities back to Laval, whom the Nazis considered more trustworthy. Darlan retained the post of Commander of the French Armed Forces.

Putsch of 8 November

On 7 November 1942, just before the beginning of Operation Torch, Darlan went to Algiers to visit his son, who was hospitalised after a severe attack of polio. Darlan did not know that secret agreements had been made in Cherchell on 23 October between Algerian resistance and General Mark Clark of the combined allied command.

Just past noon on 8 November 1942, 400 poorly armed French partisans attacked the coastal artillery of Sidi Ferruch and the French XIX Army Corps of Algiers. About 15 hours later, the partisans had neutralised both forces. Under the command of José Aboulker, Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie, and Colonel Jousse, the insurgent force occupied most of the strategic points of Algiers under the cover of darkness (the General Government, Prefecture, Staff headquarters, telephone exchange, barracks, police headquarters, etc.) and arrested most of the government's military and civil officials. One of the civilian groups, cadets of Ben-Aknoun College under the command of a cadet named Pauphilet, succeeded in arresting Admiral Darlan and General Juin, chief commandant in North Africa. The attack by the French resistance became known as the Putsch of 8 November.^[3]

After three days of threats and talks, Clark compelled Darlan and Juin to order French forces to cease hostilities on 10 November 1942, in Oran and 11 November in Morocco – provided Darlan remained head of a French administration. In return, General Eisenhower acquiesced in Darlan’s self-nomination as High Commissioner of France for North and West Africa on 14 November, a move that enraged Charles de Gaulle as well as the local French resistance. On 27 November, the remaining French naval vessels were scuttled at Toulon.

Thinking Darlan was the prisoner of the Allies, he was dismissed from the French government just before unoccupied France was occupied by the German army in Case Anton in order to meet the threat from the Allies in north Africa. Most French troops in Africa followed Darlan's lead, but certain elements joined the German forces in Tunisia.

Assassination

On the afternoon of 24 December 1942, a member of the resistance group led by the monarchist Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie,^[4] the 20-year-old Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle entered Darlan's headquarters in Algiers and shot Darlan. Darlan died a few hours later and was replaced as high commissioner by another French flag officer, General Henri Giraud.^[5] La Chapelle was executed by firing squad on 26 December.

Darlan was unpopular with the Allies – he was considered pompous, having asked Eisenhower to provide 200 Coldstream Guards and Grenadier Guards as an honour company for the commemoration of Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz. It was said that "no tears were shed" by the British over his death,^[6] which removed a potential rival to DeGaulle's leadership of the Free French. "[Harold] Macmillan, with brutal political realism, gave Darlan his ultimate political epitaph: "Once bought, he stayed bought."^[7]

References

1. ^ Michael Korda, Ike: An American Hero. ISBN 978-0-06-075665-9. p. 325.
2. ^ Horne, Alistair (1993). The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916. New York: Penguin. pp. 248. ISBN 978-0-140-17041-2. 
3. ^ "Three Women in Dark Times: Edith Stein, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil" By Sylvie Courtine-Denamy, G. M. Goshgarian, Cornell University Press, 2000, ISBN 0801487587, 9780801487583, pg 168
4. ^ Huan, Claude (1990). "The French Navy in World War II". In James J. Sadkovich. Reevaluating Major Naval Combatants of World War II. New York: Greenwood. pp. p. 93. 
5. ^ "Darlan Shot Dead; Assassin Is Seized". New York Times: p. 1. 25 December 1942. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70C16FD3F5B167B93C7AB1789D95F468485F9&scp=1&sq=december+25+1942+darlan&st=p. Retrieved 2010-11-04. 
6. ^ "The secret history of the war, Volume 2" by Waverley Lewis Root, C. Scribner's Sons, 1945, University of Michigan, "...The Sunday Express agreed that Britain had no "tears to shed for Darlan..."
7. ^ Michael Korda, Ike: An American Hero. ISBN 978-0-06-075665-9. p. 348.

Further reading

• José Aboulker et Christine Levisse-Touzet, 8 Novembre 1942: Les armées américaine et anglaise prennent Alger en quinze heures, Espoir, n° 133, Paris, 2002.
• Yves Maxime Danan, La vie politique à Alger de 1940 à 1944, Paris: L.G.D.J., 1963.
• Delpont, Hubert (1998). Darlan, l'ambition perdue. AVN. ISBN 2-9503302-9-0. 
• Jean-Baptiste Duroselle, Politique étrangère de la France:L'abîme: 1940–1944. Imprimerie nationale, 1982, 1986.
• Arthur L. Funck, The politics of Torch, University Press of Kansas, 1974.
• George F. Howe, North West Africa: Seizing the initiative in the West, Center of Military history, US Army, Library of Congress, 1991.
• Bernard Karsenty, Les compagnons du 8 novembre 1942, Les Nouveaux Cahiers, n°31, Nov. 1972.
• Simon Kitson, Vichy et la chasse aux espions nazis, Paris: Autrement, 2005.
• Simon Kitson, The Hunt for Nazi Spies: Fighting Espionage in Vichy France, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
• Christine Levisse-Touzet, L'Afrique du Nord dans la guerre, 1939–1945, Paris: Albin Michel, 1998.
• Melton, George (1998). Darlan: Admiral and Statesman of France 1881–1942. Westport, CT: Praeger. ISBN 0275959732. 
• Henri Michel, Darlan, Paris: Hachett, 1993.

Political offices
Preceded by César Campinchi	Minister of Marine 16 June 1940 – 18 April 1942	Succeeded by Gabriel Auphan
Preceded by —	Vice President of the Council 1941–1942	Succeeded by —
Preceded by Pierre Étienne Flandin	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1941–1942	Succeeded by Pierre Laval
Preceded by Marcel Peyrouton	Minister of the Interior 1941	Succeeded by Pierre Pucheu
Preceded by Charles Huntziger	Minister of National Defence 1941–1942	Succeeded by Eugène Bridoux

Persondata
Name	Darlan, Francois
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	7 August 1881
Place of birth
Date of death	24 December 1942
Place of death