- Gabriel Auphan
Gabriel Paul Auphan (
4 November 1894 -16 April 1982 ) was a French admiral, chief of cabinet of Admiral Darlan underVichy France and later Secrétaire d'État à la marine of Vichy.Early career
A native of
Alès , Auphan was a student at the "École navale"; promoted tocapitaine de vaisseau in 1936, he had a career in the cabinets of the ministriesGeorges Leygues andFrançois Pietri . In 1940, he was in charge of the civilian shipping.Vichy regime
After the
Fall of France and the rise of the Vichy regime, Auphan was made chief of Staff and the naval forces, in 1941, and chief of cabinet of the Secrétaire d'État à la marineFrançois Darlan .Auphan was part of the anti-German trend of Vichy France. After the defection of Darlan, Auphan was himself made Secrétaire d'État à la marine. After
Operation Torch , when Admiral Laborde petitioned him with a project to retaliate against the Allies by sailing and attacking them, Auphan discouraged him.Auphan gave the general standing orders which led to the
Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon , to avoid capture by the Nazis. On the15 November 1942 , he tried to persuade Admiral de Laborde to set sail and bring the fleet to the Allies; on Laborde's refusal, Auphan was facing the alternative of setting acoup d'État , seize power and issue a formal order to Laborde, or of resigning. Auphan resigned on the18 November 1942 . [http://lionelcoutinot.club.fr/occupation/vichyd.html] The fleet was scuttled on the 27 November.In August 1944, Marshal Pétain sent Auphan to offer
Charles de Gaulle that Auphan should succeed Pétain at the head of the Vichy regime, which would thus be recognized as France's legitimate government. The proposal was turned down.Post-war
After the Liberation, during the "
Épuration légale " in 1946, he was tried and sentencedin absentia to a life-time offorced labour , "dégradation nationale " and confiscation of his property.He surrendered himself in 1955, and was sentenced to 5 years of prison with
probation , 5 years of dégradation nationale.
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