U.S. State Department (December 24, 1942)
851R.00/120: Telegram
London, December 25, 1942 — 2 a.m.
[Received December 24 — 10:41 p.m.]
7347.
Radio Algiers has just announced that Admiral Darlan was attacked and subsequently died this afternoon and that his assassin was caught and is being questioned.
MATTHEWS
The Evening Star (December 25, 1942)
Giraud reported taking steps to maintain order
By Noland Norgaard, Associated Press war correspondent
Adm. Darlan
Algiers, Algeria –
Adm. Jean Darlan, who surrendered North Africa and yielded Dakar bloodlessly to the Allies, was shot to death on the eve of Christmas, and one of his closest associates said today the assassination was inspired by the Axis or its collaborationists.
The Algiers radio announced that Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, implacable foe of the Germans and Adm. Darlan’s commander of French forces in the North African field alongside the Allies, had taken over “maintenance of order” in French North Africa.
Thus, for the moment at least, the old-school French general who said he preferred fighting to politics stood virtually in the little admiral’s place, at the head of the French in North Africa.
The Morocco radio said the Imperial Council would name Adm. Darlan’s successor tomorrow. The council, set up by the admiral to govern North Africa and “defend the interests of the French Empire” until France is liberated, included Adm. Darlan and these five men, one of whom probably will be chosen: Gen. Giraud, Gen. Jean-Marie Bergeret (former Vichy Air Minister) and the three governors-general in French North and West Africa (Gen. Auguste Noguès of Morocco, Pierre Boisson of West Africa, and Yves Chatel of Algeria).
The Morocco broadcast said Gen. Noguès had left Rabat by plane for Algiers early today to attend the council meeting. It announced that a special mass would be celebrated in Adm. Darlan’s memory tomorrow in the Rabat Cathedral.
Assassin caught quickly
The assassin was caught in the government palace seconds after he fired the close-range shots which took the life of the one-time commander of all Vichy’s Armed Forces, high-placed member in Marshal Pétain’s collaboration cabinet, who said Marshal Pétain sent him to North Africa as his deputy.
Bergeret makes charge
Gen. Bergeret, close associate of Adm. Darlan, said the admiral was:
…the victim of an assassin inspired by those who did not pardon him for having taken up arms on the side of the Allies against Germany.
The assassin was said to be 22 years old. There was no official announcement immediately identifying him or giving a specific motive for his act. He used a .25-caliber revolver.
The Federal Communications Commission reported hearing a Paris radio broadcast declaring that Adm. Darlan was killed by a young Frenchman.
Gen. Bergeret called on all Frenchmen to unite:
…for the only fight that counts – the liberation of France.
The general, who was present in Compiègne Forest when the German armistice terms were handed to French representatives in June 1940 and stood by Marshal Pétain and Adm. Darlan throughout the trials of the Vichy government, said that:
All attempts at dividing the population will be crushed.
New realignment in making
Thus, less than 12 hours after the puzzling career of Adm. Darlan was ended, new realignments were in the making. The extent of these changes could not be estimated today.
Adm. Darlan, who brought French forces to the Allied side under an arrangement with U.S. Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower after resisting briefly, but furiously, the Allied occupation of French Morocco and Algeria, was wounded mortally about 3 p.m. yesterday as he was about to enter his office in the government palace.
Five shots rang out in the corridor leading to Adm. Darlan’s office and the little admiral, who had followed Marshal Pétain with almost fanatical zeal for more than two years, slumped to the floor at the doorway.
Adm. Darlan died just before his ambulance reached the hospital. The last sacrament was administered by a military priest.
Adm. Darlan’s body remained through the night in the hospital chapel with a guard of marine officers.
Called for ‘union – at once’
Shortly before he was killed, the admiral had given an interview in which he called for the "union – at once” of all Frenchmen fighting the Axis, but he admitted there are difficulties, even certain opposition.
Adm. Darlan had said the Imperial Council would eliminate relentlessly everything that might risk weakening our war effort.
The assassin had visited the government palace yesterday morning, but left when he was unable to see Adm. Darlan. He was in the waiting room adjoining the admiral’s office when Adm. Darlan returned to his office in the afternoon and fired five shots from a .25-caliber revolver and then started to flee. Adm. Darlan’s aide, Cdt. Hourcade, attempted to stop him and was shot in the leg.
The assassin was captured by one of Adm. Darlan’s aides, Adjt. Andrew Vuichard, when he attempted to leap over the admiral’s body.
Adm. Darlan was struck by two bullets, one wounding him in the mouth and other penetrating a lung.
Entertained tribesmen
Adm. Darlan’s amicable relations with Gen. Giraud, whose loyalty to the Allies has not been questioned and who is approved by the Fighting French, were indicated by the fact that only Wednesday he and Gen. Giraud entertained the Muslim tribal chieftains of Algeria at the governor’s palace. Gen. Giraud returned earlier in the week from an inspection trip in French Morocco.
Gen. Bergeret, in his statement appealing to the French for unity, said:
The designs of our enemies will not have any effect. This crime will not lessen our determination to liberate our country.
Cdt. Hourcade, a marine staff officer, was the only aide with Adm. Darlan when he walked into the palace and met the burst of gunfire. Cdt. Hourcade leaped at the assassin’s throat and the gunman fired at him. Adjt. Vuichard, hearing the shots, ran into the building and struck the young killer’s jaw with his fist.
The assassin told Adjt. Vuichard:
I surrender; my gun is empty.
Tried to kill assassin
Sword-bearing Spahis, who guard the palace, rushed in and tried to kill the assassin, but were stopped by officials. The killer was then turned over to the police. The palace gates, flanked by the marble busts of famous French military leaders, were shut to keep crowds from the scene.
Heavy guards were placed around public and military buildings following the shooting.
Adm. Darlan’s wife arrived at the hospital shortly after his death, but remained only a short time. His son was believed to be in Rabat, French Morocco, where he was flown recently for treatment of infantile paralysis.
The bullet which caused Adm. Darlan’s death struck the tip of his lung and lodged at the point of the heart. Physicians said death resulted from the severing of a large blood vessel.
Roosevelt brands act ‘murder in first degree’
By the Associated Press
The hand of a Christmas Eve assassin, abruptly ending the career of Adm. Jean Darlan yesterday, also ended an international argument over the usefulness of the former Vichy leader to the United Nations’ cause in French Africa.
The assassin’s bullets, however, injected a new element of violence into a situation already complicated and delicate, and caused grave anxiety to government leaders here.
President Roosevelt promptly recognized the menace of such an act in a statement denouncing it as a cowardly “murder in the first degree” and calling for swift and just retribution.
Observers familiar with the role assassins have played in the spread of war and terror throughout Europe watched intently for further developments which might indicate whether Adm. Darlan’s murder was:
An isolated act of personal or political vengeance, or
The first of a series of assassinations calculated to create an atmosphere of turbulence and terror in French Africa compelling Americans, French and British forces there to concentrate on maintenance of internal order.
Motives not clear
Should the latter be the case, the threat to Allied hopes of driving the Axis out of Tunisia would be grave and immediate.
It was far from clear what motives lay behind the slaying or what persons, factions or enemy intriguers have a hand in it.
One fact on which most reports agreed was that the assassin was a young man – perhaps 20 or 22 – and this description had a most familiar ring. It suggested the typical political assassin who has figured in so many tales of intrigue, revolt and terror in post-1920 Europe – the fanatical young gunman of the Nazi, fascist or Iron Guard school.
However, the Algiers communiqués indicated authorities were still uncertain whether Italian or German inspiration lay behind the deed.
White House statement
There was no comment from the State Department, but President Roosevelt interrupted a quiet Christmas eve observance in the White House to issue this statement:
The cowardly assassination of Adm. Darlan is murder in the first degree.
All leaders of all the United Nations will agree with that statement.
Nazism and Fascism and military despotism hold otherwise. I hope that speedy justice will overtake the murderer or murderers of Adm. Darlan.
Fighting French officials here were shocked by the news of Admiral Darlan’s death, but hesitated, pending receipt of fuller information from Algiers, to suggest any explanation or to attempt any evaluation of its possible consequences.
They showed interest in a report that Gen. Jean-Marie Bergeret of the Imperial Council in North Africa had appealed to all Frenchmen to unite now in the fight against the Axis, but they withheld comment. Nor did they express any opinion on the possibility that Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, commander of French forces im North Africa, might win Fighting French support as successor to Adm. Darlan.
Mission arrives here
Members of a French military supply mission, who arrived in Washington from North Africa a few hours before Adm. Darlan’s assassination was announced, could not be reached for comment.
The mission, headed by Gen. Emile Béthouart, was understood to have come here to advise War Department officials on supply problems of French African troops. Gen. Béthouart, who has been liaison officer at Allied headquarters for Gen. Giraud, was among the French leaders credited with aiding the Americans and British in the North African invasion.
Regardless of who might emerge as the new high commissioner for civil administrator in French Africa, no basic change in American policy there was expected.
During the weeks of controversy over Adm. Darlan’s status after he cast his lot with the Allies last month, both President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull repeatedly made clear that the situation in French Africa was primarily a military situation and that it would be up to the people of a liberated France to decide, after victory, what leaders and what form of government they desired.
Free French coup year ago
An ironic feature of the sudden development in North Africa was that it was exactly one year ago that another sudden development on French territory startled Washington in the midst of the Christmas holidays. This was the Christmas Eve coup of a Free French naval force which on Dec. 24, 1941, seized the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland, which until then had been under control of Vichy.
Not since the outbreak of the war ended the interventionist-isolationist debate has any one subject been fanned into as intense a flame as the Vichy-Darlan question.
The Darlan situation itself was fed by the long-simmering ire of many political leaders and well-known writers over the State Department’s placid attitude toward Vichy – an attitude which some commentators said was vindicated in the North African coup.
But when the famed pro-Nazi and anti-British admiral himself was won over to the Allied cause by American persuasion, and the fact that he was to walk side by side with the Americans was announced the storm really broke.
Vandenberg backed Britain
At various times, members of Congress arose to state their opinion and at least one – Senator Vandenberg (R-MI) spoke out openly in favor of backing the decision of the military officials in charge of the North African venture, even if it meant playing along with Adm. Darlan.
Anti-Darlan spokesmen contended that by lining up with the former Axis collaborationist. American leaders would undermine the spirit of the “underground" in occupied countries and arouse distrust on the part of some of our Allies.
Those who took the opposite view held that the alignment with the French admiral gained time and saved lives in the North African invasion, and thus was justifiable. They contended military chieftains on the spot were qualified to judge the wisdom of the move and should not be “hampered" by internal strife over the case.
The storm was still raging when the assassin’s bullets ended Adm. Darlan’s life.
Slain admiral seen as ‘arch-turncoat’ by some, ‘astute trader’ by others
By the Associated Press
An assassin’s bullets have put an abrupt end to the most-discussed and most-mysterious career of statecraft and international intrigue that the new World War has produced.
Adm. Jean Darlan, the self-appointed “Chief of State” in French North Africa, was shot down as he entered the commissariat where for just over a month, he has labored with Allied forces which until bare weeks ago had considered him as, at best, a co-worker with their Axis enemies.
The pistol shots served only to emphasize the divergence between those who rated Adm. Darlan as one of the arch-turncoats of all history – a man who served first the conquerors of his country and then turned back to his former allies only when they had captured him – and others who had rated him as an astute horse-trader who saved what he might from the wreckage of France and seized the first opportunity to renew the battle against the Axis.
Career was strange one
Adm. Darlan’s career in itself was as strange as its end. A sailor, he began his career as an actual fighting man in land action leading marine gunners in World War I.
A product of the French naval tradition, he appeared only as a seagoing fighter for many years and was catapulted into international politics on a big scale only by defeat.
The son of a family of navy traditions, Adm. Darlan entered the École Navale at the age of 18.
On graduation in 1902, he left for China, where he stayed two years.
Promoted to ensign in 1904, he was graduated first in his class from the École de Canonnage (gunnery school), and returned to the Far East.
Promoted to lieutenant in 1912, he was chosen as an instructor aboard the Jeanne D’Arc, training ship for young officers.
On Jan. 3, 1913, the Minister of the Navy gave him official commendation for bravery in the fire which occurred aboard the Jeanne D’Arc Oct. 29, 1912.
Commanded marine unit
In August 1914, on the outbreak of World War I, he left for the front in command of a battery of marine gunners. He served on the Meuse, then in Alsace in 1915, Salonica in 1916, Verdun, Champagne and Belgium in 1917, and at Noyon and again at Verdun in 1918.
He became captain of a corvette in July 1918, and in 1920 was promoted to the rank of captain of a frigate.
In 1926, he was promoted to the rank of captain of a warship and served under Georges Leygues, Minister of the Navy, as chef de cabinet. Later he was in command of the Jeanne d’Arc and the Edgar Quinet for two years, training young officers.
Given the rank of rear admiral in 1929, he again directed the cabinet militaire of the Minister of the Navy and also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On May 23, 1930, official recognition was accorded him for exceptional services at the London Naval Conference.
He was named commander of the first division of the most modern 10,000-ton cruisers shortly thereafter.
Took charge of fleet
Promoted to vice admiral in 1932, Adm. Darlan took command of the Atlantic Fleet Oct. 4, 1932, and distinguished himself in the Mediterranean maneuvers in 1935.
In 1936 he was asked by M. Gasnier-Duparc, Minister of the Navy, to assume the directorship of his cabinet militaire. In December of the same year, he became chef d’etat major general of the navy and vice president of the Conseil Superier de la Marine.
In recognition of his services, he was awarded the Grand-Croix (highest distinction) of the Legion of Honor Dec. 21, 1937.
Adm. Darlan was made “Admiral of France” in supreme command of all French naval forces, June 6, 1939, only months before the start of hostilities in World War II.
In that capacity, he participated in formulation of major Allied strategy, conferring with Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the British statesman’s notable visit to Paris Nov. 3, 1939, and making various visits to London for meetings of the Allied Supreme War Council before the fall of France.
Vichy-Nazi ‘go-between’
His apparent turn to German collaboration was swift after the collapse of French land resistance. As early as Oct. 22, while he served in Pétain cabinets which followed the French surrender, he was reported ready to join Pierre Laval in accepting German terms and making war on Britain.
He was a leading conferee in the Franco-German negotiations of December 1940 and was reported to have taken a letter from Pétain to Hitler in December of that year. He acted as go-between for Vichy France and the Nazis and their collaborators in Paris, during the 1941 cabinet shuffles.
He became Vice Premier Feb. 9, 1941, and was named successor to Marshal Pétain a day later. He headed a new setup of five cabinet ministers arranged later that month.
Adm. Darlan was reported to have been the moving spirit behind a plan to convoy all French ships if the British continued their blockade of France during that period, but all the time he insisted in public statements that the French fleet would not be delivered to Hitler and that France alone would defend the colonies, without German “help.” Reliable advices had him refusing the Axis North African bases.
Conversely, in a speech June 10, 1940, the admiral told the French people the nation "must cleave to Germany or perish.”
Chief negotiator with Japan
He was chief negotiator for France in the deal with Japan whereby the latter took over the joint “protection” of French Indochina which provided a major springboard for Japan’s conquests in the Indies and South Seas.
Adm. Darlan took military control of North Africa into his own hands when Gen. Maxime Weygand was ousted from that command Nov. 20, 1941. Along the same line, interpreted at the time as a move to clear the French Armed Forces of pro-Allied elements, he recast the Army Jan. 9, 1942, retiring 42 generals. A month later, he was reported to have agreed to send supplies to Tunis to aid the Axis in Libya.
Practically, Adm. Darlan had been in control of all French Armed Forces since he became Pétain’s appointed heir. The position was made official April 17, 1942, and his assumption of the post was the signal for the recall of U.S. Ambassador Leahy.
Adm. Darlan’s anti-Allied utterances and actions continued as late as October 1942, when he protested bitterly against the British invasion of Madagascar.
His turn to an ardent support of the Allies was even more abrupt than his shift in the opposite direction.
Captured by Allies
Caught in North Africa by the surprise American and British invasion, he was captured in Algiers.
He immediately announced approval of the capitulation of Algiers.
On Nov. 11, he ordered French forces to cease resistance to the Allies in Algeria and Morocco, claiming that in so doing he was carrying out the mandate of Marshal Pétain. He said the aged Chief of State was a virtual German prisoner and no longer able to give voice to his own thoughts.
Adm. Darlan assumed responsibility for all French affairs in North Africa Nov. 13, and assumed the title of Chief of State for that territory Dec. 1.
Since the order to cease fire in Algeria, Adm. Darlan had been moving progressively further into the Allied camp in an atmosphere of opposition from Fighting French forces and certain elements in Britain and the United States.
Open opposition from the de Gaulle Fighting French forces became apparent Nov. 17, the same day that President Roosevelt made it clear that any arrangement with him in Africa was “temporary.”
Also on that day, well under two years from the date when he became the real head of the Vichy French regime as Pétain’s heir, he lost that post to Laval. Ten days later, on Nov. 27, he lost even his French nationality by decree of the Laval government.
Adm. Darlan appeared as a figure in world events most prominently in the last month of his life, as the originator of gestures of peace toward the de Gaulle forces, urging unity of all French forces fighting the Axis and denying any personal ambitions.
Perhaps the best statement of Adm. Darlan’s position before and immediately after the American operations began in North Africa was given in an exclusive interview granted by the admiral to Wes Gallagher, Associated Press war correspondent in North Africa, Dec. 17.
Mr. Gallagher asked him this double question:
Is it Mr. Darlan’s intention to hold North Africa in trust for Marshal Pétain? In other words, is the Imperial Council with Mr. Darlan at its head a permanent government or does Mr. Darlan plan to step aside for Marshal Pétain when France is free again?
To these, Adm. Darlan wrote this answer:
I consider the High Commissioner’s part is to represent French interests as long as France is unable to express freely her opinion – that is to say, to give herself the government she chooses.
In conclusion, he was asked:
Would Mr. Darlan like to give any explanation of his change of views as expressed a few weeks ago contrasting with his present position on the side of the Allies?
He replied:
The aim of all that I did while in the French Cabinet was to keep within due limits the power Germany had gained over France and to save all that could be saved in my unfortunate country and its empire. No Frenchman worth that name, and I, in the first place, could willingly submit to German oppression.
As long as the Allied nations were not ready to help France in resuming the struggle, I tried, sad and resigned, to prevent France from dying under the German heel.
When the Allied forces landed in North Africa, I carried on the orders I had received to keep France’s word, which later had prevented for 28 months Axis forces from coming to French Africa.
I gave the cease-fighting order as soon as possible. Being disavowed by Vichy, I committed myself to the American military authorities so that I should not cause more French and Allied blood to be shed. Then, when Germany broke the armistice, I considered I could once more act freely.
The Pittsburgh Press (December 26, 1942)
Frenchman, son of Italian, shot; Giraud may not succeed admiral
London, England (UP) –
The youthful Frenchman who assassinated Adm. Jean François Darlan was executed at dawn in compliance with the orders of a court-martial, Radio Algiers reported today.
The execution occurred as the French Imperial Council was preparing to meet to choose a successor to Darlan.
Reports from North Africa said Gen. Henri Giraud, who escaped from a German prison camp, would probably be named, but some persons believed Gen. Giraud’s distaste for politics would cause him to refuse and devote all his energies to heading the French fighting forces.
The identity of Darlan’s assassin was still unknown to the general public, although it was said he had made a full confession and had stated that he had no accomplices. His mother is living in Italy.
Darlan was given a military funeral in Algiers with Allied leaders in attendance. Large crowds watched in silence as the coffin was carried into the Algiers cathedral which was decorated with French, British and U.S. flags.
North African broadcasts, describing the scene in the cathedral, said French officials sat on the right side of the center aisle.
On the left side of the aisle were Allied officials including Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, Adm. Sir Andrew B. Cunningham, United Nations naval commander in North Africa, U.S. Consul-General Hamilton Wiley and Robert Murphy, U.S. diplomatic officials who attended in the capacity of President Roosevelt’s personal representative.
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer
Allied HQ, North Africa –
Adm. Jean François Darlan’s murderer, a French citizen whose Italian mother lives in Italy, was to die at dawn today before a French Army firing squad approximately 40 hours after the No. 1 political assassination of World War II.
The French Imperial Council of which Darlan was High Commissioner announced that the assassin had been convicted and sentenced by a court-martial of the French 19th Military District which met at 6 p.m. yesterday.
Today, the council meets to name a successor to Darlan.
Giraud seen as successor
Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, Commander-in-Chief of the French African fighting forces, was the man of the hour and it was accepted that all he had to do to take leadership – in which he undoubtedly would have the full support of Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s Fighting French who considered Darlan a traitor to France – was to say the word.
But there were strong indications that Giraud, a soldier with an abhorrence of politics, would elect to retain military leadership without the complications of other office.
Most prominent among others mentioned for leadership were Gen. Auguste Noguès, Governor-General of Morocco, one of the earliest North African adherents to the Allied cause, and Governor-General Pierre Boisson of French West Africa, the Dakar area, who was a close associate of Darlan.
Allied authorities ordered Darlan’s body taken during the night from the Government General Building at Algiers, where it lay in state yesterday, to the cathedral for a state funeral, after which it will be taken, probably this afternoon, to the summer palace to remain until a decision has been made on a final burial place.
French council meets
Thousands of Frenchmen, whose Christmas had been turned into a day of mourning, filed past Darlan’s casket throughout yesterday along with thousands of U.S. and British soldiers.
The French Imperial Council, whose members, including Gen. Giraud, assembled at Algiers by airplane from all over French Africa, held a preliminary meeting last night on the successful problem as the court-martial condemned Darlan’s assassin to death.
In its communiqué announcing the sentence the council said textually:
A court-martial of the 19th Military District met today [Friday] at 6 p.m. to try the assassin of Adm. Darlan.
The court-martial condemned the assassin to death and the sentence will be carried out tomorrow morning.
The assassin, who was caught in the act, made a complete confession. He insisted he acted without accomplices.
The assassin, whose name is being kept secret for reasons of military security, was of French nationality. Inquiry revealed that his mother is Italian and is now living in Italy.
Several letters between the assassin and his mother were seized but their contents threw no light on the case or the actual circumstances of the crime.
Eisenhower gives statement
The council’s statement was issued from the headquarters of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces, who returned to Algiers from a tour of the front as soon as he learned of Darlan’s death.
Gen. Eisenhower authorized the following statement:
Gen. Eisenhower has conveyed his deepest sympathies and regrets to Madame Darlan. As soon as Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of the General Staff of the U.S. Army, had been advised [in Washington] of the assault on Adm. Darlan and prior to hearing of his death, he had promptly cabled that he was grieved and shocked by the news and said that Adm. Darlan had rendered services of vast importance to our Armed Forces.
Dies of two wounds
Darlan died of two wounds, one in the mouth, the other in a lung, caused by bullets from a .25-caliber pistol which the assassin fired in a corridor of the government building as Darlan was about to enter his office at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Gen. Giraud was advised while ion an inspection trip[ of the French Army in Tunisia as he arriv ed in Algiers, and at once assumed responsibility for maintenance of order.
Spanish advices from Algiers, giving new details of Darlan’s death in a purported eyewitness story, said Darlan, in admiral’s uniform, was walking briskly along the dark corridor toward his office, after spending some time at the summer palace overlooking Algiers Bay, when the shots were fired.
Darlan had to pass a waiting room, the door of which was closed, to get to his office, As Darlan passed, the waiting room door opened and the youthful assassin came out, Madrid said.
The assassin opened fire with an automatic pistol. As the first bullet hit Darlan in the mouth, the advices reported. Darlan lunged at the assassin, but a second shot sent him plunging to the floor, blood covering his face and uniform.
The murderer leaped over Darlan’s body and dashed toward the outer door, shooting and wounding the admiral’s aide de camp. But he was seized by other officers.
Madrid reported that the assassin was a member of the French fascist militia of the Paris collaborationist leader, Jacques Doriot.
Yves Chatel, Governor-General of Algeria, assumed charge at Algiers pending Gen. Giraud’s arrival.
Gen. Noguès, Governor-General Boisson and other leaders arrived by plane.
Sultan offers condolences
As soon as they arrived, a series of conferences was started in which Gen. Eisenhower joined.
The Sultan of Morocco sent Gen. Noguès a message:
On learning of the painful news of the assassination of Adm. Darlan, we addressed to you very sad condolences, which we ask that you also convey to Gen. Bergeret.
Gen. Jean-Marie Bergeret, former Vichy Air Minister, who escaped to North Africa, was Darlan’s aide.
Gen. Giraud visited the flag-draped casket in the Government House chapel.
Allied soldiers file past
He snapped to salute before the casket, in which lay Darlan’s admiral’s hat, beneath the tricolor, then knelt in prayer and laid a wreath before the casket.
Four guards, representing the French fighting services, stood round the casket with drawn swords all day.
So dense was the crowd before and in Government House that the removal of Darlan’s body to the cathedral was postponed until last night.
Mass was celebrated at the cathedral at 9 a.m. today and afterward the casket was to be placed in front of the Church of St. Marie de Mustafa while French land, sea and air detachments filed past, followed by U.S. and British Army detachments.
While Darlan’s body lay in state at Government House, his aide, Gen. Bergeret, issued the statement:
Adm. Darlan has fallen at his post, victim of an attempt inspired by those who would not forgive him for responding to the wishes of the French people by taking up arms again by the side of the Allies against Germany.
In an earlier statement, Gen. Bergeret said:
The designs of our enemies will be foiled. This crime will not weaken our determination to liberate our country by force of arms. On the contrary, it commands us to gather all our strength for the only fight that matters today – the one which will free France.
In his capacity as Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Gen. Giraud assumed responsibility for maintaining order.
All attempts to create disunity will be mercilessly crushed.
Gen. Bergeret signed the statement in his capacity as Deputy High Commissioner.
Crowds cheer Giraud
It was announced that the first concrete token of Allied determination to aid French Africa had arrived at African ports in the form of a 12,000-ton cargo of milk, sugar, flour, potatoes and other foodstuffs for the civil population.
A United Press canvass showed that high-ranking French officials agreed that all Gen. Giraud had to do was ask for leadership if he wanted it.
Gen. Giraud was slated for leadership when the Allies first came to Africa, but he stepped aside in Darlan’s favor to assume command of the Armed Forces.
His popularity was made evident from the moment of his arrival in Algiers yesterday when crowds cheered him enthusiastically wherever he went.
The Pittsburgh Press (December 27, 1942)
Fighting French expected to back him – assassin put to death
By C. R. Cunningham, United Press staff writer
Algiers, Algeria –
Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, French military idol, was unanimously chosen French High Commissioner to succeed the assassinated Adm. Jean François Darlan, it was disclosed today, and immediately issued a proclamation calling for unity among Frenchmen in the war against Germany.
Selection of Gen. Giraud was accomplished in a one-hour meeting of the French Imperial Council in a scantly-furnished room at the summer palace. Barely 100 yards away, the body of Darlan lay in state. His assassin was executed yesterday.
The council, whose vote was unanimous, consisted of Gen. Giraud, Yves Chatel, Jean-Marie Bergeret, Gen. Auguste Noguès, and Pierre Boisson (Governor-General of French West Africa).
Appeals for unity
Immediately after his selection, Gen. Giraud issued an order of the day appealing to Frenchmen to unite behind him.
His proclamation said:
In assuming the functions of High Commissioners of French Africa after the tragedy which cost Adm. Darlan’s life, I ask all to stand united behind me to assure, with the support of our allies, the success of our armies.
Only one thing counts: France and her empire; there is but one aim: Victory.
[Signed] General of the Army, High Commissioner of French Africa, Commander-in-Chief of the land, sea and air forces.
Adm. Darlan’s assassin, a youth of 22 who was said to be a French citizen with an Italian mother living in Italy, was executed by a firing squad which carried out its task during an air raid. The sky full of tracer bullets and bursting anti-aircraft shells drowned the rattle of the execution squad’s rifles.
May unite all factions
The sentence was carried out only a few hours after an elaborate state funeral for Darlan, attended by French, British and U.S. officials.
Selection of Giraud, it was believed, would be an important unifying force among Frenchmen and would eliminate political difficulties which arose from the “Darlan deal” by which Allied forces were able to consolidate their North African military coup. Since Giraud has eschewed politics and has consistently opposed the Nazis, it was believed that Gen. Charles de Gaulle and his Fighting French might accept his leadership.
U.S. official at conference
For a time, it was feared that Giraud’s distaste for political activity and a belief that he could serve France best as a military personality might prevent his acceptance of the post.
The French council met for two hours, then adjourned without announcement. Among those at the conference was Robert Murphy, U.S. diplomatic official.
Word of Darlan’s death reached Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower at the front, where he was conferring with U.S. combat leaders. He broke off the Christmas Eve conference, hastily left dinner, and dashed to Algiers by auto. He and his aide drove all night, taking turns at the wheel.
Christmas Day, Gen. Eisenhower parked his car at the roadside for a dinner of British rations, including plum pudding, then rushed on and arrived at Algiers Christmas night.
He received details of the assassination, which could not previously have been told him by telephone. He spent another night of little sleep and rose early for the funeral.
As French High Commissioner in North Africa, Giraud will have a double prestige, both political and military. He is expected to win to his side anti-Nazi Frenchmen who could not accept the “Darlan deal” and his military knowledge of the North African terrain is born of experience.
Upon graduation for the French Military Academy at Saint-Cyr, Giraud entered the 4th Regiment of Zouaves in Tunisia. He was with that regiment during part of World War I and afterward in 1922, took part in the operations in southern Morocco.
During the Rif revolt in 1925, he was the hero of numerous exploits.
He was for two years an instructor at the École supérieure de guerre, then went to Africa as commander over the Algerian-Moroccan borders, becoming the brigadier general.
In 1934, he was named commander of the Oran Division and in 1936 was made military governor of Metz and commander of the 6th Army Corps. He entered the Superior Council of War on June 3, 1939.
Best known to Americans for his daring escapes from the Germans during the two World Wars, Giraud is a hero to millions of Frenchmen.
When the North African invasion was planned, Giraud was quick to seize the opportunity to fight once more against the Germans and escaped from France to North Africa, making the trip in a British submarine.
The Pittsburgh Press (January 8, 1943)
London, England (UP) –
Axis broadcasts tonight identified the assassin of Adm. Jean François Darlan as Bonnier de La Chapelle, a 20-year-old student follower of Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Fighting French.
After Berlin had set the propaganda pace, the Paris and Vichy radios fell in line on the purported identification, giving the first name as Bonnier instead of Berlin’s Dornier.
The later broadcasts credited the information to reports from Tangier:
…emanating from quarters in contact with the British Secret Service.
Darlan, High Commissioner of French Africa, was shot to death in Algiers on Christmas Eve. His assassin, never identified in official reports, was executed two days later.
The name of Chapelle, among others, has been mentioned frequently in unofficial circles speculating on the identity of the assassin. Nazi broadcast of the name drew no comment from officials here.
There was no evidence to link the assassin with Bonnier de la Chapelle, a cousin by marriage of the French author, Drieu La Rochelle.
Brooklyn Eagle (January 13, 1943)
Algiers, Algeria (UP) –
A French military board of inquiry questioned today a second batch of prisoners – some important figures – suspected of complicity in the assassination of Adm. Jean François Darlan.
A spokesman, who announced last night a “number of additional arrests,” said the suspects would be court-martialed, if the board decides they were involved.
Darlan’s assassin, a young Frenchman who has never been officially identified, was executed the day of Darlan’s funeral. The spokesman said “some Algiers personalities” were arrested:
…for questioning, because inquiry sowed that the killer had some accomplices.