![\"Marshal](\"https:\/\/secondbysecondworldwar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Wdarlan-e1418243870599-300x238.jpg\")
<\/a>Marshal Petain with Darlan on his right (and Goering on his left, December 1941 [Public domain, wiki]<\/p><\/div>Admiral Fran\u00e7ois Darlan,\u00a0the one-time right-hand man of Vichy head-of-state, Mar\u00e9chal\u00a0Philippe P\u00e9tain<\/a>, was assassinated in Algiers this week in the\u00a0war, on 24 December 1942.<\/p>\n At the time of the Operation Torch<\/a> landings in North Africa, Darlan had switched his allegiance from Vichy to the British and Americans and, consequently, had been recognized by them as the French governor\u00a0for Africa.<\/p>\n The assassin, a French monarchist named Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle, was executed two days later by firing squad.<\/p>\n The Allies replaced Darlan with French general, Henri Giraud, who had the support of Eisenhower and the British and also of General Charles de Gaulle. Giraud would be one of France’s representatives at the Casablanca Conference in January, 1943.<\/p>\n Suspicion for the Darlan assassination fell upon the British intelligence service, although nothing was ever proven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Admiral Fran\u00e7ois Darlan,\u00a0the one-time right-hand man of Vichy head-of-state, Mar\u00e9chal\u00a0Philippe P\u00e9tain, was assassinated in Algiers this week in the\u00a0war, on 24 December 1942. At the time of the Operation Torch landings in North Africa, Darlan had switched his allegiance from … Continue reading