Political Situation In Africa Unchained 1942 1943
The political situation in the French territories in Africa, in 1942 and 1943 , is complex and unstable. After Operation Torch and the Allied landings in November 1942, part of North Africa then under French rule saw a particular political situation. While the Tunisian campaign continues, the French North Africa liberated ( French Algeria , the French Protectorate of Morocco ) is subject to the Vichy regime and all discriminatory measures for several months, first under the authority of the ' Admiral Darlan - captured by the Allies and forced to change sides - then under the aegis of General Henri Giraud , head of civil and military command in Algiers. This situation was described by Roosevelt as "Military expediencies" . The SSA is also concerned with the divisions of French West Africa , which won the rally Darlan, Giraud is on the side , while the French Equatorial Africa has increased since 1940 in the camp the Free France of de Gaulle. The situation is gradually stabilizing after the merger of authorities in London and Algiers in the French Committee of National Liberation.
The situation in French North Africa November 8, 1942
On November 8, 1942, at the Operation Torch , the heads of French North Africa have a choice between three options: either they obey the orders they have received to resist any invader, or they deliberately give orders contrary to the instructions they have received themselves or, finally, they choose an intermediate position which is to do nothing and wait for more precise orders from higher authority .
On June 8, 1942, the day the Americans landed, the general in June is commander of French forces in North Africa. He succeeded to the post to General Weygand in November 1941. the General Nogues is usually resident in Morocco since 1936. The Admiral Esteva is a resident of France in Tunisia since July 26, 1940. The situation is complicated by the fact that Darlan , former Vice-President of the Council remained commander of the military, happens to be in Algiers, where he came to see his seriously ill son.
Capitulation of Algiers surrounded
At his home in Algiers, Villa des Oliviers, General June is advised of the various landing shortly after midnight by the American Consul Murphy, and invited by him, carrying a message from President Roosevelt to enter the war, alongside the Allies to liberate France. At the same time, with the approval of his subordinate the Mast General , commander of the garrison of Algiers, the Resistance forces under the command of Aboulker , improperly took control of the city and, after surrounding General Juin in his villa, including driving Darlan . Thus, the resistance against the American landing by French troops did not exist in the area of Algiers, with the exception of opposition to the detachment of Rangers landed in the port of Algiers to the 3 o'clock in the morning. In contrast, in other sectors, in Oran and Morocco, where coup attempts against the authorities loyal to Vichy had failed, they implement the orders of their generals to defend themselves "against any attack," ie cons allies, while in Tunisia, the Regency is delivered to the forces of the Axis without a single shot revolver, the other subordinates of June .
After Darlan came to his villa surrounded by students of the aspirant Pauphilet, June may see his supervisor Darlan, who bears so the weight of the decision . Darlan under pressure from U.S. diplomat Robert Murphy , decides to inform Petain and think later , but at dawn, Darlan June and are released by the guards and it's Murphy who finds himself a prisoner. For U.S. observers, June seems eager to help the allies, but he must obey his superior and ordered the French troops to maintain "an elastic contact without aggression." Darlan, having telegraphed to Vichy, about 8 hours to request the intervention of the Luftwaffe against the Allied ships off the coast of Algiers, got in touch with Petain who gave "full confidence" and therefore can act systematically refer to Marshal . In the afternoon of 8 November, while the Anglo-American bombing Algiers and surrounded the headquarters of June, Darlan authorizes him to deal with the Allies, but only for the city of Algiers .
Armistice forced to Oran and Morocco
From the afternoon of November 8 to 17 h 35, June is usually relieved of his authority outside the region of Algiers. Darlan charged General Nogues defense of Morocco and General Barre that of Tunisia, both directly under the Vichy .
In Morocco, Nogues residence is surrounded by the troops of General Bethouart , which is being troubled by the fact that Americans are behind the schedule announced. Bethouart without new allies and surrounded in turn by another regiment called by Nogues he did not cut off the telephone, gives the early morning to avoid spilling blood unnecessarily French. He was immediately arrested , and therefore, the Allied fleet appeared, the operations are conducted under the guidance of Nogues with the assistance of Admiral Michelier, which sends its fleet to disaster in a compact. They fight the allies for three days apart in June, their commander in chief as , until 10 November. Meanwhile, in Algiers, General Clark press Darlan signed an armistice for the whole of North Africa in dealing directly with Giraud . November 10 at noon, Darlan gave the order to all authorities in North Africa and the French Admiralty to stop fighting . Repudiated by Ptain, Darlan cancels his order to stop the fighting in the afternoon of November 10, causing his arrest by the Americans . Petain took command in chief of the military . November 11, Michelier inform the Vichy Admiralty before the balance of forces, the fighting stopped at 2:30 . On the morning of November 8, Nogues negotiate a cease-fire with Patton who negotiates the terms of an armistice with Michelier Nogues and . Then comes the invasion of the free zone. On the evening of November 11, Nogues presents his credentials to Darlan .
As for Girard, he announced his allegiance to Darlan, in exchange for the land forces command and air from North Africa.
The forty-five days of Darlan
Darlan was in power in North Africa after Operation Torch, because the Americans felt that it was the least bad solution. He would obviously not saying that the man of Paris Protocols , which symbolized the degree of military cooperation the most advanced of the various governments of Vichy, is the man who initiated the cooperation of Africa with American power released. Roosevelt should make it clear that "Military expediencies" that is to say expedients for military reasons and Eisenhower will explain to his Chiefs of Staff that all French people, civilians and military, including including Giraud recognize the authority of Admiral .
The Clark-Darlan agreement
In its order of cease-fire of Nov. 10, Darlan had announced that he exercised authority in North Africa (French North Africa) on behalf of the Marshal "prevented" . Although condemned repeatedly by Vichy, he continues to stand as governing in the name of Petain, the latter being "morally prisoner" .
On 13 November, the resisters have implemented the conspiracy of November 8, disappointed not to be associated with responsibility, lead Giraud at Clark in the presence of Mast and Murphy. General Clark, who is willing to recognize Giraud as commander in chief, who also receives Nogues develops the argument that the NFA remains attached to the person of Marshal who is unanimous both in the French population that the indigenous population . Under the influence of June, Nogues finally accepts that Giraud is associated with the combination. Nogues June and arrive the following compromise: De Gaulle will not come to Africa and will Giraud and Darlan orders to command the name of Marshall . Thus, on the evening of November 13, Nogues proclaimed on the radio that gives powers to Darlan "in the name of Marshal and in agreement with him" . As for Darlan, it informs the public that Americans will help the French in the defense of North Africa in these terms: "French and Muslim, I count on your full discipline. Each in his post. Vive le Marechal, vive la France! " .
Only on November 22 that a text has the backing of Americans determine the contours of the new powers :
In the preamble, the text acknowledges the French forces as allies in their own right of the Anglo-Americans. The integrity of the French colonial empire is recognized. The first two articles governing cooperation between the armies: the French armies, under French command, ensure the maintenance of order and cooperation with allied forces and warships are fueling the Americans. Article 3 states that the "French government staff is held in place," which means the maintenance men, institutions and laws of Vichy, while the Free France is ruled out .
The Americans were granted certain privileges and prerogatives as tax exemption or the ability to exercise self-administration in military areas set by them .
The agreements also provide that persons arrested for assistance to the Allied landings must be paid (Article 11) and that the dollar rate is set at 75 F, 43.80 F instead Cherchell agreements.
November 13, Darlan had tried to give orders to the Admiral Laborde rally Oran with the Toulon fleet, but Laborde does not respond to that order and finally preferred to scuttle the fleet . It is a failure to Darlan, offset by November 23 is the allegiance that the Governor-General Pierre Boisson administration Darlan in Algiers, with the territories of the AOF and the vital basis of Dakar .
Introduction of a High Commission in Africa and an Imperial Council
Citing the constitutional act No. 4c which was the successor of Marshal, Darlan had proclaimed "High Commissioner of France in Africa," in the name of Marshal prevented "from November 14, 1942, although disavowed by Vichy . It takes as the Deputy High Commissioner General Bergeret , former Air Minister Petain. On 15 November he was appointed "secretaries (ministers), two resistant to extreme right and accommodating a banker: Rigault the Interior, Lemaigre Dubreuil relations with the Americans, and Pose for Finance.
Darlan recruits later, thinking to tie, Henri d'Astier de La Vigerie , assisted by Father Cordier, as Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Chief of Police. Finally he completed his High Commissioner by "Imperial Council", comprising, besides himself, Giraud and Bergeret, and the various pro-consuls, Nogues in Morocco, Algeria and Chtel, two days later to Drink AOF
The exercise of power by Darlan
Darlan was originally, unlike Weygand, a republican officer endowed with a sense of adaptation that allowed him to be a socialist with Blum and supporter of Petain's National Revolution. Like as a successor to him that he needed to Algiers, it remains in line with the National Revolution maintaining a "vichysme under American protectorate" , including laws inspired Hitler the exclusion of Jews, the suppression of secret societies and the dissolution of political parties, etc.. and the Vichy concentration camps . Darlan, citing the military situation in Tunisia, not engage in any political reform: he refuses to return to the abolition of Cremieux decree between the same inaction and the demands of Ferhat Abbas about the emancipation of Muslims . On behalf of Marshall that makes decisions by using the phrase "We, Admiral of the Fleet, High Commissioner of France are in Africa on behalf of the Marshal" . Maintaining the spirit of the National Revolution poses few problems for the French population of North Africa which is largely favorable "For many French North Africa, says Jacques Soustelle, if the National Revolution n ' had not existed, it would have been necessary to invent it " .
November 17, Roosevelt called for the release of all anti-Nazi and antifascist prisoners held in internment camps and the repeal of all anti-Semitic measures, Darlan but does not reverse the repeal of Decree Cremieux and reinstatement policies of the Jews . However, he agrees to the removal of any harassment on people and property at a very minimal modification of the numerus clausus in certain professions in a way favorable to Jews and the affirmation of a possibility to host school in some limited cases, some Jewish children that Weygand had massively excluded . On 5 December he will put an end to exclusion provisions in the professions, but the Jews, excluded from the first mobilization order, are not welcome in the Army. It creates for them pioneer companies excluded from combat and assigned to forced labor , . Jews, many of whom have distinguished themselves during the First World War , do not accept being excluded from the Front. On their behalf, Professor Henry Aboulker, big war invalids, written December 7, 1942 to Darlan, to claim they are sent to the front under the same conditions as other French. But his letter will remain unanswered because the other generals Giraud and want to avoid the Jews acquire military titles he could then claim to recover their French citizenship . To the detriment of the immediate needs of the African army that lacks frames. Those among them who want to commit can not do that in the African franc Corps General Monsabert created November 25, 1942 , or in the "Special Detachment" under British command. The French Legion of combatants is maintained, its leaders are appointed by the High Commissioner. The oath of SOL was abolished, but its members remain active and aggressive, especially in Oran .
The officers who helped the Allies Montsabert , Mast , Jousse Barril or are quarantined by colleagues and admirers obstinate Marshal must seek the hospitality services of Eisenhower. It is under pressure from the Americans that Bethouart is released and deployed in the U.S. .
Political prisoners deported by the Vichy remain interned in concentration camps in the South. During a press conference February 21, 1943 under the administration Giraud, General Bergeret, Deputy Commissioner-General will report on 7100 political prisoners, the same as in November 1942 .
After the invasion of the " free zone "by the German Army, the Army of Africa as a whole switches from Allied side without needing to rally to de Gaulle. For six months, will depend first of Darlan and Giraud. Of all the French forces stationed in the empire, only those in Indochina remain under the authority of Vichy. November 19, 1942, in Tunisia the troops of General Barre finally open fire against the Germans, whom the general had originally delivered the Regency, by falling back on the border of Algeria. Of the 80,000 men of the Army of Africa, 15,000 leave their lives in Tunisia. At that time, among the French forces fighting on the Allied side, it weighs much heavier than the FFL which also converge to Tunisia, but in the East, alongside the British .
Opposition to Darlan
Although excluded from Operation Torch, de Gaulle launched an appeal on November 8 at the start of the war of NFA with the Allies . The day after the landing, he gave instructions to all his followers not to compromise himself in the "Algiers bear garden" . On 16 November, it gets broadcast on the BBC a tune claiming that he and the French National Committee "take no part and assume no responsibility for the ongoing negotiations in North Africa with delegates from Vichy ... " . Soon after, he sent to Algiers, ignoring Darlan, General Franois d'Astier de La Vigerie (brother of Henri d'Astier), to establish contacts . must be exercised to ensure that U.S. pressure Darlan agreed to receive the envoy of de Gaulle in the presence of Rigault, Giraud and Bergeret to discuss the integration of the FFL in the Allied war effort .
Representatives of the French Resistance expressed violently in the underground press on the role played by Darlan in North Africa liberated. In Combat , Henri Frenay speaks of insult to the French nation. The three major movements of the South Zone, Combat , Franc-Shooter and Liberation-Sud , send a motion to London "urging that the destinies of the new NFA released earlier are delivered to General de Gaulle" . In Algiers, the representative of Combat is Rene Capitant , a law professor. The leaders of the movement, participated in the putsch of 8 November. Combat magazine, broadcast almost openly displays his Gaullist while the youth movement, the "Youth Combat, moved the Gaullist propaganda in schools and on city walls. Another semi-clandestine publication Le Canard dissent also attacked Darlan.
In the UK , public opinion and media support for de Gaulle. Even within the Government, Anthony Eden , Secretary of the Foreign Office , and members of his cabinet barely hide their sympathy for de Gaulle . A motion filed on November 26 at the House of Commons condemning the use of " Quislings "and Churchill must exercise all his oratory skills to convince members of Parliament met in secret session on December 10 . United States, where de Gaulle's position is weaker, a number of protesters criticize official policy: the mayor of New York- La Guardia and great columnists like Walter Lippmann and Dorothy Thompson . Roosevelt maintained his policy, calling it "Military expediencies (translated by Ren Gosset term under the title of" quick fixes ") .
Agreements Clark-Darlan did not report using resistant November 8. Some, whose ideas of the extreme right are not necessarily very different from those of Darlan adapt and are entrusted with responsibilities by Darlan: Giraud, Jacques Tarb Saint-Hardouin, Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie, Jean Rigault, while the majority of the 400 resistant November 8, come into conflict with the new regime and reject agreements that place the NFA under American tutelage . The family home Aboulker , 26, rue Michelet becomes the PC of the rebellion .
These resistant November 8, obtaining weapons of young British officers shocked by the agreements with Darlan. Their group trains at Cherchell under the aegis of Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie. This group will emerge two units, the "Special Detachment" temporarily under British command and the Corps Franc d'Afrique "under French: November 11, 1942, the Corps Franc d'Afrique is composed mainly with volunteers from 8 November. The first commitments to the Corps Franc taking place in private homes, with Professor Henry Aboulker at 26 rue Michelet, and the Allocation Service Fuels, 7 rue Charras through Pauphilet the aspirant, who had stopped in June and Darlan.
Members of the Free Corps in Africa, in training at Cape Matifouen pending their departure for Tunisia, spend their nights to cover the graffiti walls of Algiers, as the Gaullist group Combat , led by Ren Capitant , who share with them the slogans "Darlan to pole" or "the admiral to the fleet! " .
The communists in Algeria , who had refused to participate in the putsch of November 8 .
The succession of Darlan
The murder of Darlan and his estate
In mid-December, U.S. correspondents have openly Darlan in Algiers as a cheater surrounded by fascists who alone constitutes an obstacle to any French group . A campaign of the American press denouncing the situation in the internment camps . Darlan enjoys only the sole support of personalities and NFA officers loyal to Petain.
Then a member of twenty years, militant monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle , designated by a random draw among four brothers in arms, slaughters the admiral on 24 December 1942. Once chosen by lot, he met Abb Cordier, Henri d'Astier assistant, who gave him absolution in advance, Bonnier enters the Summer Palace, and it kills Darlan before be stopped immediately , . Imperial Council members must find a successor who appointed Darlan Nogues to succeed him, but Eisenhower indicated that only Giraud is acceptable to America. Thus, December 26, 1942, the High Commissioner is elected by the Imperial Council and takes turn for the Assistant General Bergeret , former Minister of Petain. Giraud then adopted the title " Commander in Chief civilian and military "to ensure the Executive Office , .
On Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle, a summary trial is uneducated commissioned by court martial illegally constituted. Order of Giraud and Bergeret, the young man is sentenced to death and executed on December 26 . Subsequently, Giraud is seeking the real sponsors of the attack. The trail goes back to Henry and Alfred Pose d'Astier, both of monarchists and members of the High Commission, respectively, Assistant Secretary of the Interior and Secretary General to the economy . Churchill's envoy to Algiers, Macmillan then requires the interruption of the investigation to stop the anarchy in North Africa and threaten the Allies on their backs. Giraud then signed an order of dismissal .
An operation failed Monarchist
If everything is known about the exact circumstances of the assassination of Darlan, according to Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac, it is proved that a small group of monarchists, including Henri d'Astier had imagined and Alfred Pose enjoy power vacuum in order to push the Comte de Paris , pretender to the throne of France than his supporters had come to Algiers and multiplied the encounters with notables . Count of Paris himself had cherished the hope of being called to power by the board of Empire when Darlan was rejected. He then proposed to form a unified government, which de Gaulle would have ensured the political and military leadership Giraud, understanding that when the city issued, France democratically choose its regime . Her application to the High Commission does not seem to have finally been proposed .
December 19, by speaking out against the political elimination of Darlan, the top U.S. command had ended the hopes of monarchists and it is therefore plausible that the small group of conspirators have imagined his local physical elimination .
The arrests of the resistance of 30 December
December 30, Bergeret and Rigault, Secretaries for Political Affairs in the Office ordered the arrest "preventively" of twelve persons who were all involved in helping the Allies on November 8: Dr. Fernand Morali, Rene Moatti , a member of Combat, Professor Henry Aboulker and his son Jose , who led coup in Algiers on November 8, Raphael and his nephew, Pierre Armand, and Alexander, Jacques Brunel, Muscatelli, director of general security, Esquerr, Commissioner, Achiary Andre , Director of Territorial Surveillance, and finally Bringard, security director of the Office .
p> Apart Fernand Morali, all these figures are Gaullists. Some of them are shipped in the Sahara, Adrar or Laghouat. They will not be released before February 5. At a press conference in front of British and American journalists, Giraud justified the arrests by the threat that would have weighed in on itself, Bergeret and on Murphy The administration of GiraudMaintaining the Vichy laws
Giraud remains in the line laid down by Darlan. Although Vichy designates as a traitor and that Petain had denied French citizenship a month earlier, it is always in the name of the marshal he takes power. Pretext to establish its legitimacy, it maintains the laws of Vichy. Jewish soldiers can enroll in the battalions of pioneers, the prisoners are not released from camps whose numbers swell Gaullist elements and personnel administration remains what it was before November
which Darlan had been his secretary for Foreign Affairs, address to all diplomatic posts a note containing the rationale invoked by Darlan, under the Constitutional Act No. 4b, and concluding that Giraud, as the successor of the admiral, had standing to lead the Empire "in the name Marshal prevented. "Giraud proclaims that its purpose was purely military, "One goal, victory." It would be enough for him to light a staff of military and financial coordination based on the governors general. The administration of France when his future release is a matter of law enforcement .
Giraud, de Gaulle and the Allies
Meanwhile, Allied leaders, tired of the complications caused by the coexistence of two French authorities are lobbying for their unification. Roosevelt and Churchill then decided to meet in Morocco and to hold the conference in Casablanca (also called "Anfa Conference"), which they summon Giraud and de Gaulle. The disagreement of the two generals can not but be noticed, but their respective demands are clearly in parallel .
Upon the death of Darlan, de Gaulle had proposed the merger itself to Giraud, under certain conditions to be discussed. Giraud who was slow to respond, saying that his rank is higher, de Gaulle could only be placed under his orders. That would have settled the Anglo-American whose preferences were to Giraud, not only because of its docility and larger forces under his command, but also because Roosevelt was warned against de Gaulle by the allegations of some French United States and those of its diplomats, Leahy and accusing Murphy of "dictatorship" the leader of Free France. They hoped that de Gaulle would finally be brought to heel, inside of a unified authority. De Gaulle was ready to negotiate, but on an equal footing, and provided to form a government freely dealing with the Allies to restore the laws of the Republic, to release the internal resistance and removal of senior dignitaries Vichy , .
Roosevelt and Churchill want to get in tune with public opinion in their respective countries, who do not understand that the leader of the Free France can be kept away and worse yet the persistence of the Vichy regime in Africa . In fact, Roosevelt Giraud gives discreet support, but overall, promising to equip 11 divisions including 3 motor and provide 800 aircraft . He also signed on behalf of U.S. and British governments a secret memorandum to Giraud recognizing "the right and duty to preserve the military, economic, financial and moral, all the French interests." Churchill refused to sign it and request the revision of the text .
On the other hand, pressure from war correspondents and the press of the allied countries, condemning the British and American views the maintenance of the Vichy regime on the backs of the front of Tunisia, forcing the Allied leaders to finally require a Giraud democratization effort.
The first concessions to democracy
Roosevelt contends Giraud must still contend with public opinion informed by the press of what is happening in Algiers. Shortly after the Anfa conference, he declared that America does not want to return to France "a military caste in Japan as" nor a " Quisling " . The issue of political prisoners is on the front of the stage from the Anfa conference where a correspondent of the New York Times has an opportunity to visit the camp near Casablanca El-Ayasha which are enclosed three to four thousand Republicans Spanish, hundreds of Poles and Jews and all those, most Gaullists arrested for endangering the security of the State . At the time of the Allied landing, nearly 7000 French and probably many foreigners are detained in camps NFA .
The 27 Communist deputies detained at the prison near Maison Carree in Algiers and who had applied unsuccessfully to Eisenhower in December 1942, wrote a letter to Giraud January 11, 1943, and two of them, Francis Billoux and Lucien Midol are received by the new High Commissioner and obtain the unconditional release of the Group of 27 which became effective on February 5 . Consequently, the French Communist Party will operate a seesaw between de Gaulle to whom they sent a representative, Fernand Grenier from the very beginning of 1943 and Giraud to whom they are represented by Henri Pourtalet in spring 1943 . Stalin recognized the fighting France of de Gaulle in September 1942, but he also managed to show understanding vis--vis the "Darlan" Roosevelt: "With regard Darlan, he wrote to Churchill November 27, 1942 It seems to me that the Americans have cleverly used to facilitate the occupation of North Africa and the West. The military must learn to use diplomacy in the war aims not only Darlan, but the devil and his crew "
February 21, Bergeret committed to the Allied press release all detained in three weeks. Very quickly, the deadline is extended to two months. Outstanding as of March 1943, accelerating the pace of releases under international pressure .
The arrival of Jean Monnet and the restoration of the republican regime
From February 1943, a man will play a very important role in the entourage of Giraud: Jean Monnet. Officially sent by Roosevelt as a representative office distribution arms, he also became an unofficial political adviser to Giraud. Jean Monnet is not a Gaullist. In 1939 to negotiate arms contracts with the U.S., it would not stay in London with De Gaulle and he settled in the United States, where he participated in the establishment of economy of war . Under the influence of Monnet's policy will bend Giraud, both to the application of democratic principles and toward a reconciliation with de Gaulle .
The fact that Jean Monnet is a key position to implement the rearmament of the Army of Africa obviously facilitates the influence it can exercise in the restoration of democracy because it is in the Army persists that the cult of Ptain and the Vichy nostalgia. Thus, 29 March 1943, while in all public places in Algiers, the effigies of Petain is replaced by the bust of Marianne, General Prioux, Major General of the Army, moved to Dakar, the book and its interpretation officers: "It has never been in the mind of General Giraud to remove the portrait of Marshall. Many people who help would go if it were so ... " .
In fact, the month of March saw the resignation of employees Giraud most attached to the National Revolution , Bergeret, Rigault and Lemaigre, who do not accept democratic reforms that keep coming since the end of February : Release of twelve "Gaullist conspirators" in late February, dissolution of SOL and above all the shift announced in the March 14 speech in which Giraud proclaims that "The French people did not accept the armistice" and that "legislation after the armistice has no legal value" . This speech, which constitutes a break with Vichy, was later described by Giraud 'first democratic discourse of .
A series of orders issued in the Official Gazette of March 18, 1943 restored the republican regime. The operation of various local assemblies elected municipal assemblies, councils, councils of government in Tunisia and Morocco, is restored. Discriminatory laws are removed, the property is returned to the Jews, but the abolition of Cremieux decree is confirmed, the decision of Giraud, by order of March 18, 1943, that Peyrouton implements. Cremieux decree is abolished twice during the World War by the same person, it is already loaded Peyrouton in 1940 as interior minister of Vichy , and will be permanently repealed in October.
According to Christine Levisse-Touze, June endorses the efforts of Jean Monnet. Nogues welcomes Giraud for his speech on March 14 . Nogues, who had limited the application of discriminatory laws in Morocco, Giraud also agreed on maintaining the repeal of Decree Cremieux, to safeguard the interests of Muslims and to maintain its traditional status NFA .
The evolution of March up a de facto barrier between the authority of Algiers and the French National Committee in London which had expressed its terms in a memorandum prepared on February 23. Reciprocal representation is made between the two authorities, through the exchange of two missions: that of Catroux in Algiers, and that of General Bouscat London .
Pierre Pucheu , former interior minister of Vichy, with its proposed rally to Giraud, arrived in Casablanca May 6, 1943, with the intention of serving on the front of Tunisia. However, it is arrested and put under house arrest by order of the Giraud. It is in the following months, a victim of the purge policy for employees .
Rise of the influence of de Gaulle
Rivalry between the Army of Africa and the FFL
The Tunisian campaign draws to a close in April-May The African army, which depends on Darlan and Giraud and resumed the fight Nov. 19 against the Axis forces provided the bulk of the infantry. With obsolete equipment, its losses are very heavy: 15,000 killed and wounded an army of 80,000 men . The 20,000 men of the Free French forces from Egypt ( Koenig ) and Chad ( Leclerc ), first occurred to open the line Mareth the 8th Army had advanced northward. The connection between the two French armies carried out March 18, 1943 in southern Tunisia, but the division between the two armies remain sustainable. At the May 20 parade in Tunis, the African army is part of the procession while the U.S. FFL parade with the Eighth British Army .
Some of the elders of the African army seeking to leave their units to engage in Koenig and Leclerc . This question rallies called "poaching" or "desertion" by the generals of the Army of Africa was the source of violent antagonism between the two parties. These "thousands of individual rallies," these "soldiers running the campaign to reach Larminat" evoked de Gaulle in a telegram dated June 1, 1943 they are carried out by men who lack confidence in their leaders, or are they attracted by promises unreasonable point of view defended defended by Giraud ? Paxton leaves the question open, noting that the merger process between the two armies finally takes place under "the auspices Petainists" although one would think that "the Free French, dashing in their dusty equipment, modern comparison of archaic parade uniforms of the Army of armistice would be the mother cell of the new army. "
Meanwhile, 300 sailors from Richelieu, on his arrival in New York , asking to join the Free French naval forces , while several merchant vessels, such as the City of Oran and the Eridanus calling upon their arrival in ports allied their connection to the fighting France.
Support for de Gaulle's National Council of Resistance
De Gaulle, in the name of "Fighting France" substituted for Free France, saw its London Committee was also the internal resistance. On 14 May, Jean mill sends BCRA the text of a manifesto of support for de Gaulle, who will be played at the inaugural meeting of the National Council of Resistance (CNR), which proclaims: "The people of France admit never the subordination of General de Gaulle to General Giraud, but calls for quick installation of a provisional government under the presidency of General de Gaulle, General Giraud to be the military leader. Whatever the outcome of negotiations, de Gaulle remains for us only leader of the French Resistance. "The telegram was dated May 8, de Gaulle on May 15 will receive and will be immediately broadcast on Radio-Brazzaville. Catroux bring it to the knowledge of Giraud May 17 " . The inaugural meeting of NRC held on May 27 in Paris.
De Gaulle also receives support from Edouard Herriot made by Pierre Vinot May 12 .
Creation of the French Committee of National Liberation
Under the influence of Jean Monnet, 17 May, Giraud proposes to de Gaulle "to immediately establish our union," but it affects the formation of a provisional government under the Act Treveneuc , an old law of 1875, never used and which provides that in case of serious difficulties, the appointment of a provisional government could be done by a meeting of delegates from councilors . De Gaulle accepted the invitation of Giraud May 25, arriving in Algiers on May 30 .
Between 17 and 25 May, de Gaulle has implemented a new package of democratic reforms: Repeal of laws restricting individual freedom, suppression of the Charter of the work to return to the law of 21 March 1884 for the operation of unions, Abolition of government advisory boards and finally, on May 28, abolition of Vichy laws on the press .
On 30 May, de Gaulle lands at Boufarik, not White House. But discretion imposed by Giraud in his coming fails because, when de Gaulle goes to war memorial located in central Algiers, he is greeted by a massive demonstration by Rene Capitant. On leave from the force L Leclerc also been summoned to an honor guard and prevent any risk of attack .
The day after the negotiations begin with a conference Giraud, Monnet, General George first, Massigli Ren , Andr Philip , Catroux and de Gaulle on the other. De Gaulle calls for the establishment of a real government and the departure of drink , Nogues and Peyrouton , which refuses Giraud. But finally Peyrouton offers his resignation directly to De Gaulle, who accepts it without consulting Giraud . The latter, ulcerated, suspecting de Gaulle to prepare a coup, appointed June 2, at key positions (safety and information), two personal enemies de Gaulle, the flagship Muselier and Andre Labarthe . He reigns in Algiers an atmosphere of civil war . Giraud is then pushed to the resistance by Robert Murphy, the American diplomat still stationed in Algiers . Nogues, in turn, resigned from his position as Resident General in Morocco, June 2
Jean Monnet stressed the urgency to create the French Committee of National Liberation and it is in these conditions as a unified French authority is finally formed on June 3 as the " French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN). His two co-chairs were Giraud and de Gaulle . Two commissioners Gaullists (Andr Philip, Interior and Foreign Affairs Massigli) participated, along with two commissioners Giraud (Jean Monnet and General Armament George, as Commissioner of State) .
After further negotiations Gaulle finally got the replacement of all heads of compromise Territories: Charles Nogues is replaced by Gabriel Puaux head of the Moroccan protectorate. In Algeria, George Catroux becomes Governor General. Helleu Jean is placed at the head of the mandated territories of the Levant ( Syria , Lebanon ), and Tunisia, it was General Charles Mast is chosen. the retirement of Bergeret vote is decided by five votes against three. Jean Monnet conclude "It was clear from that moment, as most problems like this, where the future and the past would face, Giraud would be in the minority. " . Indeed, among the supporters of theoretical Giraud, Georges represents nothing and Monnet, Ren Mayer and Maurice Couve de Murville are more concerned with a reasonable status of union prerogatives of the commander in chief .
A single power is placed at the head of the French Empire, and de Gaulle, who came almost one in Algiers, will in a few months, take the lead despite a hostile army and administration, and despite all the pressures Anglo-American. When it comes to subordinate the military to civil power, Giraud who intends to combine the co-chair of the executive power with the powers of a commander in chief under the command only ally, is opposed to the question asked. De Gaulle threatened to withdraw. On June 19, Eisenhower attempts to convey the position of directing the two Roosevelt presidents of NWLC maintain the military earlier. . Members of NWLC then react by block around de Gaulle .
From July 31, 1943, de Gaulle won the "Battle of Algiers": The division of powers is now accepted that the proceedings and he heads the civil affairs and policy, Giraud merely co-sign ordinances and decrees. In autumn, Giraud did not notify the Committee in due course and de Gaulle to initiate military operations in Corsica, a reshuffle in the confined only powers as commander in chief .
On 22 October 1943, nearly a year after the Anglo-American landing, the Cremieux decree is reinstated in a discrete manner, a statement from CFLN arguing that the decree of March 18 were not followed in implementing legislation time, has become obsolete and the Jews of Algeria once again become French .
Claims of Muslims and the rise of the independence
Meanwhile, the claims of some state and Muslim representatives are moving more and more clearly to the independence movement. March 31, 1943, Ferhat Abbas goes much further than its previous requests to Ptain and Darlan, presenting the Governor General Marcel Peyrouton the "Manifesto of the Algerian people" claiming "the conviction and the abolition of colonialism, the freedom and equality for all inhabitants of Algeria, agrarian reform, and recognition of Arabic . Peyrouton submits the request from Abbas to the "Commission of Muslim economic and social reforms," newly created. But then the project is categorically rejected by General George Catroux , successor Peyrouton: Ferhat Abbas, from September to December, under house arrest in Salah by CFLN .
Bibliography
Features
- Rene Pierre Gosset, temporary expedients, Paris, Fasquelle, 1945.
- Melvin K. Whiteleather (War correspondent), Main Street's new neigbors, Chapt.11, African extraordinary episode, JB Lippincot, Philadelphia & New York, 1945.
Historic Structures
- Yves Maxime Danan, La vie policy in Algiers from 1940 to 1944, Paris, LGDJ, 1963.
- Robert Paxton , Vichy's Army - The French Officer Corps 1940-1944, ed. English 1966, French edition (trans. Peter Longuemar) Tallandier, 2004, 588 p. ( ISBN 2847341390 ) repr. Le Seuil, coll. "Points-Histoire", 2006, (postscript of Abzac-Claude Epezy) 567 p. ( ISBN 2020679884 )
- Henri Michel, Darlan, Hachette, Paris, 1993.
- Romain Durand, De Giraud de Gaulle: The Freikorps in Africa, L'Harmattan, Paris, 1999.
- Christine Levisse-Touze , North Africa in the war, 1939-1945, Paris, Albin Michel, 1998.
- Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac , Free France, Paris, Gallimard, 1997.
- Jacques Cantier , Algeria under Vichy, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2002.
- Aboulker and Christine Levisse-Touze, "November 8, 1942: U.S. and British militaries take Algiers in fifteen hours," Paris, Hope, No. 133, 2002.
- Annie Rey-Goldzeiguer, The Origins of the War of Algeria. 1940-1945, Mers-el-Kebir massacre in the North Constantine, Editions La Dcouverte, Paris 2002.
Memoirs of the main protagonists
- General de Gaulle , War Memoirs, 2 vols., 1 - Appeal and 2 - The unit, Livre de Poche, Paris, 1999.
- Giraud , a single goal: victory, Alger 1942-1944, Paris, Julliard, 1949.
See also
- History of Jews in Algeria
- Tunisia Campaign
- Campaigns in Africa and the Middle East
- History of the French colonial empire during World War II
References
- Christine Levisse-Touze, North Africa in the war, 1939-1945, Paris, Albin Michel, 1998, Chapter 9-10-11.
- a and b Jacques Cantier, Algeria under Vichy, p. 373.
- Peter Montagnon , La France colonial, Volume 2, Pygmalion-Grard Watelet, 1990, p. 60-63.
- Robert Paxton, Vichy's Army - The French Officer Corps 1940-1944, ed. English 1966, French edition Le Seuil, coll. "Points-Histoire", 2006, p. 371-372.
- Aboulker , Order of the Liberation . Accessed November 16, 2008
- a , b , c and d Paxton, p.373-374,
The share of the French Resistance in the events of the North African French in Les Cahiers, No. 47 (reports of the heads of volunteer groups who seized Algiers November 8, 1942), Office of the Information Committee French national, London, August 1943, p. 21, 24 and 26,
and Prof.. Yves Maxime Danan, La vie policy in Algiers from 1940 to 1944, Paris, LGDJ, 1963, p.101. - a and b Levisse-Touze, p. 243-245.
- a and b Paxton, p. 377-381.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 246.
- a , b , c and d Levisse-Touze, p. 252-255.
- a , b and c Levisse-Touze, P. 255-257.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 261.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 252.
- Jacques Cantier , Algeria under the Vichy regime, Odile Jacob, 2002, p. 371.
- a , b , c and d Levisse-Touze, p. 258-259.
- a , b and c Levisse-Touze, p. 262-264.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 274.
- Paxton, p. 414.
- Yves M. Danan, op. cit. p. 130.
- a , b , c , d , e , f , g and h Levisse-Touze, p. 268-271.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under the Vichy regime, op. cit., p. 372.
- Quoted by Levisse-Touze, p. 271.
- a and b Abolition and restoration of Cremieux decree , League of Human Rights, Division of Toulon, October 18, 2007. Accessed April 25, 2008
- The Golden Book of Algerian Jewry, 1914-1918, Algerian Committee of Social Studies, Algiers, 1919 Reissued by Circle of Jewish Genealogy, Paris 2000.
- Memo dated 30 January 1943, the commander of ground forces and aviation in Africa, Paragraph 1.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 298.
- a , b , c and d Christian Bachelier, "The new French army", in France the Dark Years, Volume 2, Ed. du Seuil, 1993, p. 220-223.
- a and b Levisse-Touze, p. 260.
- a , b , c and d Levisse-Touze, p. 275-276.
- a , b , c , d and e Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac Games and Challenges of Algiers in the dark years of France, Volume 2, Editions du Seuil, 1993, p. 186-188.
- a and b Levisse-Touze, p. 263.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under the Vichy regime, Odile Jacob, 2002, p. 372-374.
- Levisse-Touze p. 270.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under the Vichy regime, Odile Jacob, 2002, p. 377.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 276-277.
- a , b , c , d , e and f -Brilhac Cremieux, Games and Challenges of Algiers, p. 188-189.
- a , b , c , d , e , f and g Levisse-Touze, p. 278-282.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under the Vichy regime, Odile Jacob, 2002, p. 374-375.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under the Vichy regime, Odile Jacob, 2002, p. 375-376.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 218-221.
- Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac Games and Challenges of Algiers, p. 192-194.
- a , b , c , d and e Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac Games and Challenges of Algiers, p. 190-192.
- Levisse-Touze, p. 282-284.
- a , b , c and d Levisse-Touze, p. 294-300.
- a and b Stephane Courtois, Le PCF in the war, Ramsay 1980, p. 331-333.
- Stphane Courtois, Le PCF in the war, Ramsay 1980, p. 301-303.
- a and b Levisse-Touze, p. 300-303.
- a , b , c , d , e and f Levisse-Touze, p. 304-307.
- Cremieux-Brilhac Games and Challenges of Algiers p. 194-195.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under Vichy, p. 378.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under the Vichy regime, Odile Jacob, 2002, p. 383.
- Robert Aron / A>, Major Issues of the Contemporary History, ed. Academic Bookstore Perrin, Paris, 1962-1964, repr. CAL, Paris, chap. "Trial and Execution of Peter Pucheu, p. 291-293.
- a , b and c Paxton, p. 444-446.
- a , b , c , d , e , f and g Levisse-Touze, p. 308-314.
- a , b , c , d and e Levisse-Touze, p. 315-317.
- a , b , c and d -Brilhac Cremieux, Games and Challenges of Algiers, p. 203-205.
- Jacques Cantier, Algeria under the Vichy regime, Odile Jacob, 2002, p. 383.
- Peter Montagnon, La France colonial, Volume 2, Pygmalion-Grard Watelet, 1990, pages 108-110
- "Abbas, Ferhat (1899-1985)" by Guy Pervill, in Course, Algeria, men and history, researching a biographical dictionary of Algeria, No. 8, November-December 1987, p. 5-16. [(en) read online ].
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