Word: darlan
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Actually the advance was ahead of schedule. Behind the First Army Western Africa appeared to be secure to the Allies all the way down to Cape Town. Admiral Darlan broadcast the announcement that French West Africa and Dakar had come "freely under my orders." Dakar had been won at last and after a bloodless battle. Despite official fears that press comments less brutal than President Roosevelt's forthright reference to the renegade admiral might upset the apple cart, Darlan apparently was still acting in accord with General Eisenhower's plans...
General Giraud, the soldier, had recognized the military situation dictating Darlan's appointment and, with a soldier's judgment of the tactical problem, had accepted the Darlan solution. In the minds of many non-Vichy Frenchmen, this had done his reputation much harm; certainly it had made cooperation between him and De Gaulle impossible until the obstacle of Darlan was removed. The Fighting French had hoped to join forces with the popular escapist Giraud, a hope that had been frustrated before they had been able even to establish contact with...
...Vichy the shift of power meant quick promotions for the violently pro-Nazi; quick resignations for others; for still others, a ratlike scurry across the Mediterranean to the side of Admiral Jean François Darlan, Marshal Pétain's retired colleague General Maxime Weygand refused to reassume his African command and was promptly seized by the Nazis as a hostage for brave old General Henri Honoré Giraud who had got across the Mediterranean to join the Allies...
...loyalties of Frenchmen who want to see their country freed were last week sadly tied in knots. Admiral Jean François Darlan, ex-Vichyite, was in the saddle in North Africa, with full, if only temporary, U.S. approval. General Henri Honoré Giraud, known hater of the Germans, was his subordinate commander. General Charles de Gaulle, the man who refused to admit the French surrender at Compiègne and founded the only recognized organization of free Frenchmen, was somewhere out in the cold, with no voice whatever in the proceedings hailed as the first step toward France...
True, military expediency had dictated the U.S. arrangement with Darlan in Africa. But if the Admiral and his Vichy clique were to be thrown overboard when the American position was secure-as President Roosevelt indicated-what would follow? For Frenchmen there were principles involved-principles which were symbolized in the resistance which the Fighting French had put up since the Armistice and which now, like De Gaulle and his followers, had been ignored...