He was eventually forced to flee, however, when the capture of a colleague threatened to expose him. He escaped to Oran, Algeria, in 1941. There, d'Astier and the local Resistance infiltrated the Vichy infrastructure in North Africa. The allies invaded North Africa in 1942, and, as the invasion troops were approaching the shore, approximately four hundred members of the French Resistance, under the command of d'Astier and José Aboulker, staged a coup in the city of Algiers. They seized key facilities, including the telephone exchange, the radio station, the governor's house, and the headquarters of the French 19th Corps. They arrested General Alphonse Juin, commander of all Vichy troops in North Africa and Admiral François Darlan, the commander-in-chief of the Vichy military.