From 1939 to 1941 he became chief of staff to the French naval forces in the Mediterranean fleet then chief of staff of the French naval forces of the south. During this period he was also promoted to counter admiral in 1940. His next post came in 1941, as commander of the 3rd Cruiser Division, flying his flag on "La Marseillaise" at Toulon. It lasted until 1942. On the Allied landings in North Africa on 13 November 1942, he tried in vain to convince Jean de Laborde, commander-in-chief of Vichy France's high seas fleet, to sail his force to Africa. At dawn on 27 November that year, when German forces arrived in the Toulon arsenal, he ordered its cruisers to scuttle themselves.