Evening star., 1943-01-20
BY HENRY J. TAYLOR,

NEW YORK, Jan. 20.-The man
with whom Lit. Gen. Mark w. Clark
had his secret rendezvous when he
came to North Africa is jacques Le-
maigre-Dubreuil. He was the chief
conspirator among the French lead
ing up to the overthrow of the Vichy
government in Algiers and the CO.
operation of the French army.
What the French in Algiers did,
under his leadership, is told here
for the first time.
M. Lemaigre-Dubreuil was an init
mate friend of Gen. Charles Mast,
French general staff officer in 1910
and deputy chief of Vichy's Algiers
forces. He also was Gen. Henri
Giraud's closest friend in France.
Operating as private individual,
M. Lemaigre-Dubreuil was privileged
to go back and forth between North
Africa and France in the conduct
of his oil business. In Algiers he
persuaded Gen. Mast to lead q mill
tary revolt. In France he arranged
for Gen. Giraud's participation and
served to tie him into the North
African situation.
Organized French Group.
M. Lemaigre- -Dubreuil organized
group of approximately 400 young
Frenchmen, outside the army, in
Algiers. These men did not know
they were going to work for Gen.
Mast, and knew nothing whatever
about Gen. Giraud's part in the
plan. He called these young French
men his Grew"
Then he went to Robert D. Muir
ply, American Minister in North
Africa, and told him the set-up.
Gen. Mast would handle the attack
on the local Vichy government, using
M. Lemaigre-Dubreuirs crew" for
the first impact of the "putsch." !"
Gen. Giraud would come from
France.
When the Allied chiefs in Wash
ington and London drew up the plan
to occupy North Africa Mr. Murphy
was notified, and was directed to
supply them with further informa-
ton regarding what could be ex-
pected from his contact with Le-
maigre- -Debreuil.
M. Lemaigre -Dubreuil told Mr..
Murphy that If Mr.. Murphy could
convince Gen. Mast that the Amer
lean operation could succeed he was
already prepared to supply effective
cooperation at Algiers and Oran.
Gen. Mast verified this but said that
neither he nor Gen. Giraud could
do much at Casablanca.
Area Full of Germans.
The Casablanca-Rabat area was
full of Germans, including 200 Nazis
attached to the Armistice Conmis-
sion, and the defenses there were
in the hands of French officers
appointed by Admiral Jean Darlan
and committed to Vichy.
Gen. Mast, M. Lemaigre-Dubreuil
and their friends would face firing
squads If the American expedition
failed. For this reason they asked
Mr.. Murphy to send some high
American Army officer to reassure
them and to advise Gen. Mast on
how best to cooperate. That was
the purpose of Gen. Clark's subma-
rine trip.
Gen. Clark met Gen. Mast. M
Lemaigre-Dubreuil and their asso-
ciates in the secluded house on the
shore near Algiers on October 26
Our immense conveys had already
left England and the United States.
The American general impressed
the Frenchmen with the effective
ness of the expedition, but did not
feel free to disclose the date of the
landing He only gave them to
understand that the "disembarka-
tion," as the event is always called
in North Africa, would take place
sometime between November 5
and 10.
Darlan Already in Algiers.
Admiral Darlan was already in
Algiers. His visit to his paralyzeo
son was not blind for any scheme
on his part Admiral Darlan hao
no knowledge whatever of the inva-
sion or the Lemaigre-D -Dubreuil plan
The first activity ashore came
from M. Lemaigre -Dubreuil's crew.
In the middle of the night in groups
of Is, wearing armbands and carry