Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle , ( 1922 – December 26 , 1942 ) was a member of the French resistance during World War II . He assassinated Admiral of the Fleet François Darlan , the former chief of government of Vichy France and the self - proclaimed high commissioner of French North Africa and West Africa , on December 24 , 1942 . Bonnier de La Chapelle ' s speedy trial and execution fueled theories about who may have been behind the assassination . He was born in Algiers and studied at the Lycée Stanislas in Paris after France ' s surrender to Nazi Germany on June 22 , 1940 . Bonnier de La Chapelle participated in an anti - German student demonstration at the Arc de Triomphe on Armistice Day , November 11 , 1940 . He secretly crossed the demarcation line between German - occupied France and Vichy France and made his way to Algiers , where his father was a journalist . He was surprised by the Allied landings in North Africa ( Operation Torch ) on November 8 , 1942 and by the participation of many of his friends in the so - called putsch of November 8 , in which the resistance seized control of several Vichy government offices and headquarters in Algiers . A monarchist and ardent anti - Vichyiste , he regretted that his friends had not asked him to take part in the putsch . After Darlan surrendered Algiers to Allied forces , General Dwight D . Eisenhower , who feared armed resistance from Vichy sympathizers among the French , agreed to allow Darlan to govern French North Africa and West Africa under Vichy policies , which caused consternation in the French population and in Washington and London . Bonnier de La Chapelle and three friends decided to eliminate the Admiral , and Bonnier de La Chapelle was chosen . On December 24 , 1942 , he waited with a Ruby pistol in a corridor of the Summer Palace ( Palais d ’ Été ) , the admiral ' s headquarters in Algiers . He shot Darlan twice , once in the face and once in the chest , and then shot the admiral ' s aide - de - camp in the thigh . The occupants of the other offices in the Palais captured him . A military tribunal convened the next day , December 25 . Bonnier de La Chapelle declared that he had acted alone and was condemned to death . He was executed by firing squad on December 26 , 1942 . On December 21 , 1945 , the Court of Appeals in Algiers overturned the conviction , stating that he had acted " in the interest of the liberation of France . " Biography . Bonnier was the son of a French journalist , a monarchist and a protestor against fascism . Bonnier was involved with a royalist group that wanted to make the pretender to the French throne , the Count of Paris , the King of France . Commitment to the Corps Franc Africa . Bonnier attended a demonstration of anti - German students on 11 November 1940 at the Arc de Triomphe . He then joined the free zone by illegally crossing the border . He returned to Algiers ( where his father was a journalist for The Dispatch Algerian ) and visited the Youth Camps . After obtaining his degree in 1942 , he was surprised by the Allied landings on 8 November 1942 during Operation Torch . He regretted that his comrades who had participated in the 8 November putsch , enabling the success of the landing , had not asked him to participate . Following the landing , Bonnier was one of the first to commit to Corps Franc African training under the initial direction of Henri d ' Astier de la Vigerie , former leader of the north African resistance . This training was founded by a resistance group of 8 November . They opposed the " Admiral of the Fleet " François Darlan who was collaborating with the Nazis . They further objected to serving under generals who had attacked the Allied forces at Oran and in Morocco , including Admiral Jean Pierre Esteva , who had surrendered Tunisia to Axis forces without a fight . When d ' Astier was appointed head of the police as Deputy Secretary of the Interior , the Corps African Franc maintained unofficial relations with the force . Bonnier served as the liaison . He often visited the home of Henri d ' Astier , where he also met Lieutenant Father Pierre - Marie Cordier . Motivation . At that time , members of the Corps Franc repeatedly covered the walls with slogans that mocked Darlan , such as " Admiral to the fleet ! " Darlan was not only attacked for his past collaboration with Germany , but also for his present attitude , as he even now , after having joined the Allied camp , upheld the exclusion laws inspired by Germany , as well as other repressive Vichy policies , such as the internment in concentration camps of thousands of French resistance fighters , Spanish Republicans and Central European Democrats . Conspiracy . Bonnier and three of his comrades , Otto Gross , Robert and Philippe Tournier Ragueneau1 decided to assassinate Darlan . They had participated a few weeks earlier in the putsch of 8 November 1942 . The four drew straws and Bonnier drew the shortest . Following the draw , Bonnier procured an old " ruby " 7 . 65 pistol . The day of 24 December 1942 was chosen . He received absolution in advance from Abbe Cordier after hearing his confession . Failing to find Darlan that morning at the Summer Palace , he lunched that day with d ' Astier . Attack . They returned to the Summer Palace after eating and settled in a hallway . After some time , the Admiral appeared , accompanied by Captain of Frigate Hourcade . Bonnier shot him twice . Hourcade was wounded while trying to prevent Bonnier from escaping as people from nearby offices assisted in his arrest . Under interrogation he claimed he had acted alone and seemed unworried about the consequences . Trial and execution . The next morning , December 25 , 1942 , he was convicted in less than an hour . Bonnier declared that he had acted only for reasons of moral purity . The judge signed a removal order sending Bonnier to the military tribunal of Algiers . The court sat that night and rejected requests for further investigation . My Viala and Sansonetti acted as lawyers for the accused . The rest of the procedure took place in less than a quarter of an hour . The court discounted Bonnier ' s motivations and age and sentenced him to death . The lawyers requested clemency . The law required the appeal to be heard by Head of State , Marshal Petain . That procedure would have had to await the end of hostilities . Nogues , dean of the Imperial Council , proclaimed himself acting High Commissioner , under an unpublished order issued by Darlan on 2 December 1942 . The order was invalid according to the legal order of Vichy . Nogues immediately rejected the clemency petition . Giraud , who was then head of military justice as Commander - in - chief , refused to postpone execution , and ordered his execution the next morning at 7 : 30 . Alarmed by his conviction , Bonnier asked to speak to a police officer and Commissioner Garidacci responded . Bonnier revealed that Abbe Cordier was aware of his intentions and implicated Henri d ' Astier , Garidacci kept this confession to himself , with the apparent intention of later blackmailing d ' Astier . Giraud was elected that day by members of the Vichy Imperial Council , to replace Darlan . When d ' Astier and others appealed to Giraud , he told them it was too late . Bonnier de la Chapelle was executed in Hussein - Dey , the square known as " the shot " . Posthumous rehabilitation . Bonnier was rehabilitated by a Chamber judgment revision of the Court of Appeals on Algiers on 21 December 1945 , which ruled that the assassination had been " in the interest of liberation of France . " References . < div class = " references - small " >