François Darlan

Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan (7 August 1881 - 24 December 1942) was an admiral and French politician. Chief of the French Navy at the beginning of the Second world War, he was minister of the Navy in the first government of marshal Pétain and, in February 1941, head of the Vichy government, where he participated in the political cooperation of the regime with the nazi Germany. Replaced by Pierre Laval in April 1942, he remains the commander-in-chief of the forces of Vichy. Present at Algiers during dudébarquement ally in North Africa in November 1942, he supported with reluctance and hesitation to the Allies. He is assassinated on 24 December 1942.