Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie

Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie (11 September 1897 - 10 October 1952) was a French soldier, "Résistance" member, and conservative politician.

Henri d'Astier was born in Villedieu-sur-Indre, a small village in the Indre département of central France. His military career began in 1915, and by the end of World War I, he had reached the rank of lieutenant, and had been awarded the Legion of Honor.

Politically, d'Astier was strongly conservative and Roman Catholic. In particular, he believed that the republican form of government was weak and ineffective, and that France would be stronger under a traditional monarchy. He was an admirer of Charles Maurras, a prominent monarchist intellectual and poet. It is possible that d'Astier was involved in La Cagoule, a fascist-leaning organisation that sought the French Republic's overthrow.

When World War II broke out, d'Astier was called back into active service. Although d'Astier's political views were apparently rather similar to most nations inside the Axis Pact and allied to Nazi Germany, he was also determined to see France stand as a strong nation, and therefore vehemently opposed the German invasion. This contrasted sharply with the attitude of some of his ideological colleagues, who urged collaboration and alliance with the Nazis against Communism. After the French defeat in June of 1940, d'Astier became active in the French Resistance.

He was eventually forced to flee, however, when the capture of a colleague threatened to expose him — he escaped to Oran, in Algeria, in 1941. There, d'Astier and his resistance colleagues infiltrated the Vichy authorities.
When the allies invaded North Africa in 1942, as the invasion troops were approaching the shore, a group of 400 French resistance under the command of Henri d'Astier de La Vigerie and José Aboulker staged a coup in the city of Algiers. They seized key targets, including the telephone exchange, radio station, governor's house and the headquarters of 19th Corps. They arrested General Alphonse Juin, commander in Chief for North Africa and Admiral François Darlan, commander in chief of the Vichy military.
In the early morning the Vichy Gendarmerie arrived and released Juin and Darlan. But, afterwards, Vichy troops lost their time retaking almost all the positions seized by the resistance during the coup, allowing the Allied landed forces to encircle Algiers with practically no oppostion.
Breaking from the Vichy regime, Darlan negotiated a surrender with the Allies, managing to retain control of the local administration.

Despite his surrender, however, Darlan was soon murdered — the killer was Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, a member of the Résistance. Although he is believed to have acted alone, Darlan's successor, Henri Giraud, accused the resistance of organising the assassination, and launched a crackdown. Many of its key figures were arrested, and d'Astier went into hiding. He was found and arrested in early 1943. When Charles de Gaulle became sole head of the Free French forces however, d'Astier was released again. He was then appointed to the Commission of National Defense.

In 1944, d'Astier led a small 45-man detachment in France, operating behind enemy lines to prepare the way for the Allied invasion. He continued to fight in France for the remainder of the war.

Henri d'Astier died in Geneva in 1952.

Bibliography

War Official reports

* Les Cahiers Français, "La part de la Résistance Française dans les évènements d'Afrique du Nord" (Official reports of French Resistance Group leaders who seized Algiers on 8 November 1942, to allow allied landing), Commissariat à l'Information of Free French Comité National, London, Aug. 1943.

Academic works about these events

* George F. Howe, "North West Africa: Seizing the initiative in the West", Center of Military History, U.S Army, Library of Congress, 1991.
* Arthur L. Funck, "The politics of Torch", University Press of Kansas, 1974.
* Professeur Yves Maxime Danan, "La vie politique à Alger de 1940 à 1944," Paris, L.G.D.J., 1963.
* Christine Levisse-Touzé, "L'Afrique du Nord dans la guerre, 1939-1945," Paris, Albin Michel, 1998.