Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle (1922–1942) was an anti-Vichy member of the French Resistance during World War II. On 24 December 1942 in Algiers, he assassinated Admiral of the Fleet François Darlan, a key political figure of Vichy France who served as high commissioner of French North and West Africa. He was tried and executed the next day, and was later rehabilitated after the war.
Background and motives
Born in Algiers to a monarchist journalist, Bonnier was involved with a royalist group. After the Allied landings of November 1942, he joined the Corps Francs d'Afrique, a group opposed to Darlan, who had agreed to govern French North and West Africa under Vichy policies. Resistance members criticised Darlan for his past collaboration with Germany and for upholding anti-Jewish exclusion laws and other repressive Vichy measures.
Trial and rehabilitation
Bonnier was convicted within an hour and executed quickly, a speed that later fuelled speculation about who had been behind the killing. He was rehabilitated by a court in 1945, which ruled that the assassination served the liberation of France. In 1953 he was posthumously awarded the Médaille militaire, the Croix de Guerre and the Resistance Medal. His grave in Sèvres is still visited each year by a royalist group.