Foreword
Preface
Groundwork for Invasion
The Coup
Tunisia & Morocco
The End of Darlan
The Murderer
The Conspiracy
Aftermath
Bibliography
Index
On 12/24/42, the Commander in Chief of the French Fleet, Adm. Jean Louis Francois Darlan, was assassinated in Algiers, which had been occupied by the Allies only a few weeks earlier. An enigmatic figure, he'd reached a position of power, almost equal, in the hierarchy of Vichy France, to that of Marshal Petain himself. He was an obstacle to the plans of many people, all of whom breathed a sigh of relief as the news came of his death. But who murdered him & for what reasons? Tompkins, a former OSS agent & author of A Spy in Rome, was in Algiers at the time. He has sought for the answers to these questions in the memoirs, diaries & hitherto classified documents of the major figures in the conspiracies leading to the murder. The result is an account of Allied intrigue & espionage before, during & after the Torch invasion of N. Africa. He's unraveled the complex web of plots that linked Darlan to many of the men who led the European underground Fascist movement--figures who came & went between Allies & Nazis, seeking to maintain their privileges, whichever side won the war. He's revealed the events that led many now~famous public figures into the murky waters of betrayal, conspiracy, terrorism & assassination with disastrous results. His background is N. Africa, where the French fought among themselves, fought against the Allies & finally fought against the Germans, some obeying the orders of Darlan & Vichy, some following the instructions of deGaulle, others seeking to cooperate with the USA or to follow the dictates of their own conscience in a moment when loyalty & authority were subverted. The Murder of Admiral Darlan is an important work of history.