Dining with de Gaulle on 8 December, Alexander Cadogan noted: ‘De Gaulle’s one remedy is “Get rid of Darlan.” My answer is: “Yes but how?” No answer.’24 The answer came on Christmas Eve 1942, when a young royalist, Fernand Bonnier de la Chapelle, ambled into Darlan’s study and shot him dead. The assassin was executed two days later with suspicious haste. Algiers was so thick with plots that we will never know for sure who organized the assassination.
