Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle

Bonnier was rehabilitated by a Chamber judgment revision of the Court of Appeals on Algiers on 21 December 1945, which ruled that the assassination had been "in the interest of liberation of France."

Bonnier and three of his comrades, Otto Gross, Robert and Philippe Tournier Ragueneau decided to assassinate Darlan. They had participated a few weeks earlier in the operation of 8 November 1942. The four drew straws and Bonnier drew the shortest. Following the draw, Bonnier procured an old "Ruby" 7.65 pistol. The day of 24 December 1942 was chosen. He received absolution in advance from Abbé Cordier after hearing his confession. Failing to find Darlan that morning at the Summer Palace, he lunched that day with d'Astier.

The next morning, 25 December 1942, he was convicted in less than an hour. Bonnier declared that he had acted only for reasons of moral purity. The judge signed a removal order sending Bonnier to the military tribunal of Algiers. The court sat that night and rejected requests for further investigation. My Viala and Sansonetti acted as lawyers for the accused. The rest of the procedure took place in less than a quarter of an hour. The court discounted Bonnier's motivations and age and sentenced him to death.

The lawyers requested clemency. The law required the appeal to be heard by the Head of State, Philippe Pétain. That procedure would have had to await the end of hostilities. Charles Noguès, dean of the Imperial Council, proclaimed himself acting High Commissioner, under an unpublished order issued by Darlan on 2 December 1942. The order was invalid according to the legal order of Vichy. Nogues immediately rejected the clemency petition. Henri Giraud, who was then head of military justice as Commander-in-chief, refused to postpone execution, and ordered his execution the next morning at 7:30.

Bonnier de La Chapelle was born in Algiers, son of a French journalist who was a monarchist and a protester against fascism. Bonnier was involved with a royalist group that wanted to make the pretender to the French throne, the Count of Paris, the King of France. He studied at the Lycée Stanislas in Paris after France's surrender to Nazi Germany, and attended a demonstration of anti-German students on Armistice Day 11 November 1940 at the Arc de Triomphe. He then joined the free zone by illegally crossing the border. He returned to Algiers (where his father was a journalist for The Algerian Dispatch) and visited the Youth Camps. After obtaining his degree in 1942, he was surprised by the Allied landings on 8 November 1942 during Operation Torch. A monarchist and ardent anti-Vichyiste, he regretted that his comrades who had participated in Operation Torch, enabling the success of the landing, had not asked him to participate.

Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle (4 November 1922 – 26 December 1942) was a royalist member of the French resistance during World War II. He assassinated Admiral of the Fleet François Darlan, the former chief of government of Vichy France and the high commissioner of French North Africa and West Africa, on 24 December 1942.