Émile Muselier
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Émile Henry Muselier (
Early career
Muselier's career started with a campaign in the Far East, several others in the
Muselier received his first real command, of the aviso Scape, in April 1918. For his service in World War I, Muselier was awarded the Navy Cross.[1]
This was followed by the command of the destroyer Ouragan in 1925, that of armoured cruiser Ernest Renan in 1927, then battleship Voltaire in 1930, and Bretagne in 1931.
In 1933, Muselier, by then promoted to rear-admiral, became Major-General of the port of
Muselier had previously been attached to the cabinets of Painlevé and Clemenceau, then became chief of staff of the naval delegation to Germany.
On 10 October 1939, Muselier was promoted to
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On 1 July 1940, General de Gaulle named Muselier commander of the Free French naval forces and, provisionally, commander of the air force; these roles were later confirmed in 1941 with the creation of the Conseil national. The same day, Admiral Muselier wrote his own appeal, addressed to sailors and pilots. He assembled an embryonic General Staff with
In 1940, the Vichy government sentenced Muselier to death in absentia and confiscated all of his possessions. In 1941, it forfeited his French citizenship.
On 1 January 1940, Churchill ordered Muselier's arrest on the basis of documents suggesting he was passing secrets to the Vichy. After the documents were shown to be forgeries, Churchill was forced to apologize to de Gaulle.[2]
Not especially loyal to de Gaulle, Muselier was let down[clarification needed] two years later, in Algiers, because of serious political divergences. Preferring to work under General Henri Giraud, he served as the temporary civil and military person in charge for Algiers in June 1943 and even appeared to act as the head of an anti-Gaullist putsch,[citation needed] before de Gaulle became head of the French Committee of National Liberation (Comité français de la Libération nationale) on 3 June.
After having been the chief of the naval delegation to the military Mission for German Affairs, he retired from the navy in 1946.
References
- Surcouf: Solving an Old Mystery". The Submarine Review (Winter 2012). Annandale, Virginia: The Naval Submarine League: 72.
- ISBN 9781134160341.