Georges d'Argenlieu

Georges Louis Marie Thierry d'Argenlieu (1889-1964) was the French High Commissioner for Indochina as of August 17, 1945. Prior to that assignment, Admiral d'Argenlieu, as he was generally known, had an exceptionally diverse career. Joining the French Navy in 1909, he fought through the First World War, and went onto reserve status in 1919.

Once a Civilian, he became a Catholic priest, in the monastic order of Carmelites, with the religious name Pere Joseph de la Trinite, and, by 1932, he was the Carmelite provincial president for France. With the threat of war, he obtained a dispensation from religious duty, and rejoined the navy, initially as a chaplain with the rank of lieutenant commander.

A strong ally of Charles de Gaulle, he became a full commander in July 1940, campaigned in Africa, and took control of French Equatorial Africa. De Gaulle put him on the French National Committee's Council of Defense, and ordered him to London in 141. With colonial experience, he was promoted to captain, and sent to the Pacific, to be Free French High Commissioner for the Pacific, based at Noumea, Tahiti. Serving there, he was insistent on French sovereignty, thoroughly annoying the U.S. military, and, showing equality among the Allies, bothered the British sufficiently that they jailed him. Nevertheless, he was promoted to rear admiral in 1942, and recalled to London via Washington, DC. A consistent man, he was reported to have had a stormy dinner with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle.

He was named head of Free French naval force in May 1943, but kept his headquarters in London, while the fleet was under Toulon, General Giraud's base.