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Jean-Pierre Esteva (14 September 1880 – 11 January 1951) was a French naval officer who served in the First and
Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. From 1940 to 1943, he served as Resident-General in Tunisia for the
Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
government.Halpern, p. 311


Naval career

Esteva entered the (Naval School) in 1898 from which he left a ship's teach in 1900. As a Lieutenant, he participated in the First World War. Assigned to the Mediterranean squadron, he took part, among other operations, in the Battle of the Dardanelles on the occasion of which he particularly distinguished himself. In 1920, he was a professor at the in Toulon, in 1927, captain, Esteva decided to follow a pioneering path in the nascent naval aviation, an original choice for an officer of this rank. Promoted Rear Admiral in 1929, he was Director of Maritime Aviation, then Deputy Chief of the Air Staff in 1930 before becoming Vice Admiral in 1935. He left for the Far East where he was commander-in-chief of the naval forces. He commanded several naval units where he hoisted his flag aboard the
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...
. His stay in the Pacific led him to regularly visit the British bases of
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
and
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
as well as to fully appreciate the rise in power of the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
. On his return to
Metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...
, his versatility and his skills made him the ideal to occupy the function of inspector of the maritime forces. Subsequently, in 1939, he took command of the French naval forces in the South.


Vichy

After the armistice of June 1940, Esteva, like many other admirals including
François Darlan Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan (7 August 1881 – 24 December 1942) was a French admiral and political figure. Born in Nérac, Darlan graduated from the ''École navale'' in 1902 and quickly advanced through the ranks following his service ...
, chose to serve the Vichy regime. A trusted man of Marshal Pétain, he left for
French North Africa French North Africa (french: Afrique du Nord française, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is the term often applied to the territories controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era, namely Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. I ...
. On 26 July 1940, he became Resident General of France in Tunisia. In this position, he succeeded Marcel Peyrouton, who had been appointed to ministerial functions in Vichy. In November 1942, when the Allies launched
Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while al ...
, Esteva was still stationed there. In response, he procrastinated, and ended by collaboration with the Axis. On 9 November 1942, he condemned the arrival of Luftwaffe aircraft at
El Aouina La Goulette (, it, La Goletta), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia. La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is th ...
airfield. But very quickly, out of loyalty to Pétain and under pressure from
Pierre Laval Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occ ...
, Esteva changed position. He allowed the Germans to take over several French bases in Tunisia, with intact fuel stocks. In the process, he neutralized Admiral Derrien, who had encouraged his troops to fight against the Axis. In May 1943, as Allied troops occupied Tunisia, Esteva was repatriated to France by the Germans. The admiral was evacuated on 7 May by plane and at the same time as the consul general of the Third Reich in Tunisia. In Paris, he was taken to the Ritz (then partly occupied by the Luftwaffe) in order to be put there under house arrest while waiting for the German authorities to rule on his fate. Locked in his room, he was guarded by German sentries. Finally released on 18 May, he arrived at Vichy where he was warmly welcomed and congratulated by Pétain for his loyalty to the orders received. German Foreign Minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
sent him a message of sympathy and thanked him for having "facilitated the conduct of the war by the Axis powers". Esteva said at his trial before the high court: "This letter doesn't interest me. I am a French civil servant. I had nothing to do with von Ribbentrop." In North Africa, however, a War Council, chaired by General
Henri Giraud Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944. Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...
, on 15 May sentenced Esteva to the death penalty in absentia.


Arrest and trial

On 22 September 1944, he was arrested by French police in Paris and then imprisoned in Clairvaux Prison. A new trial is organized. Accused of delivering wheat to the Italian army in Libya, granted facilities to Axis troops to establish themselves on the coast and Tunisian airfields after the Allied landing in 1942, recruited workers and combatants in a Phalanx African in the service of Germany, manifested on several occasions his sympathy for the German cause, he sketches the so-called "double play" defense, often repeated later. Thus, he affirms that in spite of his fidelity to Pétain, it was not a blind discipline which guided him, that he only composed with the enemy to save the essential: his departure would have done pass Tunisia under Italian control, the delivery of wheat to the Italians in Libya was compensated by identical shipments to the French populations, he sabotaged the recruitment of the African Phalanx, he did not have enough troops, with 12,000 men, to oppose the Axis forces, the Allies being too far away. Admiral Muselier testified in his favor during this trial. He was nonetheless found guilty of treason on 15 March 1945. Militarily degraded by the High Court of Justice, he was sentenced to forced labor for life. Claude Morgan, resistant communist founder of the French Letters, takes this punishment to witness, in an article entitled "The smallpox", to denounce the indulgence of justice, which did not condemn him to death, and the complicity which would benefit Vichy, saying: "If Esteva is not a traitor, it is because there is no traitor." Sick, Esteva was pardoned on 11 August 1950. He died a few months later and was interred in
Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded b ...
. Leaning, in ''The Great Trials of Collaboration'', on Esteva's journey, and in particular his Tunisian period and his trial, Roger Maudhuy considers, on the basis of several testimonies, that Esteva helped the local Resistance and provided false identity documents to members of the Jewish community, communist activists, German escapees and Alsatian refugees. General de Gaulle, in his War Memories, commented on this trial in these terms:
"Admiral Esteva was sentenced to imprisonment. At the end of a career which, until these events, had been exemplary, this old sailor, led astray by false discipline, found himself an accomplice, then a victim, of a harmful enterprise." For his part, Pierre Messmer said to Roger Maudhuy: " What do you want? The High Court could not begin with an acquittal. Esteva did not deserve such a fate, I agree. Two or three years later, he would no doubt have been acquitted. But it was war ... Pétain, Laval, all those responsible, the big ones, were out of reach. He was there. He was unlucky, that's all".
He was decorated with the
Order of the Francisque The Order of the Gallic Francisque () is an order and medal which was awarded by the Vichy Regime, the Nazi-aligned government of France during World War II. The order was created by the ''arrêtés'' of 26 May 1941, the law of 16 May 1941 and ...
.


Citations


Bibliography

* * *
Roger Maudhuy Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ...
, ''Les grands procès de la Collaboration'', Saint-Paul (Haute-Vienne), L. Souny, 2009. * Serge La Barbera, ''Les Français de Tunisie – 1930-1950'' (troisième partie sur le régime de Vichy), L'Harmattan, 2006, p. 405 . * André Figueras, ''Onze amiraux dans l'ouragan de l'histoire,'' Paris, André Figueras, 1991. *Georges London, ''L'Amiral Esteva et le général Dentz devant la Haute Cour de Justice'', Lyon, R. Bonnefon, 1945. {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteva, Jean-Pierre 1880 births 1951 deaths French military personnel of World War I French Navy admirals of World War II