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As a representative of the Vichy regime in the occupied zone for a few months, a faithful supporter of Marshal Pétain and convinced of his destiny as a Resistance leader, General de La Laurencie belongs to the category of "vichysto-résistants." This defines active Resistance members whose role in Vichy (effective support for the French State) gives a particular character to their identity as Resistance members. General La Laurencie’s biography contributes, on the one hand, to clarify the definition of the "vichysto-résistant" type, and on the other hand, to highlight the challenge these men posed to Resistance identity as a whole. Rejected by the Vichy government as an anglophile and an opponent of Darlan, La Laurencie had great ambitions which were encouraged by some of the Southern zone Resistance leaders who saw him, for a while, as a potential standard bearer. Although in the eyes of the United-States Administration he was probably not an alternative to de Gaulle as it is sometimes suggested, he undoubtedly received American funds, and actively sought support from the Anglo-Americans to become leader of a French pro-Allies government. He failed, largely due to his power struggle with the Free France–?an unbalanced battle he very quickly lost. This failure was both a source and a symptom of the early crystallization of Resistance identity, during the years 1941-1942. The "La Laurencie affair" rapidly became part of Gaullist Resistance discourse in which it embodied the prelude to the "Giraud affair."