TWO WHO GAVE WAY

Paul Delouvrier, 45, was known until last week as a top civil servant and a skilled economist. After serving in the Resistance, he went on to high-echelon positions in the French Finance Ministry. Almost every U.S. loan to France from 1947 to 1953 (some $800 million) was in fact largely negotiated by Delouvrier. A devoted European, he won a reputation as a tough negotiator in the European Coal and Steel Community. In 1958 De Gaulle sent him on a fact-finding mission to Algeria. On his return to Paris, Delouvrier expressed concern over the way some officials and army officers were interpreting government policy. "Don't you worry," said the President. "Now, there is De Gaulle."

As De Gaulle's civilian delegate in Algiers, Delouvrier lives unceremonially in the grandiloquently oriental Palais d'Ete with his blonde wife, who two months ago gave birth to their fifth child. Delouvrier has persuaded French big business to invest in Algeria and has brought in some 200 new enterprises in a year. His main thesis is that Moslems can be won to France only through more and better jobs and a rising standard of living. When De Gaulle sounded him out on taking civilian control in Algeria, Delouvrier's first reaction was, "I'm not big enough for the job"--a discerning judgment. De Gaulle sought to reassure him: "Vous grandirez [you'll grow]." But after last week's events, De Gaulle significantly made no expression of confidence in Delouvrier.

General Maurice Challe, 54, short and stocky, is De Gaulle's military chief in Algeria. A longtime Gaullist and holder of the coveted Compagnon de la Liberation Medal, Challe introduced new aggressive tactics in carrying the fight to the rebel F.L.N. by hard-driving incursions into the mountain areas where they had long been supreme. Born in Vaucluse, a graduate of St. Cyr, the French West Point, he was a general staff officer when war broke out in 1939. After the French collapse, Challe entered the Resistance and is credited with sending Eisenhower's headquarters in London the entire battle order of the German Luftwaffe, as well as the Nazi air defense network in France.

The government of Premier Pierre Pflimlin, fearing a mass parachute drop on Paris during the May 13, 1958 insurrection in Algeria, placed General Challe in "temporary restraint" at Brest. President de Gaulle assigned him to replace General Raoul Salan as military commander in Algeria.

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