After the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, he was given command of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps ("Corps expéditionnaire français en Extrême-Orient", CEFEO). He represented France at the surrender of the Japanese Empire in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. He quickly perceived the necessity for a political solution to the nascent conflict in Indochina, but once again was ahead of his countrymen, and was recalled to France in 1946. He was killed in an air crash in Algeria in 1947.