The French Navy in World War II by Paul Auphan

Author:Paul Auphan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781682470602
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 2016-06-28T04:00:00+00:00

ON BOARD THE SUBMARINE RUBIS AT DUNDEE, the winter of 1940-41. Admiral Muselier emerging through the hatch. The commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Cabanier, in the left foreground, stands by with members of his crew.

ON THE BRIDGE of the corvette LOBELIA in the Atlantic. From left to right, Admiral Muselier; Lieutenant de Morsier, the commanding officer; and the British liaison officer.

The American destroyer Blakeley, whose bow had been blown off by a German torpedo, put into Fort-de-France to get medical attention for its wounded. By coincidence, only a few months before a German submarine had requested permission to land a seriously wounded officer at Fort-de-France. In order to eliminate any possible misunderstanding, Admiral Robert had invited the U.S. naval observer to witness the transfer of the wounded man, which entailed a stay of perhaps half an hour by the U-boat in the port.

This time the American destroyer was able to go alongside the aircraft carrier Béarn, transfer the most seriously wounded, have first aid given to the others, and still depart within the specified time.

In both cases the French Navy had conformed to the international conventions which govern the laws of war at sea, and had acted with complete fairness which was recognized by all.

The dispute in the Antilles and the attack on Madagascar created a painful atmosphere between the French Government and the Anglo-Saxon democracies which was brought to an even more critical stage by the new controversy over the French squadron at Alexandria.

As will be recalled, Admiral Godfroy and Admiral Cunningham had entered into a “gentlemen’s agreement” as to the status of this French squadron. But that agreement had not taken into account any possibility of Axis forces threatening Alexandria itself.

Now in June of 1942, the rapid advance of the Germans across Libya so threatened the security of this seaport that the British had to give consideration to a possible evacuation. In that eventuality the British fleet would fall back through the Red Sea. But what about Admiral Godfroy’s French squadron? Should it follow the British, or should it remain at its moorings and fall, perhaps, into German hands?

The United States was insistent that the French fleet follow the British; even the proposal that the French ships might retire to Bizerte was not satisfactory. The Germans were equally insistent that such an action could become a casus belli. The possibility appeared that the French squadron would either be destroyed by the British or have to be scuttled by its own French crews. Fortunately the British victory at El Alamein saved both Alexandria and the French squadron there.

Mers-el-Kebir, Dakar, French Equatorial Africa, Siam, Syria, Madagascar, the Antilles, Alexandria—they were all part of the huge problem the French Navy faced after the armistice. In each case it devoted its best efforts to its duties of feeding France and safeguarding the national heritage overseas. In some cases it was successful, in other cases it was thwarted by superior forces bent on conquest. In some cases these conquests were of definite strategic value, in other cases not.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.