Three Republics One Navy: A Naval History of France 1870-1999 by Anthony Clayton

Three Republics One Navy: A Naval History of France 1870-1999 by Anthony Clayton

Author:Anthony Clayton [Clayton, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Naval
ISBN: 9781912174683
Publisher: Helion and Company
Published: 2014-12-18T23:00:00+00:00


June 1940 to November 1942

The situation in France at the time of the armistice is exceedingly complex; it can only be outlined here and at best summarised as one of national post-traumatic stress disorder. At least eight, perhaps as many as eleven, million refugees were crowding the roads of France, many had been machine-gunned by German aircraft. A million soldiers were or were about to be prisoners of war. Even if the will had been clear the prospect of withdrawal to North Africa and fighting on from there was impossible, the shipping and logistic arrangements were not available. Opinion was divided at the top, some arguing for surrender and a government in exile in London, others, notably Weygand the Army Commander, argued that such a surrender would dishonour the Army and the nation forever and negotiations should seek an armistice in which assets, the Empire and the navy could be preserved. All were bitter over their perceptions that the British Army contribution to the campaign had not been impressive, that the Royal Air Force had put its own interests before the Allied cause, that in any case an early German victory over Great Britain was certain and that like it or not Germany was the supreme power in Europe and would remain so. The First World War hero of Verdun Marshal Pétain saw the situation as an opportunity for the establishment of an old-fashioned structured État Francais. Weygand and the recently promoted General de Gaulle both believed that Nazi Germany remained the mortal foe of France but had diametrically opposite views on the courses of action to follow, soon to lead to bitter hostility. Some political leaders, notably Laval, believed that full collaboration with Germany was in the best interests of France. The great majority of the population, too traumatised to discern where Pétain’s Etat Francais was going to take them, saw him as the saviour of the nation in its hour of need and gave him massive, at times hysterical, national support.

In this turmoil there was little public interest in the Marine, it was just accepted that it had fought well and was a very useful asset in dealings with the Germans. The Marine itself retained its pride and its internal professional bonding, secure in the belief that whatever had happened to France the Marine carried no blame. Its head, Admiral Darlan, became a key figure in the Pétain regime established at Vichy in the Unoccupied Zone of France. He had clear authority over most of the Marine’s ships except those that were in British ports at the time where the loyalty of crews was divided.8 He lost most of the control over the Channel and Atlantic coast ports and bases though surprisingly work on the construction of smaller new ships continued for a few months. And he lost all control over the few men and ships that followed de Gaulle’s call “France has lost a battle but has not lost the war” of 18 June.

Strasbourg, Battleship, flagship at Mers-el-Kébir in 1940 and at Toulon in 1942.



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