Battle of Gabon | |||||||||
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Part of World War II | |||||||||
Free French Hotchkiss H39 tanks during the Battle of Gabon | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Naval support: United Kingdom | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Strength | |||||||||
Free French: 1,060 men [1] 1 aviso 1 minesweeper 1 cargo ship Royal Navy: 1 heavy cruiser 1 sloop | 1,500 men [2] 1 aviso 1 submarine | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
20–100 killed 4 aircraft destroyed | At least 35 killed [3] 1 aviso destroyed 1 submarine scuttled |
The Battle of Gabon (French: Bataille du Gabon), also called the Gabon Campaign (Campagne du Gabon), [4] occurred in November 1940 during World War II. The battle resulted in forces under the orders of General Charles de Gaulle taking the colony of Gabon and its capital, Libreville, from Vichy France, and the rallying of French Equatorial Africa to Free France.
In June 1940, Germany invaded and defeated France, and subsequently occupied a portion of the country. Philippe Pétain established a collaborationist government in Vichy to administer unoccupied French territory. On 18 June French General Charles De Gaulle broadcast an appeal over the radio to his compatriots abroad, calling on them to reject the Vichy regime and join the United Kingdom in its war against Germany and Italy. The broadcast provoked division in France's African territories, where colonists were forced to choose sides. [5]
On 26 August, the governor and military commanders in the colony of French Chad announced that they were rallying to De Gaulle's Free French Forces. A small group of Gaullists seized control of French Cameroon the following morning, and on 28 August a Free French official ousted the pro-Vichy governor of French Congo. The next day the governor of Ubangi-Shari declared that his territory would support De Gaulle. His declaration prompted a brief struggle for power with a pro-Vichy army officer, but by the end of the day all of the colonies that formed French Equatorial Africa had rallied to Free France, except for French Gabon. [6] On the evening of 28–29 August 1940, Governor Georges Masson had pledged Gabon's allegiance to Free France. He met immediate opposition from much of Libreville's French population and from Gabon's influential, conservative Catholic bishop, Louis Tardy, who favoured Vichy France's anti-Freemason policies. Facing pressure, Masson was forced to rescind his pledge. [7] Free French sympathizers were subsequently arrested by the colonial administration and either imprisoned on board the auxiliary cruiser Cap des Palmes or deported to Dakar, Senegal. [8] De Gaulle was perturbed by Gabon's refusal to join his cause and described his dilemma in his memoirs: "a hostile enclave, that was hard to reduce because it gave on to the ocean, was created in the heart of our equatorial holdings." [9] General Edgard de Larminat stated that the failure to secure the territory would threaten "the very principle of our presence in Africa." [10]
Following the rallying of Cameroon on 27 August, the Gabonese authorities decided to reinforce their frontier with that province along with the Ntem river. On 3 September, Roger Gardet entered Bitam by a ruse. On the pretext of medical necessity, he received permission from Captain Gourvès at Bitam to cross the frontier. Gourvès agreed to rally his troops to Free France only if his superior, the chief administrator of Woleu-Ntem based at Oyem, a certain Besson, did the same. Besson at first refused, but on 5 September Gardet informed him that he was relieving him of his command. Besson left for Cameroon and the following day, 6 September, Free French forces arrived in Bitam and Oyem with Pierre Roger Martocq as the new administrator of Woleu-Ntem. [11]
On 11 September, Masson held a meeting with his army and navy commanders at which it was decided to reinforce Mayumba. On 9 and 15 September, Colonel André Parant brought a dozen Free French fighters into Mayumba on a Potez 540. On 15 September, the Vichy reinforcements arrived on the Cap des Palmes, escorted by the submarine Poncelet: a troop of marines from the aviso Bougainville and the defence of Port-Gentil. While the commander of the submarine, Captain Bertrand de Saussine du Pont de Gault was breakfasting with the district administrator, the Free French invaded the administrator's residence. After several hours of discussions, and with Parant's men occupying the city, Saussine was permitted to leave, taking with him whoever did not wish to join the Free French. Most of the marines opted to stay in Mayumba. [12]
On 8 October, De Gaulle arrived in Douala, Cameroon. Four days later he authorised plans for the invasion of French Equatorial Africa. He wanted to use French Equatorial Africa as a base to launch attacks into Axis-controlled Libya. For this reason, he personally headed northward to survey the situation in Chad, located on the southern border of Libya. [13]
On 27 October, Free French forces crossed into French Equatorial Africa and took the town of Mitzic.
On 5 November, the Vichy garrison at Lambaréné capitulated. Meanwhile, the main Free French forces under General Philippe Leclerc and Battalion Chief (major) Marie Pierre Koenig departed from Douala. Their goal was to take Libreville in French Equatorial Africa. [13] The British expressed doubt in De Gaulle's ability to establish control over the Vichy territory, but they eventually agreed to lend naval support to the Free French. [14] [a] French Foreign Legion officer John Hasey reported that after the first few days of fighting, 150 prisoners were taken who joined the Free French a few weeks later – "curiously enough, no one tried to convince them. They argued it out among themselves and joined up voluntarily." [15]
On 8 November 1940, the Shoreham-class sloop HMS Milford discovered the Vichy Redoutable-class submarine Poncelet shadowing the Anglo-French task force and gave chase. The sloop was too slow to intercept the submarine, so Admiral Cunningham ordered his flagship, HMS Devonshire, to launch its Supermarine Walrus biplane. The aircraft straddled the submarine with two salvos of 100-pound (45 kg) depth charges as it attempted to dive, damaging it. [16] It was then scuttled off Port-Gentil, [17] with the captain resolving to sink with his vessel. [14] Koenig's forces landed at Pointe La Mondah on the night of 8 November. His forces included French Legionnaires (including the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade), Senegalese and Cameroonian troops. [13]
On 9 November, Free French Westland Lysander aircraft operating out of Douala bombed Libreville aerodrome. [18] The aerodrome was eventually captured, despite stiff resistance met by Koenig's force in its approach. Free French naval forces consisting of the minesweeper Commandant Dominé and the cargo vessel Casamance [19] were led by Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu aboard the Bougainville-class aviso Savorgnan de Brazza in conducting coastal operations. [20] De Brazza attacked and sank her sister ship, the Vichy French Bougainville. [21] Libreville was captured on 10 November. [22]
On 12 November, the final Vichy forces at Port Gentil surrendered without a fight. Governor Georges Masson – despairing of his actions – committed suicide. [13]
The Free French lost four aircraft and six aircrew in the campaign. [23] There is disagreement about the total number of human losses. De Gaulle said "some twenty" died in the campaign. Jean-Christophe Notin claimed 33 were killed. Eliane Ebako wrote that "dozens" lost their lives, while Jean-Pierre Azéma said "roughly one hundred" were killed. [10] Another account states that 35 Vichy troops were killed to 8 Free French. [24]
On 15 November, de Gaulle made a personal appeal that failed to persuade most of the captured Vichy soldiers—including General Marcel Têtu—to join the Free French. As a result, they were interned as prisoners of war in Brazzaville, French Congo for the duration of the war. [13]
With their control consolidated in Equatorial Africa, the Free French began focusing on the campaign in Italian Libya. De Gaulle relieved Leclerc of his post in Cameroon and sent him to Fort Lamy, Chad to oversee offensive preparations. [25]
The conflict in Gabon triggered a mass migration of Gabonese to Spanish Guinea. [14] French Equatorial Africa cut its ties with the Vichy-controlled West African territories, and rebuilt its economy around trade with nearby British possessions, namely Nigeria. [22] Tensions between Vichy and Free French factions remained long after the invasion. [26] The seizure of Gabon and the rest of French Equatorial Africa gave Free France new-found legitimacy; no longer was it an organization of exiles in Britain, as it now had its own sizable territory to govern. [22]
French Equatorial Africa was a federation of French colonial territories in Equatorial Africa which consisted of Gabon, French Congo, Ubangi-Shari, and Chad. It existed from 1910 to 1958 and its administration was based in Brazzaville.
Free France was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic during World War II. Led by General Charles de Gaulle, Free France was established as a government-in-exile in London in June 1940 after the Fall of France to Nazi Germany. It joined the Allied nations in fighting Axis forces with the Free French Forces, supported the resistance in Nazi-occupied France, known as the French Forces of the Interior, and gained strategic footholds in several French colonies in Africa.
From 1939 to 1940, the French Third Republic was at war with Nazi Germany. In 1940, the German forces defeated the French in the Battle of France. The Germans occupied the north and west of French territory and a collaborationist régime under Philippe Pétain established itself in Vichy. General Charles de Gaulle established a government in exile in London and competed with Vichy France to position himself as the legitimate French government, for control of the French overseas empire and receiving help from French allies. He eventually managed to enlist the support of some French African colonies and later succeeded in bringing together the disparate maquis, colonial regiments, legionnaires, expatriate fighters, and Communist snipers under the Free French Forces in the Allied chain of command. In 1944, after the Allies had landed in Normandy and the southern front moved from North Africa across the Mediterranean into Italy and Provence, these forces routed the German Army, and Vichy officials fled into Germany.
Air Service Gabon was an airline based in Libreville, Gabon. It was established in 1965 and operated scheduled flights and passenger and charter services in West Africa. Its main base was Libreville International Airport. The company announced that it ceased operation as of August 3, 2010.
In World War II, French West Africa was not a scene of major fighting. Only one large-scale action took place there: the Battle of Dakar. The region remained under the control of Vichy France after the fall of France and until the Allied invasion of North Africa. French Gabon, the only colony of French Equatorial Africa not to join Free France after the armistice, fell to invading Free French Forces from the neighbouring colonies after the Battle of Gabon, further isolating West Africa.
Mitzic is a town located in Woleu-Ntem province, Gabon. Mitzic is located 322.71 km from Libreville, the capital of Gabon, and 111.47 km from Oyem, capital of Woleu Ntem.
The provinces of Gabon are divided into forty-nine departments. The departments are listed below, by province :
The Battle of Dakar, also known as Operation Menace, was an unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the Allies to capture the strategic port of Dakar in French West Africa. It was hoped that the success of the operation could overthrow the pro-German Vichy French administration in the colony, and be replaced by a pro-Allied Free French one under General Charles de Gaulle.
The Free French Air Forces were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free French Forces merged with General Giraud's forces. The name was still in common use however, until the liberation of France in 1944, when they became the French Air Army. Martial Henri Valin commanded them from 1941 to 1944, then stayed on to command the Air Army.
The French State, popularly known as Vichy France, as led by Marshal Philippe Pétain after the Fall of France in 1940 before Nazi Germany, was quickly recognized by the Allies, as well as by the Soviet Union, until 30 June 1941 and Operation Barbarossa. However, France broke with the United Kingdom after the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Canada maintained diplomatic relations until the occupation of Southern France by Germany and Italy in November 1942.
Franco-Gabonese relations are the current and historical relations between France and Gabon. Both nations are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the United Nations.
Vichy France, officially the French State, was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established after the French capitulation after the defeat against Germany. It was named after its seat of government, the city of Vichy. Officially independent, but with half of its territory occupied under the harsh terms of the 1940 armistice with Nazi Germany, it adopted a policy of collaboration. Though Paris was nominally its capital, the government established itself in the resort town of Vichy in the unoccupied "free zone", where it remained responsible for the civil administration of France as well as its colonies. The occupation of France by Germany at first affected only the northern and western portions of the country. In November 1942, the Allies occupied the French North Africa, and in response the Germans and Italians occupied the entire Metropolitan France, ending any pretence of independence by the Vichy government.
Bougainville was a Bougainville-class aviso of the French Navy launched on 25 April 1931 and commissioned on 15 February 1933. The ship was designed to operate from French colonies in Asia and Africa and initially stationed in the Indian Ocean. In 1935 it was transferred for service in the eastern and southern Mediterranean, and in early 1939 to Djibouti, returning to Toulon escorting a group of submarines after the outbreak of World War II.
Sky Gabon was a cargo airline based in Libreville, Gabon. Its main base was Libreville International Airport. The airline was on the list of air carriers banned in the European Union. In 2019 the airline ceased all operations.
The African nation of Gabon has had human inhabitants for perhaps 400,000 years. Bantu peoples settled here from the 11th century. The coastline first became known to Europeans through Portuguese and Dutch sailors. Colonised by the French in the 19th century, Gabon became independent in 1960.
The Empire Defense Council was a deliberative body established within Free France in 1940. It was subsequently replaced by the French National Committee.
Free French Africa was the political entity which collectively represented the colonial territories of French Equatorial Africa and Cameroon under the control of Free France in World War II.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cameroon refers to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members in Cameroon. The first branch was organized in Yaoundé in 1992. In 2022, there were 2,721 members in 15 congregations.
Poncelet was a French Navy Redoutable-class submarine of the M6 series commissioned in 1932. She participated in World War II, first on the side of the Allies from 1939 to June 1940, then served in the navy of Vichy France. She was scuttled during the Battle of Gabon in November 1940. Her commanding officer at the time of her loss,Capitaine de corvette Bertrand de Saussine du Pont de Gault, is regarded as a national naval hero in France for sacrificing his life to scuttle her and ensure that she did not fall into enemy hands.
Marcel Louis Joseph Têtu was a general of the French Air Force during World War II.