General De Gaulle inspecting sailors on Léopard at Greenock in June 1942
In the wake of the Armistice and the Appeal of 18 June, Charles de Gaulle founded the Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres, or FFL), including a naval arm, the "Free French Naval Forces" (Les Forces Navales Françaises Libres, or FNFL). On 24 June 1940, de Gaulle made a separate call specifically to servicemen overseas to join him, and two days later the submarine Narval entered Malta and pledged its allegiance to the FFL.[1] On 30 June, De Gaulle was joined by Vice-Admiral Émile Muselier, who had come from Gibraltar by flying boat. Muselier was the only flag officer of the French Navy to answer the call of De Gaulle.
The French fleet was widely dispersed. Some vessels were in port in France; others had escaped from France to British controlled ports, mainly in Britain itself or Alexandria in Egypt. At the first stage of Operation Catapult, the ships in the British ports of Plymouth and Portsmouth were simply boarded on the night of 3 July 1940. The then-largest submarine in the world, Surcouf, which had sought refuge in Portsmouth in June 1940 following the German invasion of France, resisted the British operation. In capturing the submarine, two British officers and one French sailor were killed. Other ships were the two obsolete battleshipsParis and Courbet, the destroyersLe Triomphant and Léopard, eight torpedo boats, five submarines (Minerve, Junon) and a number of other smaller vessels. 3,600 sailors operating 50 ships around the world joined with the Royal Navy and formed the nucleus of the Free French Naval Forces [2] France's surrender found her only aircraft carrier, Béarn, en route from the United States loaded with a precious cargo of American fighter and bomber aircraft. Unwilling to return to occupied France, but likewise reluctant to join de Gaulle, Béarn instead sought harbour in Martinique, her crew showing little inclination to side with the British in their continued fight against the Nazis. Already obsolete at the start of the war, she would remain in Martinique for the next four years, her aircraft rusting in the tropical climate.[3]
Plaque on Stafford Mansions, the headquarters of the Free French Naval Forces between 1940 and 1945 in Westminster, London
As soon as the summer 1940, the submarines Minerve and Junon, as well as four avisos, departed from Plymouth. Towards the end of 1940, the destroyers Le Triomphant and Léopard followed. Le Triomphant sailed for New Caledonia and spent the rest of the war based there and in Australia. The ship saw action in both the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Civilian vessels and crew also rallied to de Gaulle, starting with four cargo ships in Gibraltar - they would be the beginning of the merchant fleet of the FNFL.[4]
The FNFL suffered their first loss when the patrol boat Poulmic hit a mine and sank on 7 November 1940 off Plymouth.[5]
Africa
Soon after the fall of France, Free France was but a government in exile based in England, with no land of its own to speak of and very few land or sea forces. In an attempt to establish his authority on an important French territory, General de Gaulle attempted to rally French West Africa by personally sailing to Dakar with a British fleet which included a few Free French units; at the same time, a cruiser force had been sent by Vichy France to reclaim African territories which had already announced their support to De Gaulle (notably Chad). The resulting Battle of Dakar ended on a Vichyite victory. However, after the occupation of Vichy France by the Germans after the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, French West Africa also eventually joined the Free French.
Free French light cruiser Montcalm photographed in 1943
In the summer of 1944, the Invasion of Normandy took place. The FNFL took part in both the naval side of the operations, Operation Neptune, and the landing itself, with the Naval Commandos (Commandos Marine) of Captain Philippe Kieffer, climbing cliffs under fire to destroy German shore batteries.
The ships of the FNFL were deployed off the landing sites:
Triomphant, under the command of Philippe Auboyneau was transferred to the Pacific theatre of the war, where in February 1942 it took part in the evacuation of European and Chinese civilians and military personnel from Nauru and Ocean Island before an anticipated Japanese invasion. Triomphant was later stationed along the east coast of Australia, where in early 1943 it was involved in the rescue of the survivors from SSIron Knight, which was sunk by a torpedo fired by the Japanese submarineI-21. After the rescue, Triomphant then searched for I-21 for a day, but without success.[citation needed]
Technical innovations
The FNFL also harboured technical innovators, like Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who invented the modern aqua-lung, and Yves Rocard, who helped perfect radar. The aqua-lung became a major improvement for commando operations. However, Jacques Cousteau joined the FNFL only after the liberation of France. He had spent the entirety of the war in France and developed the aqua-lung in Paris during the German occupation.
Losses
The merchant fleet of the FNFL suffered heavy casualties, amounting to one quarter of its men.
Surcouf was a large French gun-armed cruiser submarine of the mid 20th century. She carried two 203 mm guns as well as anti-aircraft guns and a floatplane. Surcouf served in the French Navy and, later, the Free French Naval Forces during the Second World War.
Free France was a political entity 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.
The attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, during the Second World War, was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the naval base at Mers El Kébir, near Oran, on the coast of French Algeria. The attack was the main part of Operation Catapult, a British plan to neutralise or destroy French ships to prevent them from falling into German hands after the Allied defeat in the Battle of France. The British bombardment of the base killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five other ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed. The attack by air and sea was conducted by the Royal Navy, after France had signed armistices with Germany and Italy, coming into effect on 25 June.
Although the history of the French Navy goes back to the Middle Ages, its history can be said to effectively begin with Richelieu under Louis XIII.
A French ensign is the flag flown at sea to identify a vessel as French. Several such ensigns have existed over the years as well as terrestrial flags based on the ensign motif.
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 La Galissonnière-class cruisers were commissioned by the French Navy in the 1930s. They were the last French cruisers completed after 1935, until the completion of De Grasse in 1956. They are considered fast, reliable and successful light cruisers. Two cruisers of this class, Georges Leygues and Montcalm, took part in the defence of Dakar in late September 1940 during World War II. With the cruiser Gloire, they joined the Allied forces after the successful Allied landings in North Africa in November 1942. The three other cruisers of the La Galissonière class, held under Vichy control at Toulon, were scuttled on 27 November 1942.
Montcalm was a French La Galissonnière-class cruiser, named in honour of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. During World War II, she served with both Vichy France and the Allies. It was commissioned in 1937, decommissioned in 1957, and finally scrapped in 1970.
Georges Leygues was a French light cruiser of the La Galissonnière class. During World War II, she served with both Vichy France and Allies. She was named for the prominent 19th and 20th-century French politician Georges Leygues.
Antony Martin Douglas Leslie William Calhoun Preston was an English naval historian and editor, specialising in the area of 19th and 20th-century naval history and warship design.
Émile Henry Muselier was a French admiral who led the Free French Naval Forces during World War II. He was responsible for the idea of distinguishing his fleet from that of Vichy France by adopting the Cross of Lorraine, which later became the emblem of all of the Free French. After entering the French Naval Academy in 1899, he embarked on a brilliant and eventful military career. He ran unsuccessfully in the legislative elections of 1946 as vice-president of the Rally of Republican Lefts and then entered private life as a consulting engineer before his retirement in 1960. He is buried in the cemetery of St. Pierre, at Marseilles.
La Combattante was a destroyer of the Free French Naval Forces (FNFL). A British-built Hunt-class destroyer, she was offered to the Free French in 1942.
Le Triomphant was one of six Le Fantasque-class large destroyers built for the Marine Nationale during the 1930s. The ship entered service in 1935 and participated in the Second World War. When war was declared in September 1939, all of the Le Fantasques were assigned to the Force de Raid which was tasked to hunt down German commerce raiders and blockade runners. Le Triomphant and two of her sister ships were based in Dakar, French West Africa, to patrol the Central Atlantic for several months in late 1939. They returned to Metropolitan France before the end of the year and were transferred to French Algeria in late April 1940 in case Italy decided to enter the war. Le Triomphant played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign in late April and was under repair when the Germans invaded France in May. She sailed to Britain to avoid capture in June.
The Force de Raid was a French naval squadron formed at Brest during naval mobilization for World War II. The squadron commanded by Vice Amiral d'Escadre Marcel Gensoul consisted of the most modern French capital ships Dunkerque and Strasbourg, screened by the three newest French cruisers, the eight largest and most modern contre-torpilleurs, and the only French aircraft carrier. The Force effectively ceased to exist as a separate unit after the British attack on Mers-el-Kébir.
André-Georges Lemonnier was a French admiral.
The Force X was a squadron of the French Navy, assembled on 29 April 1940, after the outbreak of the Second World War, to deter Italy from striking in the Levantine Sea. It consisted of the old battleship Lorraine; the three modern heavy cruisers Duquesne, Tourville and Suffren; the light cruiser Duguay-Trouin; three destroyers Basque, Forbin, Fortuné; and the submarine Protée.
Paul Auphan and Jacques Mordal, The French Navy in World War II (1976)
Cornic, Jacques (1987). "Sous La Croix de Lorraine (Under the Cross of Lorraine): The FNFL (Forces Navales Francaises Libres) 1940–1943 (Free French Naval Forces)". Warship International. XXIV (1): 35–43. ISSN0043-0374.
Robinson, Richard (1988). "Re: Sous La Croix de Lorraine". Warship International. XXV (2): 116. ISSN0043-0374.
Martin Thomas, "After Mers-el-Kebir: The Armed Neutrality of the Vichy French Navy, 1940-43," English Historical Review (1997) 112#447 pp 643–70 in JSTOR
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