Free French Naval Forces
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Naval forces of Free France |
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The Free French Naval Forces (
History
In the wake of the
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
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]
To distinguish the FNFL from the
A number of ships were leased from the British to compensate for the lack of warships in the FNFL, among them, the Hunt-class destroyer La Combattante and the Flower-class corvette Aconit.
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.
When it did, important ships based in Dakar were obtained: the modern battleship Richelieu, the heavy cruiser Suffren, light cruisers Gloire, Montcalm, Georges Leygues, and a few destroyers, including cruiser-sized Le Fantasque-class destroyers.
Role in the French Resistance
Captain
D-Day: Operation Neptune
In the summer of 1944, the
The ships of the FNFL were deployed off the landing sites :
- Utah Beach: corvettes Aconit and Renoncule
- Omaha Beach: cruisers Georges Leygues and Montcalm; frigates L'Escarmouche and Aventure; and corvette Roselys
- Gold Beach: corvette Surprise
- Juno Beach: frigate Découverte; corvette Estienne d'Orves; and torpedo boat La Combattante
In addition the obsolete battleship Courbet was
The cruisers Georges Leygues and Montcalm, along with the battleship USS Arkansas provided fire support for the infantry until 10 June.
La Combattante silenced German coastal artillery of Courseulles-sur-Mer. The next day, she started patrolling the English Channel. On 14 July, she ferried General Charles de Gaulle to France.[6]
Pacific War
Triomphant, under the command of
Technical innovations
The FNFL also harboured technical innovators, like Captain
Losses
The merchant fleet of the FNFL suffered heavy casualties, amounting to one quarter of its men.
A number of warships were lost, notably the
See also
- List of submarines of France
- List of ships of the Free French Naval Forces
- List of Escorteurs of the French Navy
References
- ^ Playfair. The Mediterranean & Middle East, Volume I: The Early Successes against Italy (to May 1941) p. 137
- ^ Axelrod & Kingston, p. 362.
- ^ Hastings, Max, p. 74
- ^ "La marine marchande de la France libre – Fondation de la France Libre".
- ^ (in French) Paul Vibert Archived 2014-01-12 at the Wayback Machine on ordredelaliberation.fr
- ^ "LA COMBATTANTE". Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
Further reading
- 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. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Robinson, Richard (1988). "Re: Sous La Croix de Lorraine". Warship International. XXV (2): 116. ISSN 0043-0374.
- 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
- Spencer C. Tucker (2011). World War II at Sea: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 281–84. ISBN 9781598844580.
External links
- (in English) charles-de-gaulle.org
- (in French) FNFL
- "HONOR, UNITY, SALVATION" -- FLAGS & ENSIGNS OF FREE FRANCE
- Free French Naval Forces (1940-1944)
- (in French) LA MARINE MARCHANDE FNFL