Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

July 1st, 1942

Trincomalee (Ceylon) - Arrival of the Pedestal convoy, with its escort and reinforcements for the British Eastern Fleet.
Such a concentration of ships and men cannot go unnoticed. Somerville's staff therefore organized contradictory pseudo-leaks, evoking either an operation to supply Port Blair and Sabang, or a convoy to Darwin intended to supply the Australian forces "in extreme emergency" against a possible Japanese landing. From news of Japanese air attacks on Darwin were widely reported, explaining the intensive training in anti-aircraft and air interception procedures.
During this time, the aircraft carriers of the Eastern Fleet go out on an AA exercise, using Blenheims from Sqn 211 to simulate the twin-engine bombers of the Japanese Navy Air Force. After a day of training, some useful lessons emerge about air control within the fleet's airspace.
To avoid the loss of fighters shot down by friendly flak, it is decided that friendly aircraft approaching the convoy should fly in line, coming from the side opposite the sun. At 5 nautical miles from the center of the convoy, the formation must make a complete circle to allow a "radar and visual screening" (this is to ensure that the aircraft leaving on mission have not been followed by undesirables). It is only in the middle of a pursuit that these rules can be neglected. The leading edges of the wings and the tail surfaces of the aircraft will be painted yellow to provide a visible identification mark.
This day also confirms that the "old" Type-79B airborne warning radar is better suited to determine the altitude of an intruder than the Type-281, which has a longer range. The Type-281s of the anti-aircraft cruisers should be used for early warning and Type-79Bs should be used for data refinement.
.........
Port Blair - Sixteen Wellingtons from RAF Sqn 223 arrive from Colombo, to support Operation Pedestal.
.........
Sabang - Nine Ki-21s attempt to counter the Wellingtons' night attacks by bombing Sabang during the night. But Flight B of RAF Sqn 27 is based on the island, and its Defiant NF-IIs shoot down two of the attackers.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1942

Corregidor - After a massive artillery bombardment throughout the day, the defenders of Malinta Hill have no other solution than to evacuate the hill, which falls to the Japanese during the night.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1942

Kokoda Track - Battle of Eora Creek - The Japanese approach Eora. A column coming down from the ridge north of the village is seen. As it crosses the flat terrain, it comes under small arms fire coming from the opposite side of Eora Creek, which the rains have turned into a torrent. The Japanese suffer some casualties and disperse into the jungle.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1942

Zhejiang and Jiangxi Campaign - General Xue's troops reach the western shore of the Poyang Lake and immediately move towards the city of Juzhang, on the Yangtze River. The capture of this port would prohibit Japanese traffic on the river, reduce their control over the Wuhan and would definitively condemn Anami's forces.

 

[Wings]

July 1st, 1942

Operation Ajax - For the first time since the beginning of Pericles, the situation is calm in the whole Peloponnese.
The Allies take advantage of this to turn again against the Italian positions in Zanthe.
Before noon, 24 Martin-167 of the Yugoslavian GB I and II/81 attack the Italian cantonments. At 15:40, it is the turn of 36 B-25B/C of the 12th EB, soon followed by 9 Vultee V-72 Vengeance of GCA IV/22, based at K-1.
In the evening, amphibious ships and monitors of the 1st and 3rd EAFC begin to concentrate in the bay of Pyrgos, protected by a screen of minesweepers and ASM patrol boats.
In addition, the Allied aircraft continue to attack the Luftwaffe bases in Attica; the Allies lose 13 aircraft and the Germans 7. During the night, British aircraft bomb the marshalling yard of Athens with the help of the Gee navigation system.
.........
Benghazi - The Mediterranean Fleet Support Force sets sail at 08:30 to be ready to support Operation Ajax the next day.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Hammaguir - Due to the regular increase of the activity on the site, the research conducted by Jean-Jacques Barré and René Leduc are now covered by a new structure: the CERS, or Sahara Test and Research Center. The CERS is placed under the direct authority of the Minister of Defense. This attachment appears logical, the activity is officially the development of a long-range missile combining rocket, ramjet and advanced guidance system. In reality, no one (and especially not the minister himself) is fooled by the fact that the missile is too ambitious to be operational any time soon. As he admitted in his Mémoires de Guerre (volume 3, Le Salut), De Gaulle already places "the pawns of France" for the post-war period...

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Paris - Appointed in April as head of the Reich's safety and security services in France, SS Karl Oberg put an end to the "surveillance" administration policy set up by Werner Best by signing an official agreement with René Bousquet, Secretary General of the police under the command of Darnand. To a supervised collaboration that left little autonomy to the French militias, the Oberg-Bousquet agreements replace a much closer and relatively egalitarian collaboration in the fight against "communist subversion". The SS and the Gestapo obtain a greater involvement of the Laval government in the repression and the fight against resistance fighters, as well as in the police (or more exactly militia) participation in the roundups and deportations.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Kobe - Germany sells to the Imperial Navy the liner Scharnhorst (18 184 GRT), immobilized in Japan since the beginning of the war and whose passengers returned to Germany by the Trans-Siberian Railway. The ship is to be converted into a troop transport by the Kure arsenal.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Alger - Ernest Beluel, 67 years old, is a senator of Haute-Garonne labelled "Gauche démocratique", after having been a former radical-socialist deputy of Toulouse from 1928 to 1932. He is a member of the Air Commission and the Trade Commission. In a word, he is an elected official of the Republic like so many others in Algiers. In his apartment of one of the buildings designed by the parliamentarian and architect Raoul Brandon the previous year to relieve the hotels and other buildings requisitioned throughout Algeria during the Grand Déménagement, at the end of the afternoon, Ernest Beluel is dying.
Although he had hardly made the headlines during his lifetime, his death - though of perfectly natural cause - will be the source of animated, even stormy debates within the Assembly of Elected officials of the Republic! It will indeed crudely raise the question of the replacement of the Elected Officials of the Republic deceased during their mandate, most of the time far from their constituency.
The problem had seemed to be solved by the "De Moustier jurisprudence", named after the deputy of the Doubs who, at the age of 58, had obtained his retention in the army as a squadron leader. He had fought in Flanders and was evacuated to Dunkirk before returning to fight in France. During the "Entretiens de Toulouse", he had sent a message to several of his relatives from different right-wing parties, as he was going back to the fire in the chaos of the end of the French Campaign. For many observers, this message had a lot to do with the maintenance in legality of many conservative deputies. It is even said that Taittinger, who had worked with Doriot and Henriot before the war for the constitution of the Freedom Front opposed to the Popular Front, had been convinced by the word of De Moustier. For others, the attitude of Taittinger, who was to take the lead of the "conservatives" within the Assembly of the Republic throughout the war, can be explained by the fact that he had a point in common with De Moustier: that of having lost a son in the fighting of the French Campaign. Evoking the coming Occupation, De Moustier was to write: "Perhaps our citizens will suffer, but is that a reason to dishonor themselves? From now on, my white wine is Mascara [hillsides southwest of Algiers]!"* The news of his disappearance in the very last days of the French Campaign while he was leading a delaying attack within an ad hoc grouping was not without causing a certain amount of commotion. A blurred and disoriented entity in this summer of the Grand Déménagement, in search of marks and rituals, the Parliament in exile agreed to unanimously decree that no parliamentarian in the field, fallen in the fire or taken prisoner by the Enemy, would be replaced before the Victory. This decision was honorable, and unfortunately it had many opportunities to be put into practice.
On the other hand, the question of the replacement of non-combatant members of parliament seemed of little importance at the beginning of 1941, when the constitutional revision had been voted. The parliamentarians had, however, experienced their first mourning on December 17th, 1940,when the deputy for Seine-Inférieure, Georges Bureau, died in a hospital in Algiers. A few months after the Grand Déménagement, his funeral had been the occasion of a great demonstration of the Sacred Union. It had been decided that the seat of Georges Bureau, numbered "42", would no longer be occupied until the return of the Assemblies to Paris. The question of replacing Bureau had been all the less posed since his disappearance had been numerically compensated by the arrival of Charles Vallin, who had escaped from Métropole a few weeks later. It was a case of taking a step back in order to take a step forward...
In February 1941, César Campinchi, radical deputy of Corsica and Minister of the Merchant Navy at the time of the Sursaut (before kindly leaving his place to Darlan), had died after a surgical operation, a few days after Joseph Blanc, radical Senator of Haute Savoie, had also died in similar conditions. These disappearances had not remained without consequences.
After consulting the Constitutional Advisory Commission (the already famous CCC) and obtaining its green light, the various parties represented in the Assembly had publicly concluded an agreement that each parliamentarian would be replaced by his substitute in case of misfortune. The said substitutes did not necessarily run the streets of Algiers at the time, it was agreed that any member of the party to which the deceased parliamentarian belonged could act as substitute. Thus Joseph Blanc and César Campinchi were replaced.
This practice continued throughout 1941, allowing the replacement of seven elected members of the Republic. At the death of Raoul Brandon, deputy of the Seine, on December 4th, 1941, the conservative wing began to argue that this system favored "small arrangements between Freemasons", but the beginning of the Pacific War, the Japanese attack on Indochina and the declaration of war on Japan quickly had quickly stifled the affair by giving all its vigor to the Sacred Union. For a time only, of course!
Between February 3rd and June 11th, 1942, seven other parliamentarians had given up their souls to God/had passed to the eternal East/had passed the gun to the left (according to the beliefs and political orientations). Each death had given the conservatives the opportunity to raise their voices about how to replace the "570"** (who were 574 in the spring of 1942, thanks to the courage of some deputies who had managed to reach Algiers: two of them were even escaped prisoners of war).
Beluel's death reinforced the protests of the conservatives all the more because, since the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa, France and the Soviet Union had become the world's best friends and it becomes probable, if not certain, that the Communist deputies from Moscow, having left their Saharan vacation, will soon join the Assembly. Not backing down in front of verbal jousts, the conservatives evoke "a programmed sabotage of the institutions leading in the short term to the death of the democracy and to the establishment of a communist dictatorship in France, just freed from the German yoke" without taking into account the fact that the Liberation in question is still to be accomplished).

* OTL, he had declared "My white wine is whiskey!" after voting No to full powers for Pétain.
** This nickname given at the beginning of 1941 to the elected representatives of the Republic was kept even after the reinstatement of the elected communists, thus marking a certain distance between the "Reds" and the "Tricolores".

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Sabang - Nine Wellingtons of Sqn 40 arrive from Rangoon at dusk, resupply and attack Kuala-Lumpur in the night.
.........
Penang - Two diesel MTBs (MTB 502 and 503) connect Penang to Singapore at night.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Kokoda Track - Battle of Eora Creek - To cross the stream, the Japanese deploy during the night some 300 to 500 men on the flat ground in front of the bridge. In the cold mist of early morning, this force launches a direct attack to storm the bridge.
The Australians make them pay dearly for this proud overconfidence. The attackers are cut to pieces by machine guns, supported by mortars and small arms. Caught as they cross the bridge, chopped up by mortars at both ends of the bridge, harassed by individual weapons, the Japanese are repulsed with about 50% losses.
Stopped short for the day, the Japanese bring in infantry reinforcements and move artillery to the front line. They set up a battery of 70 mm guns and some heavy mortars on a ridge about 900 meters from Eora. Meanwhile, their vanguards hit company A/49th, which was blocking the garden path. Knowing what these first skirmishes meant for the next day, the commander of this company buries his two Vickers machine guns on his right in small bunkers, solidly protected and supported by men abundantly equipped with grenades. The servants have strict orders and predetermined fields of fire. The bulk of the company deploys to the left, into the jungle, while the Papuan Volunteer Rifles scout out where the Japanese are concentrating for the next day's attack.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Chongqing (Chungking) - General Chennault, head of the CATF, signs with Chinese Communist forces commanded by Mao Zedong and Shu Enlai an agreement under which the USAAF will base fighter aircraft in the Yan'an area, the Communist base in Shanxi, in north-central China. The Americans plan to send a maximum of 40 B-25 bombers, 20 P-38 long-range fighters to escort them and about thirty P-40s to defend the land (two large and several small ones). This agreement does not concern the ROCAF (only some Chinese CB-17 transport aircraft will be used to refuel the American aircraft).
Officially, the KMT is happy with this cooperation against the Japanese, but in reality, the agreement was concluded despite Chiang Kai-shek's vehement protests, because it opens a line of communication from which the Reds would benefit. It is true that Chiang was not kept informed of certain objectives of the operation, because the Americans know perfectly well that the KMT is full of Communist agents.
The intention of the U.S. military staff is not to obtain direct results, especially since the supply difficulties (fuel must be brought in by plane) will only allow episodic attacks against the Japanese forces in the Nanchang region, which had recently been occupied and which are the declared target of the operation. But the grounds of Yan'an could also serve as a staging area for bombers en route to Japan. And most importantly, the activities of the B-25s and P-38s based there should attract the attention of the Japanese and distract them from the deployment of forces in the south, an area far more important to Allied grand strategy.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Barbarossa
- Northern sector
The 291. ID enters - at last - Liepaja (German communiqués obviously speak of Libau), after a siege which lasted more than a month. The naval base is in ruins; it will be unusable for a long time. Several Soviet submarines are found scuttled: the Ronis and Spidola (ex-latvian, of French construction), M-71 and M-80.
On the Dvina River, Vatutin's forces clash with German infantry in Plavinas, but are unable to retake the city.
At the forefront of the German offensive, von Manstein breaks through the Soviet lines on the road to Pskov. "My leading units have no one left in front of them," he triumphantly transmits to von Leeb. "We were right: all enemy reserves have been spent at Dushktash." But around noon, upon reaching Karsava, the 3. ID (mot) and the 8. Panzer come up against the first elements of the 48th Army. A violent battle starts, which ends at sunset with the destruction of the 118th and 125th Rifle Divisions, freshly recruited and thrown almost without training on the road of the Wehrmacht's best. The Red Army still has a lot to learn...
Nevertheless, this dazzling victory of the German veterans will have important consequences.
The first is... to worry von Leeb. The mere appearance of many fresh Soviet troops between Rezekne and Pskov indicates that the resources of the Red Army are far from being exhausted. "Tell Manstein to stop and wait, in order to secure his rear, until the XLI. PanzerKorps of Reinhardt and the XXVII Corps of von Wiktorin have advanced to Rezekne" he orders. Hoepner is outraged: "But they will need at least two days! And in any case, Reinhardt's armored units are very weakened by the fighting at Dushktash. I refuse to pass on this order, I would rather resign!" But von Leeb remains steadfast.
On the other side, Voroshilov, seeing his lines collapsing, is struck with panic. He orders Chernyakovsky's mobile group, still in Luga, to run towards Ostrov and Karsava, while begging the Stavka to send him reinforcements. Thanks to his close links with Stalin, he obtains the General Staff to send the 34th Army, stationed in Kalinin (today Tver). Voroshilov no longer opposes Sobennikov's demands. The latter can order troops to withdraw to Polotsk, already threatened by the forces of the German Army Group Center, and to move northeast to give a hand to the survivors of the 48th Army.
In the Curonian Spit, the German 18th Army continues to advance. It reaches Talsi at the end of the day. The Soviet pocket is threatened to be cut in two, and Berzarin orders forces in the Ventspils region, west of the peninsula, to prepare "a powerful defensive perimeter."
...
- Central sector
North of Minsk, von Hoth's PanzerGruppe 3 advances on the road to Polotsk. At nightfall, Gloubokoe is taken.
At dawn, Guderian's men start to advance from Moghilev to Orsha, along the railroad that runs along the right bank of the Dnieper. They take Shklov and march on Baran, but then run into the first elements of several fresh divisions that the Stavka has sent to support the exhausted forces of the 24th Army of Major-General K.I. Rakutin.
For the Soviets, the speed of Guderian's advance is a very nasty surprise. If Orsha is to fall, Minsk would be almost surrounded and the road to Smolensk would be wide open. Tymoshenko order Rakutin to defend Orsha at all costs and asks the Stavka to put at his disposal the 43rd Army, which is part of the "Reserve Front".
...
- Southern sector
Preferring to avoid fighting two successive breakthrough battles, von Kleist orders his units to turn towards Chepetovka, in the south-east, to encircle Novograd-Volynskiy. The Luftwaffe, supporting its troops, is still very active, but must face a vigorous opposition from the Soviet fighters. The air battles of the day cost 22 planes to the Germans and 41 to the Soviets.
At noon, Konev finally launches his attack on the left flank of the Hungarian Corps. His troops are far too few in number to achieve significant results, but the 1st Armored Division (1. Páncélos Hadosztály) and the 6th I.D. (6. Gyaloghadosztály) are surprised and shaken. The advance of the 17th Army towards Khmel'nitskiy is momentarily halted.
On the other hand, on the right flank, its units still advance towards Volkovintsy.
In the south, von Schobert orders his troops to regroup to rest and refuel: Romanian logistics still leave much to be desired and some of the Romanian soldiers have not eaten for several days.
At von Rundstedt's headquarters, it is clear that a decision had to be made as quickly as possible.
It is obvious that many Soviet forces are operating between PzG 1 and the 17th Army, but their encirclement does not seem possible, because the German forces advance very slowly. Von Rundstedt then authorizes von Kleist to engage the strategic reserves of Army Group South: the 16. PanzerDivision and the Leibstandarte SS Adolf-Hitler. This is a big decision, as these two divisions are among the forces that were supposed to attack Kiev once the encirclement of the Ukrainian Front troops was completed.
On the other hand, the Stavka authorizes the transfer of seven infantry divisions from the strategic reserves to the Ukrainian Front, along with four armored brigades (two of which were fully equipped with new tanks), three independent artillery brigades and three anti-tank brigades. Kirponos is informed that these troops are to be deployed on a line from Zhitomir to Kazatin-Vinnitsa to cover Kiev.
...
- Black Sea
The Soviet submarine Shch-206, which did not return from patrol, is reported missing. It is assumed that it was hit by a German magnetic mine off Varna.
The Franco-British naval mission, in charge of assisting the Soviet naval authorities in the Black Sea with a view to the arrival of the first lend-lease convoys, arrives in Sevastopol. The three British and two Frenchmen who are part of it came by plane from Alexandria via Damascus, Baghdad, Teheran, Baku and Stavropol.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Island of Zakynthos (off the west coast of the Peloponnese) - After a first shelling administered by the small monitors of the 1st EAFC, the battleships Provence and Lorraine and the heavy cruisers Colbert and Tourville shake the Italian defenses, then the Vultee V-72 Vengeance and the P-39Ds of the 22nd Ground Support and Cooperation Wing, as well as the Dauntless of the USS Ranger, conduct 30 minutes of bombing and strafing.
07:00 - LCT rocket launchers from the 3rd EAFC deliver another heavy blow.
07:15 - The men of the 10th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (Colonel Girard) and the 1st Shock Group (colonel Gambiez)* land at Laganas, Argassi and Akrotiri.
The Italian garrison is formed by elements of the 33rd Mountain Infantry Division Acqui (I/317th and III/317th RI**, a company of the 4th Machine Gun Battalion*** and two batteries of the II/33rd AR, that is to say 8 pieces of 75****). These elements were reinforced by the Igumenitsa marine infantry battalion (formed within the framework of the San Marco regiment following the battle of Igoumenitsa in May 1941) and by four 65/17 guns. In all, about 3,300 men, placed under the authority of Colonel Ezio Ricci, head of the 317th RI.
These units are quickly overrun, but not without resistance. Thus, at 10:45, while entering Akrotiri at the head of his men, Colonel Girard is killed.
11:40 - The French troops control the port of Zakinthos and progress towards Alikes and Koroni, in the west.
13:00 - The French are firmly established on the eastern part of the island, the battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet start to withdraw towards the south.
15:45 - The first Axis reaction comes in the form of 17 Italian Ju 87s escorted by 12 Re.2000s, which try to attack the landing ships. This raid is intercepted by 24 F4F-3s from the Ranger; 8 Ju 87s and 5 Re.2000s are destroyed in exchange for three Wildcat.
New raid two hours later. This time, 18 Ju 88s from I and II/LG1, escorted by 16 Bf 109F, attack the ships that are landing troops and equipment. Again, the F4F-3 of VF-9 and VF-41, guided by the Type-281 radar of HMS Sirius, are at the parade. The formation of the Xth FliegerKorps loses five Ju 88 and three Bf 109 in exchange of five Wildcat. The
bombers succeed in sinking two LCTs and seriously damage one LCI(L), which has to be grounded, but lose three other Ju 88s during their dive under the shells of a very active flak.
23:00 - Italian MS-1 torpedo boats from Cephalonia try to break through the screen of the amphibious force, while other small ships evacuate Italian soldiers from the west coast of the island.
23:17 - The Italian patrol boats MS-11, 12, 13, 14 jumped north of Zanthe into the barrier of the Allied patrol boats: the Yugoslavian MTB Kajmakcalan and Suvobor and the French VTB-104, 107, 109, 112 (Higgins type) and VGB-112, 119, 122, 124, 129 (Fairmile type). After slightly damaging the VGB-122 and 124, posted in a "bell", the Italians are attacked by eight Allied patrol boats. The MS-12 is blown up by a torpedo of the Suvobor launched from point-blank range and the MS-14 is destroyed by the 20 mm and 40 mm shots of the French "Higgins type".
The other two launches flee northwards.
The news of the French landing on Zanthe raises a serious concern to the Regia Marina's general staff. Indeed, once the Allies had taken control of Zanthe, fast patrol boats and torpedo boats could easily interrupt the Italian naval traffic between the Ionian Sea and the Gulf of Corinth - in fact, on June 15th, Allied speedboats had already reached Santa Maura (Lefkada) and attacked a convoy coming from Albania, sinking the German freighter Brook (1,225 GRT). This would seriously threaten the logistics of the forces fighting in the Peloponnese or holding Greece, as they could only be supplied only by the Balkan railroad, which runs along Yugoslavia to Northern Greece.

French Battleship MN Provence, Operation Ajax, July 1942

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Central Mediterranean - In the afternoon, the Allies launch a new massive attack (367 aircraft) against Axis airfields in Sicily and Sardinia. Eleven aircraft are shot down (seven of which are shot down by flak) while 21 Italian aircraft are destroyed (17 of which were on the ground). This operation sees the first wartime mission of the North American NA-89 Mustang II: 8 aircraft of the GC I/5 are part of the high cover of a DB-73 formation attacking the airfield of Cagliari-Elmas. No combat is reported on this occasion.
............
At 19:00, the first Lend-Lease convoy for the USSR is off Cape Blanc and is about to cross the most dangerous part of the Strait of Sicily in the night.

 

[Wings]

July 2nd, 1942

Port-Saïd - While leaving the basin where she was undergoing major refit, the Greek submarine Katsonis accidentally sinks. Given her venerable age (fourteen years), the British are not very keen on refurbishing her after refloating. Using the voice of CF Vasileios Laskos, the recent loss of the Glavkos, the Greeks succeed in obtaining a new refit for the Katsonis. However, the latter will return in the front line only in March 1943, under the command of CF Laskos. In the meantime, the Royal Greek Navy has only three submarines at its disposal.

 

[Wings]

July 3rd, 1942

Alger - Léon Blum receives Alexander Bogomolov, the ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, to deal with various practical points arising from the new status of the USSR as an ally against Germany. At the end of the meeting, Blum, as he had promised the day before to Richard, expresses to his interlocutor the importance that the government attaches to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the whole of the allied nations. While Bogomolov, thinking that his interlocutor makes above all reference to Poland, is about to dodge the question, Blum specifies that "the suspension of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Belgium in the summer of 1941 was perceived as a humiliation for the Belgian government, and the reasons for this were misunderstood in London as well as in Algiers." Blum, who knows how to press where it is necessary, adds that "the authorities were making great progress in unifying the Resistance in the occupied country. It would be a pity if, because of misunderstandings that had no reason to exist, certain components were to remain on the sidelines of this movement."
Bogomolov promises the Minister of Foreign Affairs to pass the message to Moscow, which he will do promptly. He advocates the greatest leniency towards Belgium, in order to score points with the Allies in relation to otherwise more delicate issues.

 

[Wings]

July 3rd, 1942

Occupied France - Gringoire (dated July 4th)
"The Reds are attacking our trains!
During the night of the 2nd to the 3rd, around 1 a.m., the peaceful town of Migennes was brutally awakened by several explosions. For once, it was not our good friends the English who came from the sky to massacre some Frenchmen, no: saboteurs had exploded their bombs in the locomotive depot of the marshalling yard of Laroche-Migennes. This despicable act will disrupt the normal flow of trains on the Paris-Marseille line for a few days. It is interesting to note that leaflets claimed responsibility of this anti-French act in the name of a so-called "Groupe de Combat Socialiste" affiliated to the SFIO and its Youpins. With the adoption of the brutal methods of the Reds, the SFIO throws off the
mask and shows that it is only a false nose of the Communists. How can some naive people still deny the Judeo-Bolshevik complicity?"
In fact, the destruction of most of the locomotive depot was going to seriously disrupt the Paris-Marseille traffic for weeks. René Clément was inspired by the Laroche-Migennes episode for the opening of his film La Bataille du Rail (Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 1946). One remembers the moving scene of the railroader caressing and crying over "his" locomotive before putting explosives on it.

 

[Wings]

July 3rd, 1942

Bihač (Bosnia) - Partisans storm the city, an important road junction at the crossroads of several Yugoslav provinces. The flag of the Ustasha, with a red and white checkerboard flag with a capital U on top, is taken down and replaced by the blue-white-red* of Yugoslavia, struck with the golden ears of wheat of the Yugoslav Republic of Labor.
As usual, the Partisans carry out a severe purge of the conquered city. The royalists - few in number in the city, but one finds many in the surroundings, on the heights of the Krajina - are almost as suspect as the Ustasha. This time, however, Tito keeps a number of prisoners alive. A sign that the stay will last.

* The panslavic colors, ordered to recall the flag of the French ally of the First War.

 

[Wings]

July 3rd, 1942

Trincomalee (Ceylon) - At dawn, the group of minesweepers leaves Trincomalee for Port Blair, where the 24 Fairmiles type B will have to refuel before joining the convoy.
They were accompanied by eight larger escorts: the six old DD/MS class Sabre, Saladin, Sardonyx, Scimitar, Shikari, Skate and the two French destroyers Tempête and Trombe. The little Fairmiles all received in Trincomalee two bottles of titanium tetrachloride to produce smoke screens (the old destroyers do not need such equipment, their tired machines emitting only too easily a large amount of smoke). In addition to these cylinders and their minesweeping gear, they have a 3-pounder Hotchkiss (or sometimes a 6-pounder), one to three 20 mm Œrlikon and six depth charges, not so much for fighting submarines as for dropping them under the nose of a pursuer.
All day long, tension is mounting in the main fleet. The crews are now all on board and all officers and sailors, especially on the ships that will be most exposed, have been duly informed of the nature of the operation, the risks involved and the strategic need to get even a limited amount of supplies to Singapore. These explanations remove the doubts sown in the previous days by Admiral Somerville's staff.
He has to deal with somewhat contradictory orders, asking him on the one hand to send transports to Singapore, on the one hand, and on the other, not to expose his precious aircraft carriers to "excessive risk". The organization of the operation is therefore relatively complex.
The convoy itself - Breconshire, Denbighshire, Glenartny, Glenorchy, Perthshire and Priam - will be under the direct protection of 30 patrol boats (24 Fairmile and 6 SGB) and eight minesweepers, as well as the A-class DD Anthony, Active, Achates and Antelope and the French CT Lynx.
An AA screen composed of the old CLAA Coventry and the five Hunt-II class DDs of the Cdr C.T. Jellicoe, the Blankney, Eridge, Croome, Farndale and Grove will accompany the transports until the last night before arrival in Singapore.
The distant escort will be provided by a large part of the British Indian Ocean fleet, BB Nelson and Rodney, CV Indomitable* and Illustrious**, CL Fiji, Gloucester, Mauritius, Sheffield, Trinidad, CLAA Charybdis, Phoebe and DD Ashanti, Duncan, Eskimo, Foxhound, Hotspur, Inconstant, Jervis, Lightning, Nestor, Onslaught, Quentin, Quiberon.
At the same time, a small diversionary convoy heads for Port Blair: this is operation "Green Tea". The cargo ships Pampa and Talabot are escorted by the CA London and Sussex, the DD Encounter, Westcott, Wishart, Wrestler and the avisos Flamingo and Pelican.
Four small submarines of the Xth Flotilla, which left Port Blair in the morning, are dotted along the coast of Malaysia and are scheduled to reach their areas of operation on 6 July at 00:00: HMS Unique (Lt A.F. Collett) off Phuket; HMS Utmost (Lt-Cdr R.D. Cayley) off Medan; HMS Urge (Lt E.P. Tomkinson) off Kuala Salangor and HMS Upholder (Lt-Cdr Wanklyn) off Port Dickson. They are to serve as lookouts and to attack enemy ships trying to block the convoy's route. To avoid any risk of misidentification, they should not operate within the 6-fathom depth curve, except in cases of extreme emergency. The HMS Upholder will be the most exposed, very close to this limit.
Somerville asks Rear Admiral Bérenger (commander of the meager French Forces in the Indian Ocean) to have three of the Fremantle-based French submarines, the Pascal, L'Aurore and Le Tonnant, placed between Singapore and Bangka Island (southeast of Sumatra) to attack enemy ships entering the Strait of Malacca from the south.
Bérenger, associated from the beginning with the preparation of Pedestal, always supported Somerville's plans and made every effort to encourage Algiers to promote the operation as much as possible. Thus is developed Operation Cuckoo, intended to reduce the Japanese air threat. Six French DC-3s have to tow as many Hotspur gliders to the vicinity of Alor Setar airfield, where they will execute a surprise attack on the 6th, at 23:00. The 72 paratroopers will destroy as many Japanese planes as possible, and the survivors retreat to the coast, where they are picked up by the two large submarines HMS Clyde and Otway, based in Colombo, which are already on their way to the agreed upon rendezvous point.
"At 20:30, on the Nelson, while Somerville was directing the final preparations, he was not a little surprised to see Bérenger, who was to return to Reunion, come aboard. The Frenchman has a very simple request: "Admiral, Pedestal's men are going to need leaders of experience. I am the highest ranking officer in the Indian Ocean to have confronted the Japanese on the surface, and at night. I therefore asked to take command of the close escort, which will go as far as Singapore. I propose to put my flag on the Lynx."
- My dear friend," replies Somerville, "you know that in order to give you my agreement that I should contact either London or Algiers, preferably both. And you know that I will never have the time, we leave in two hours! As soon as we leave, the convoy will indeed plunge into total radio silence.
- I'm sorry to embarrass you, Admiral," replies Berenger with a very serious look. "I didn't realize it was so late.
- You... Ah, I've got it, you've probably been looking at your watch with your one-eye", growls Somerville, giving Berenger the highest praise an Englishman can give a sailor (and a French sailor at that).
At 21:00, after a symbolic resistance, Somerville accepts and Bérenger rushes to the Lynx, where his mark would soon be flying.
- You know, of course," Somerville observes to the commander of the Nelson, "what is the highest decoration received by the man whose name this ship bears.
- Yes, sir: the Order of the Bath. As a reward for his great courage.
- Not exactly. An award like the Victoria Cross is for an act of extraordinary courage performed under fire. But the Order of the Bath is awarded for an exemplary decision, taken in cold blood and showing the most exceptional sense of duty. Unfortunately," continues Somerville, lowering his voice, so that only his aide-de-camp, close by, could hear him, "I don't know if the Order of the Bath can be awardes posthumously.
Ninety minutes later, the HMS Quentin begins to move. Pedestal is launched." (Jack Bailey, Singapore's Light Brigade - The inside story of Operation Pedestal, London, 1969)

* HMS Indomitable's air group: 12 Sea Hurricanes from Sqn 800, 10 Sea Hurricanes from Sqn 880, 14 Martlet II from Sqn 806 and 5 Albacore.
** HMS Illustrious Air Group : 21 Martlet II from Sqn 881 (including the one piloted by the famous Danny Potter), 15 F4F-3A from the French AC-2 squadron, 4 Swordfish and a Fulmar II from Sqn 829