August 12th, 1940
"Until the beginning of 1941, the net preventing people from fleeing France through the Mediterranean was quite loose. The Germans occupied the coastline from Perpignan to Cannes, but they only held the towns and villages; the Italians did the same from Cannes to Nice, but they also patrolled the sea (their patrol zone only gradually expanded towards Toulon). This system was only tightened around March 1941, as the Germans started up the small shipyards around Marseille, to produce or repair boats adapted to coastal surveillance. Many Frenchmen took advantage of the holes in the coastline to escape.
First, in the weeks following the end of the fighting, several hundred French soldiers were able to cross into North Africa, either directly or via Corsica, after more or less incredible adventures. Among many others, we must mention here the role played by a modest cargo ship, the Rhin. This ship of 2,450 tons and 80 meters in length had already distinguished itself(in the greatest secrecy), because behind its appearance of an old rusty ship running on coal, looking for freight in the ports, it served as a base for a section of the Navy's Special Forces, led by Lieutenant Péri. In May 1940, Péri had managed to blow up two mines under the German submarine supply ship Corrientes, in the middle of the port of Las Palmas, in the Canaries.
After this feat, the ship participated in the Grand Déménagement, having the luxury of shooting down two Stukas in the second half of July, in front of Marseille and Sète. It must be said that its commander, Captain Cannebotin, had equipped his ship with anti-aircraft machine guns, picking without any shame from the batch of those he had embarked in Toulon and had to disembark in Oran. These weapons were concealed by prelarts in order to be seen neither by German planes... nor by Army officers.
The adventurous career of the Rhine continued after the end of the fighting on the Continent. (...) "
(From "Les Déménagés d'après le 7 août" - op. cit.)
Languedoc coast, 00:30 - A fairly rusty shadow cruises off the coast of Languedoc. Well, off the coast is a lot to say, because the Rhin must not be more than a mile from the coast. Just as on the two previous nights, he looks for groups of French soldiers who had taken refuge on the beaches, in order to recover them. Several dozen men were thus
picked up on the beaches between Saint-Cyprien and Leucate. Tonight, the boat is operating a little further north, between Gruissan and Agde. On the bridge, the conversation, albeit in a low voice, is animated:
- There is no one left around here! And eventually, we will end up taking a German shell. With the moon full and high, you'd have to be blind not to see us, masked lights or not.
- You're right, Doc. And with so little water under the keel, by the time we go from a moving target to a fixed target, it's not far off.
- Don't worry, Captain. The depth sounder indicates more than 10 meters.
- You trust this invention?
- There's nothing to stop you from putting a man with a probe in the davit, Captain!
- Of course, and he would shout 3 fathoms, 2 fathoms, 4 fathoms like in the sailing days. That way, in addition to being seen, we would be heard!
- The wind comes from the land, no risk. And anyway, the machine is not really discreet either!
- Ah, you're volunteering to row?
- Captain, I was just kidding. Let's look on the bright side: if an Italian submarine out here, it will scrape its belly on the ground before we do. And with the moon, at least we can see far enough for navigation even close to the coast, which is not so bad considering that the Krauts have turned off all the lighthouses.
An unmistakably female voice interrupts this exchange: "An intermittent light signal on the port side, there!"
00:55 - On the beach of Vias, Private Albert Blin cannot sleep. He is stranded there with three other soldiers, like him from the Air Company whose members were in charge of defending the Béziers-Vias field. At the time of the arrival of the Germans, they escaped capture by heading south and, after crossing the Canal du Midi, they found refuge near the beach. But in their flight they did not take much with them, and they fear that they will soon be forced to surrender on an empty stomach.
Albert Blin takes out of his pocket one of his last Gauloises and lights it (not without difficulty, because of the wind) with a large gasoline lighter that spits out a long flame. The crackling sound of the wheel wakes up his companions Joseph Bouvet, Maurice Lefort and Georges Duval.
All three imitate their comrade and share their last cigarettes, which they light with Albert Blin's lighter, as unobtrusive as ever.
As they take their last puffs, a voice from the sea makes them jump to their feet: "Hey, tramps! Are you waiting for the subway? The last one is on the platform, and it won't be coming back for a long time!" It's the LV Péri, arriving in a rowboat. The four men don't hesitate to get on board and the boat sets off again, rowing towards the Rhin.
There is no other pickup that night.
05:45 - In the early morning, as the Rhin heads for the Balearic Islands, it is overflown by a German plane, but at this moment it flies a huge Spanish flag and its name is masked by a black cloth with the word San Miguel written on it. The aviators are satisfied with a quick round, especially since the sailors on the deck make big friendly gestures to them (while others nervously grab their machine guns...).
The old cargo ship arrives safely in Algiers on August 18th.
