Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Paris - Jacques Benoist-Méchin is over the moon: his Tricolor Legion project has officially come to life! But from which organizations? SONEF and Croisés de la Reconstruction have disappeared and the PSE is obviously out of reach. Himmler is apparently happy with the role of the LVF, which acted as a recruitment office for the Waffen SS. Bridoux, well-connected with Doriot, obtained that the French Guard not be touched, of which he hoped to obtain the command. Finally, the Guards of Economic Security of Déat were preserved, as were the DDL, DGA and STF, respectively attached to the Secretariat of the Navy, the Ministry of Reconstruction and to the Secretariat of Transport. Benoist-Méchin could only obtain a decree from the President (of the Council) providing that the Gardes Economiques, DDL, DGA and STF would be integrated into the Légion Tricolore... at the end of hostilities.
For the time being, the only thing left to loot is General Olléris' Territorial Security Force, which Laval could no longer protect. Benoist-Méchin decided that the Légion Tricolore would be formed from the elite of the FST. Of the 42,300 men in the FST (as of June 30th, 1943), approximately 13,000 are deemed "worthy" of joining the ranks of the Legion Tricolore. They are divided into four regiments. The rest are not demobilized: where would these 30,000 men go if they were released into the wilderness?
Benoist-Méchin iscontent to prohibit any new recruitment to the FST and to provide for its complete demobilization - again, at the end of hostilities.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Norfolk - U.S. national holiday delays TF-100 departure by a few hours. In the morning, a detachment of all the ships of the task force participates in the parade through the streets of the port. The men with the red tassels are a sure hit with the women! Unfortunately for the sailors, they do not have time to enjoy it.
As soon as the parade is over, they return to their respective vessels, where preparations fordeparture are already well underway.
14:00 - Declared operational at the beginning of the week, TF-100 sails. One hour later, it leaves the Chesapeake, heading 090, speed 18 knots, leaving Norfolk for the Old Continent! In front of the task force, the PBY-5As from Pax River are hunting for possible U-Boots.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Cathay Building, Singapore - The former capital of the British Far East is struggling to erase the scars of the previous year's fighting. Perhaps to show that it has passed into the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere, Colonel Iwakuro has been in charge of organizing a great meeting in the glory of Free India. Rash Behari Bose has to hand over the reins of the Indian independence movement supported by Tokyo to Subhas Chandra Bose, who was triumphantly welcomed in Japan in May, on his return from Europe. It is not that the founder of the Indian Independence League was really seduced by his namesake, but he is no longer in the odor of sanctity with the Japanese since the psychodrama of Captain Singh in April, which he is strongly suspected of having approved.
The significance of the event (from his perspective) makes S.C. Bose lyrical. "Give me blood and I will give you freedom," he said in a fiery speech.
It seems that the Japanese had a lucky hand with him, because the strength of the Indian National Army will strongly increase, thanks to the engagement between July and December of about ten thousand volunteers coming for the most part from Malaysia and Indonesia. But in reality, it is very little compared to what the Japanese expected. The unfavorable turn of military operations and the rumors of India being granted dominion status have undoubtedly tempered some enthusiasm. Nevertheless, it will be possible to complete the 1st Division of Mohamed Zaman Kiani and to create a 2nd Division, entrusted to Colonel Abdul Aziz Tajik. But this one, composed of soldiers having for the most part no military experience, will always be understaffed.
Finally, for the first time in Asia (and even elsewhere), the Indian National Army will include the "Rani de Jhansi" battalion, entirely composed of women! It is commanded by a woman doctor, Dr Lakshmi Saghal.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

On the road between Dien-Bien-Phu and Tuan Giao - The ground fighting consists of skirmishes between Vietminh units and the exhausted Japanese; the most severe losses are inflicted by the air force. Indeed, the 22nd and 23rd Divisions of the Imperial Army retreat eastward under skies belonging solely to the enemy. During the day, French and American pilots can easily spot the long Japanese columns and the flak is limited to a few machine guns. What saved the Japanese from annihilation was the limited number of
the limited number of allied planes, the lack of fuel, which prevents to multiply the attacks, and machine-gunning passes are deadly. The soldiers of the tennô have learned that the noise of an engine in the sky is a very bad sign, and that it is then often too late. Those who take cover are not really safer than those who just throw themselves on the ground. The gusts chop up the vegetation and send splinters of wood flying.
At nightfall, the Japanese stop where they are, often without even trying to dig in. Then the search for food begins... Many soldiers went from one camp to another or besiege what is left of the commissariat. The portions delivered are laughable and fights often break out. Discipline is breaking down more and more.
With darkness comes fear. Most of them go to sleep anyway, because they can't stay awake.
Gunshots break out. When they are far away, the men just turn over in their sleep. But sometimes they are awakened by nearby gunfire and cries of alarm: the "rebels" are still attacking! After a few minutes, the fightruns out of steam. Some soldiers charge at random, shouting slogans... When they fall under the enemy bullets, they are probably happy, their ordeal is over.
Engines resound in the night. Some Lysanders turn in the night sky, often without spotting anything. The Japanese do not light any more fires and are content to hide under the trees.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Cambodia - The French militia officially raised by the Japanese a few weeks earlier take up residence in the quiet Khmer country. It takes for name a majestic "Légion Combattante d’Extrême-Orient", at least in French - the official Japanese official documents never name it otherwise than "1st Western Auxiliary Battalion". The unit counts 300 men divided into three companies of a hundred men each. They are civilians watched by a few soldiers and policemen judged reliable by the Kampetai, and who have undergone military training.
Whether it is called the Far East Fighting Legion or the 1st Western Auxiliary Battalion, its organization chart is as follows:
1st (and only) Battalion "Hasekura-Caron" : Louis Brasey ;
- 1st Company "Nouvelle France": Paul-François Carcopino;
- 2nd Company "Maréchal Pétain": Victor Goloubew;
- 3rd Company "Gergovie" : Jean d'Hers.
.........
It is necessary to stop for a moment on its four leaders.
- Louis Brasey. He was about fifty years old, a colonial administrator and former governor of the Saigon-Cholon region and then of Vientiane, in Laos, he is one of the Westerners to have remained the longest in Indochina after the arrival of the Japanese. Having made a good impression on them (for a Westerner), they offered him to command this militia. He was the one who christened the Company, whose name brings together Tsunenaga Hasekura, the first Japanese to have set foot on French soil, in 1615, and François Caron, first Frenchman to have visited Japan in 1619.
- Paul-François Carcopino. Shanghai policeman and notorious collaborator. He continued to work under the control of the Japanese (taking their bribes) after the closure of the international concessions. He is the nephew of the academic Jérôme Carcopino, director of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d'Ulm in Paris, a school whose activities Algiers has announced would be illegal until the Liberation (and the purge).
- Victor Goloubew. Born in 1878 in a Russian aristocratic family, he received a solid classical training. Fluent in several languages, he obtained, in 1904, the title of doctor in philology. During the First World War, he was accredited to the French government as a representative of the Russian Red Cross. At that time he became a great friend of Philippe Pétain. Thereafter, ruined by the Russian revolution, he continues to frequent the orientalist circles. Appointed temporary member of the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) in 1920 (Pétain attended several of his courses at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes). Naturalized French in 1925. An influential member of the School, he continued his research in Indochina until the declaration of war.
In 1940, he made his own the rumors of a Masonic assassination of the Marshal at the time of the Sursaut. During the fall of Hanoi, he knowingly stayed behind. In 1942, he participated in conferences in Japan and tried to create a Franco-Japanese cultural propaganda organ, without success. He immediately offered to be a member of this militia, although his age forbade him to command in the field.
- Jean d'Hers. Born in 1910. Saint-cyrien. After attending the Gendarmerie training school in 1935, he was appointed commander of the Mobile Brigade of the Civil Guard in Gia-Dinh (Cochinchina) in 1936. During the Japanese invasion, he was slightly wounded and taken prisoner in early 1942. Afterwards, having obtained the evacuation of his wife and their seven children to North Africa with the members of the diplomatic corps, he put himself at the service of the occupier. But it was a ruse on his part: at the head of one of the three companies, he took advantage of his position to collect as much information as possible about the Japanese troops occupying Cambodia. The most difficult thing will be to find a way to transmit them to the local resistance...

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Port Moresby - The excitement is great when a gigantic air force (well gigantic on this front) appears in the sky. No less than 43 Mitsubishi G4M2/3 bombers "Betty" took off from Vunakanau airfield, near Rabaul. They are escorted by 151 Zeros, some of which were provided by the aircraft carriers Junyo and Shokaku.
The armada was spotted by Paga Hill radar as it crossed the Owen Stanley Range. The Australian flak batteries defending Port Moresby are put on alert and are very active, but very inaccurate, as they fire no less than 1,112 shells without hitting a single enemy aircraft!
The fighters defending Port Moresby - P-38s, P-39s, P-40s, Hurricanes, 44 aircraft in all - climb at 25,000 feet to confront the attackers. A violent dogfight starts. Four allied fighters are shot down (two pilots were saved) in exchange for three Zeros and a Betty (plus one destroyed while trying to land at Lae). Two allied fighters and eleven attackers are damaged. However, the G4M2 can attack the planned objectives, between 10:15 and 10:25.
The fuel tank of the 3-Mile Drome (Kila-Kila) airstrip is burned by bombs and 125,000 gallons of jet fuel are destroyed. The resulting spectacular column of smoke is photographed by all the reporters for the story about the raid. Shrapnel ripped through the 3rd Bomb Group HQ, lacerating tents but causing no casualties.
At 5-Mile Drome (Wards), Japanese bombs hit RAAF aircraft in the parking lot. One Beaufighter is destroyed and two badly damaged. Five USAAF C-47s are also damaged, but are soon repaired.
The 12-Mile Drome (Berry) airfield is luckier, only one Airacobra is damaged. The camp of the Engineer unit stationed nearby is hit.
On 14-Mile Drome (Schwimmer), eighteen allied planes are more or less damaged, including three B-25 and one DH-84.
The G4M2s attacking the harbor do little damage. Their bombs only cause some slight damage to the ships present.
However, the assault was considered by the Japanese as a brilliant triumph. The pilots, very, too enthusiastic, inflated the allied losses. In Rabaul, the Japanese are proud of the damaged inflicted on the main enemy base which should delay the operations launched against Lae by the "colonizers".
In Port Moresby, on the other hand, we are delighted, after having undergone such an important raid, to get away with so little damage. The port and the ships are intact. The infrastructure of the airfields are still operational and the number of aircraft hit is limited.
This raid on Port Moresby is the last to involve more than a few aircraft. The Japanese power ran out of steam to break the resistance of the port. Impossible to take, it also resisted attempts to strangle it from the air.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

New Georgia - At dawn, a convoy of seven transports, carrying two battalions of the 132nd and 164th Regiments of the 23rd ID Americal and the battalion of the Marine Raiders (2,600 men in all), presents itself in front of Rice Anchorage, located 15 miles from Munda and 8 miles from Enogai, on the northern coast of New Georgia. The purpose of this operation is to cut off the supply to Munda coming from Kolombangara via Baroko-Enogai.
During this time, in order to create a diversion, five cruisers (the Cleveland, Helena, Montpelier, Phoenix and Saint Louis) and six destroyers of Rear Admiral Ainsworth's force begin a shelling of Vella Lavella. They are surprised to find themselves facing Japanese ships: a Japanese convoy left from Kolombangara for Munda, in order to land 1,200 men as reinforcements. Faced with the American offensive, the Japanese had in fact re-launched the "Tokyo Express", which had supplied Guadalcanal for months. The transports turn around while the destroyers of their escort - three Kagero class, the Arashi, Ariake and Mikazuki - sound the charge and make a volte face to the American squadron by launching their torpedoes. The destroyer Strong, hit by a Long Lance, starts to sink; it is rescued by the Chevalier, which voluntarily rams it to save the crew. The The Americans, who had not seen the transports, do not pursue the convoy, fearing an ambush on the shoals that are not friendly for maneuvering.
The fact remains that the Japanese landing is prevented, while the American landing takes place unopposed. The GIs go into the jungle, guided by the natives recruited by Kennedy, with three days of rations and leaving two guard companies on their back. The only false note is that a battalion of the 164th RI had landed five miles too far north and would take several days to catch up with the others.
.........
Segi Point - On this American National Holiday, the troops land at Segi Point resume their turtle-like progress through the jungle. Three LCTs land heavy equipment and bulldozers at the airfield site, which is not progressing quickly, much to Hester's concern.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Rastenburg - A final preparation meeting brings together all the leaders of operation Zitadelle. Kluge, Manstein, Model, Paulus are there, as well as the highest representatives of the OKH and FHO. Also present, the commanders of the PanzerKorps engaged in the operation: Eberbach, Hausser and Kempf, as well as representatives of the LuftFlotte 4. At Hitler's express request, the Chief of Staff of the 2. PanzerArmee as well as General Jàny (commander of the 2nd Hungarian Army, subordinate to the 2. PanzerArmee) were also summoned. However, they did not participate in the beginning of the meeting.
The Führer methodically goes over the plans for the offensive, insisting on each step, asking the officers in charge many questions. Logistics did not escape Hitler's questions. The statements of the fuel and ammunition depots are reviewed, as well as those of the replacement units. The absolute priority given to Zitadelle made it possible to complete them to a level not seen since the start of Barbarossa. The high level of preparation of the troops, the accumulation of modern equipment, and the excellent morale of the soldiers. The FHO's information is also reassuring: the Red Army has taken the bait. The twelve armies already identified are still there, concentrating colossal means. Destroying these forces, or at least bleeding them out, would really be a terrible blow to the Soviet capabilities.
The representatives of the 2. PanzerArmee and the Hungarians then enter. Hitler summarizes to them quickly the future offensive while insisting on a crucial point: it is imperative that their forces fix the 2nd Ukrainian Front in order to prevent it from attacking the right wing of Manstein's troops. Of course, von Arnim had only limited means, but he would not be asked to attack excessively. To agitate in front of Vinnitsa should be enough to dissuade Bagramyan to move, especially since the Soviets will have in memory the consequences of their last attack... Thus covered, Manstein will be able to advance as quickly as possible and close the solid nasse which will be woven around Kiev. Hustled on their western and south-western flanks, stuck against the Dnieper, the Red forces will be crushed.
Hitler goes further: the loss of twelve armies and their equipment, plus the fall of Kiev, a symbolic city, should weaken the communist power. Or even make it falter. Launching himself in political considerations, the Führer insists: to win in Ukraine before the autumn is imperative. Once its armored force destroyed and its morale hard hit, the Red Army will not be able to launch any more great cavalcades and will inevitably pass on the defensive. Thus, once Zitadelle is successful, we can repatriate part of the German resources towards the west to finish with the Allies in Italy and to consolidate the positions on the French coast to prevent the landing that is sure to come.
There is one final question to be settled: the date of the attack. The need to settle last-minute logistical details and the need to receive a few more heavy tanks (a detail that was of great concern to Hitler) led to the decision to set the start of Zitadelle for July 10th.
.........
Bucharest - The Hungarians having been warned of the offensive in Rastenburg, it is advisable to warn the Romanians as well. In order not to give the impression of a different treatment between the two countries, Hitler takes care to call Marshal Antonescu personally in order to explain to him the broad outlines of Zitadelle to him. The Romanian leader appreciates the gesture and listens closely to the idea that Hungarian soldiers could fight near the Romanian borders. Antonescu takes advantage of this conversation to thank Hitler again for sending reinforcements to the 11. Armee. If, for the time being, Soviet activity on the activity on the Dniester is contained, the fact remains that the Odessa Front will not remain on its knees forever. And the two allies agree to maintain and reinforce cooperation between their two armies.
After hanging up, Antonescu remains pensive. Zitadelle... So this is the reason why the Germans to review their order of battle on the Russian front. A very ambitious operation... perhaps too much so. Of course, the quality and quantity of the means deployed by the Wehrmacht for this operation is reassuring. But what if the machine seized up? What if the Panzers did not manage to break through? If Kiev proved to be too hard a nut to crack? What would happen? Under these conditions, having two or three armored divisions in the Armed Forces Group Sud-Ukraine might not be enough insurance for Romania and the survival of its regime.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

French coast of the Mediterranean - The airfield of Le Cannet des Maures receives the visit of the B-17 of the 390th BG, escorted by P-38 of the 14th FG. A little further south, the facilities of the peninsula of Saint-Mandrier undergo the ire of the B-25 of the 12th BG.
Other structures of the Südwall of the Alpes Maritimes and the Italian Riviera, towards Théoule and Ventimiglia, are attacked by the Air Force (25th and 23rd EB escorted by the 7th and 2nd EC).
Works under construction in the Aude, between Narbonne and Béziers (Vinassan and Sérignan), are bombed by the B-26 of the 319th BG, accompanied by a French escort of the 4th EC, and by the P-51B-A of the 86th FBG escorted by the P-51B of the 354th FG 5.
No bomber is shot down. The Allies lose three fighters and the Germans four, plus a Ju 88 C6 of the long-range fighter squadron, detached by the V/KG 40, which had the bad idea to go marauding near the coast of Sardinia at the time of the return of the raid on Languedoc.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Italian Front - The 527th FBS of the 86th FBG, covered by the P-38s of the 82nd FG, conducted a first raid on raid on rail traffic north of Florence as part of Operation Strangle. The 527th FBS is equipped with A-36s - it is the only one of the 86th FBG, whose other squadrons had received P-51B-As shortly before.
For this first mission, the A-36s are accompanied by a single P-47 of the 324th FG, piloted by Captain James Fenex, who is testing for his training the possibilities of the aircraft in the field of dive-bombing.
No losses are reported.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Adriatic - If the intensity of Macon II decreases today and the following days, it is because the Wellingtons of the 205 Group are left at the disposal of Macon I and operate in other sectors, for the benefit of the 8th Army.
The airfield of Novo Mesto and the defensive positions of the island of Rab are however attacked by the aircraft of Sqn 18 and 603, covered respectively by the fighters of Sqn 73 and 92. JG 53 reacts; the day's toll is three Spitfires and a Beaufighter shot down in exchange for two Focke-Wulf 190.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Yugoslavian coast of the Adriatic - The Yugoslavian air force, based in Vis, bomb Kočevje, obviously without concern for civilian casualties. Perhaps because Kočevje, which the Germans call Gottschee, is one of the main German settlements in the former Carniola and a recruitment center for the SS Prinz Eugen Division.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Brasov (Romania) - The young king Michel comes to Brasov to visit the victims of the bombing of the day before. After visiting the hospital, he exchanges a few words with the captured American airmen.
The king also stops at the cemetery to attend the funerals of the dead. A small incident disturbs the ceremony: an old woman comes to place a bouquet of flowers on the grave of one of the American airmen (buried the same morning). An officer of the royal suite, perhaps a sympathizer of the Iron Guard, challenges her: "You come to flower the graves of these brigands plutocrats while they arm the Red Muscovites who massacred our boys in the Ukraine?"
- Well," replies the old woman, "I hope that there are other mothers over there who are flowering the graves of our boys.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Kuršumlija - The second bombing of the Serbian town of Niš, two days earlier, widely exploited by the Axis propaganda, has caused confusion among the Serbian population. Tito's Labour Party also used it, but in a completely different way: according to them, it was Mihailovic's wait-and-see policy was the reason why Serbia became a target for the Allied air force.
Striking while the iron is hot, Tito returns to his idea of taking the war to Serbia: when the Allies landed for good, which is not long in coming, it had to be the Partisans and not the Chetniks - or, at worst, the Partisans alongside the Chetniks - that liberate this essential region of Yugoslavia. He therefore orders the 2nd Proletarian Brigade and the 5th
Partisan Division to assemble in the Sandjak region, on the borders of Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, and to march to Kuršumlija to launch a "campaign to liberate Serbia".
Why Kuršumlija? This small mountain town in the Toplica Valley is probably completely unknown to the Western military staff, but it has a strong symbolic significance for the Serbs: in 1917, when the French had just landed in Salonika, it was from there that a revolt against the Bulgarian occupiers started, which was quickly crushed. Until March, it was the stronghold of Kosta Pećanac, an established Chetnik leader whom the Germans eventually eliminated. Since then, Toplica and all of Upper Serbia have once again been occupied by the Bulgarians, under vague German supervision. The new masters practice a policy of bulgarization, which consists in evicting all the Serbian executives, from priests to teachers, and to impose their agents and their language everywhere. Not to mention the requisitions and summary executions! Even the puppet government of General Nedic, which maintains in Belgrade a semblance of Serbian power under German tutelage, does not cease to protest against the Bulgarian excesses.
By launching his Partisans against the Bulgarians, Tito knows that he can rally a good part of the Chetniks and even Nedic's gendarmerie collabos. General Mihailovic, who remains the respected, if not always obeyed, leader of the royalist Chetniks in Upper Serbia and whose local influence is much greater than that of Tito, will have to choose sides: support the Partisans against the German-Bulgarians and appear as Tito's subordinate, or abandon them and disgrace himself as a traitor to the Yugoslav cause.
The perspective is all the more interesting for Tito as his French advisors have just invited him to an inter-yugoslav conference, planned before the end of the month in the liberated island of Vis. A success in Toplica would allow Tito to appear there in a position of strength.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Central Greece - General Müller, responsible for the sector between Thebes and Thermopylae, has put all his men on the hunt: the disappearance of General Crüwell provokes a strong emotion in the troops as well as in the staffs of Athens, Salonika and Berlin. However, all hopes are still allowed: two years earlier, on June 26th, 1941, the SS chief Reinhard Heydrich had disappeared at the controls of his plane in the same area in central Greece and was found alive two days later.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Athens - On this summer Sunday, Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens celebrates the feast of Saint Andrew of Crete. He recalls that the holy Byzantine bishop, restorer of the Orthodox liturgy, had to face a Saracen invasion: he then called the population to withdraw to the fortress and to entrust themselves to the protection of the Virgin of the Blachernas; no harm came to the city. Some connoisseurs of Greek politics - it is the case of professor Picard, among others, among the French - who see in it an allusion to the circumstances of the day.
The archbishop is a respected figure both by the Germans and by the various Greek factions and he would be a recourse in the event of a vacancy in power.

 

[Wings]

July 4th, 1943

Knossos - It's a different party altogether that brings the Royal Greek Radio to give the floor to Georgios Papandreou, the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. "Escaped" from Athens, as he proudly declares, he congratulates the powerful American ally, which is celebrating its national holiday and reminds us that Greece, the cradle of democracy, is "at the side of the United States, the United Kingdom and France" to restore peace and freedom to Europe.
Greece, he says, would be uncompromising about respecting its territory and would not allow any "Northern power" to attack it: allusion to the Bulgarians who still occupy Macedonia and Thrace alongside the Germans.
Picard, in his daily report to Algiers, also sees an allusion to certain rumors of separate peace between Bulgaria and the Allies, through the intermediary of the Soviet Union, which would allow the Bulgarians to keep part of their conquests. The silence of Papandreou on the Soviets, who are however getting closer and closer to the Balkans, does not augur well for relations between Greeks and Slavs.

 

[Wings]

July 5th, 1943

3rd US Army HQ (Leicester) - "No Ike, frankly listen, on this one I had nothing to do with it! I just wanted to please some old ladies! I even made sure to mention the English first, even though you know I don't like their Old England and Indian Army side! They're trying to get lice in my head to hurt me, that's all!" At the other end of the line, Eisenhower - who had personally takento settle this painful matter - could not find much to say. First, because he still plans to get Ol' Blood and Guts back for the next campaign in France (the real one, Overlord). Secondly, because he has other, more pressing concerns.
The problem, as is often the case with Patton, is that politics got involved.
The matter even went as far as Cordell Hull, after the Soviets had "felt insulted by General Patton's remarks" - all through the voice of Molotov himself! Bloody journalists. Censorship deprives them of a bone to pick, so they invent problems on their own! Unless, of course, there are other hands at work in the shadows...
The boss of SHAFE is thus, once again, forced to show authority towards his cumbersome subordinate. But with benevolence. "Listen to me, George. I'll let the storm pass - after all, the Russians have other things to worry about right now. They probably want more trucks for their operations in Ukraine, that's all. But I don't want any more nonsense! For God's sake! Hanging around with this Giraud, did he contaminate you or what? Not another word without my agreement, understood?"
Perfectly understood. Patton knows that his return to the front - the real one, this time - depends as much on the success of Dragon and Fortitude as it does on the survival of certain of some of his high-profile relationships. So he'll be especially quiet until fall.

 

[Wings]

July 5th, 1943

Hôtel Matignon, Paris - Jacques Doriot (President of the Council and Minister of the Interior), summons Victor Barthélemy (the other Minister of the Interior), Fernand de Brinon (Minister of Justice) and Xavier Vallat (Commissioner for Jewish issues). For Vallat, the meeting seems banal - he had been to many of them since the end of 1940. The last time, Doriot and Brinon were already there, but there was also Darnand and of course Laval. Vallat regrets Darnand - "A veteran like me," he thinks, "someone who understands me." Laval's absence bothers him less, which does not prevent him from emphasizing it: "He is President of the New French State, after all, right?" To which Doriot retorts, puffing his chest out: "Presiding over or even attending these meetings is no longer part of the prerogatives of Monsieur Laval, you understand, don't you?"
Vallat does not understand much, nor did he understand the political upheavals of the last few weeks, but he replies that he understands and sits down in his usual place, thinking that the content of the meeting would be similar to that of the previous ones. What a mistake! For more than half an hour, the former deputy of the Ardèche will receive a series of volleys of green wood. Barthélemy: "The figures show that the action of your office is lamentable! Its record is questionable and contested!"- Doriot: "How do you expect France to find its true place in the New Europe if we are not even capable of helping the Germans in their plan to deport the Jews to Eastern Europe, while they assume, almost alone alas, the task of defending us against the Bolshevism?" - Barthélemy, again: "Why make so many differences between Jews? Jews born in France of parents who were, alas, already French, or recently naturalized Jews, what does it matter? Get rid of the whole race of Israel! May we have, for once, a real reason for satisfaction!" And so on.
Vallat defends himself as best he can, the others are deaf to his arguments.
De Brinon does not intervene - it is true that his wife is of Jewish origin. She was not bothered because of her husband's very good relations with the Germans, but this does not prompt the Minister of Justice to cry haro!
Jacques Doriot finally pust an end to Vallat's ordeal: "My dear friend [he was never so kind!], it seems obvious to me that despite all your good will, you do not have the energy necessary for the hard work of cleaning up France that we have undertaken. The Commissariat aux Questions Juives must play an essential role in this work; for this we need a new man. As of noon, I am relieving you of your responsibilities. I will make it official shortly."
Stunned and offended, Vallat has nothing to say in reply, except to ask who is going to replace him It is Barthélemy who replies: "We don't know yet. We have time. But don't worry about it, old man, the Jews are no longer your concern, okay?"
Adding insult to injury, it is at 20:00 the same day that a press release read on Radio Nouvelle-France announces the appointment of "Monsieur Louis Darquier de Pellepoix" as head of the Jewish Affairs Commission of the New French State.
No transfer of power ceremony will take place.

 

[Wings]

July 5th, 1943

North Atlantic - At dawn, the Jean-Bart switches to an avia route and officially launches its first combat CAP of the war: four Corsairs, led by Lagadec, who won his place against Jubelin in a tough fight... and a coin toss, plus four TBFs on ASW patrol. The following CAPs will be led by only two F4Us and two TBFs or SBDs, the bulk of the ASW work still being done by the land-based aircraft.
.........
Scapa Flow, 08:00 local time - The Richelieu and its escort sail, greeted by the whistles and sirens of the Royal Navy ships and the cheers of the British crews at the bandstands, while the Aldis lamps blink in unison:
"Thank you and good hunting, Fighting Cardinal!". Since its victory over the Bismarck, the Richelieu is a bit of a Scapa darling...
Four Sunderlands survey the sea around the battle group to ward off any U-Boot unaware enough to try to make a hit. On board the nine ships, even though the sailors do not yet know their destination, the mood is optimistic since the redistribution of a set of white outfits to each one, whereas one had feared for a moment to leave for the Arctic... No more grey days in Orkney!
.........
Sign that times have changed since two years, the two groups will not travel with one of the many convoys that cross the Atlantic.