The Sword of Freedom: A Franco-British Union TL

[Dunois]

Dear All!

Thanks for all the feedback on the discussion thread from last year here. As I am sure you all know the 16th of June 1940 is now exactly 70 years away, which seems like a good date to begin this TL for good.

Writing style wise, this is my first TL so constructive criticism is welcome! I intend to have a mainly an history book style writing, coupled with some dialogue in the case of certain posts.

Part One
Chapter 1: The declaration of Union

Bordeaux 16th of June 1940, 16h00

“Monsieur le Président, perhaps you could become the president of the Franco-British war council! But the task is now in your hands alone Monsieur le Président, both myself and Winston Churchill count on you in this time of great danger. The fate of France is in your hands”
“Général, I will fight to the end for this document you can count on me!”

The phone receiver down, Paul Reynaud was left with the company of Edward Spears and Ronald Hugh Campbell, respectively Foreign Office representative and personal representative of Winston Churchill to the French Government.
“Monsieur le Président, I can assure you that the British Government will never let down her ally in her hour of greatest need. You never let us down during the First World War and I saw your fighting spirit there, the war is not lost Monsieur le Président!”
“I know General Spears, but Maréchal Pétain will not be a walkover, as I am sure you know!”
“But Monsieur le Président I believe that he handed his resignation yesterday under certain conditions, namely a clear response from us. You now have this response, use it to your advantage. Oh and surely it might be better if the word does not spread too much!”
“You might be right Général!”
“Aide, bring me a typewriter” said Paul Reynaud in a very determined voice!

17h00, Conseil des Ministres

“Messieurs I have a very important announcement to make to you all, which concern the conduct of the war, please listen carefully! This, he said taking a sheet of paper out of his right pocked, document comes from London and has the approval of Monsieur Churchill himself as well as of all the British Cabinet.

At this most fateful moment in the history of the modern world the Governments of the United Kingdom and the French Republic make this declaration of indissoluble union and unyielding resolution in their common defence of justice and freedom, against subjection to a system which reduces mankind to a life of robots and slaves.
The two Governments declare that France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations but one Franco-British Union. The constitution of the Union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, financial, and economic policies. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain, every British subject will become a citizen of France.
Both countries will share responsibility for the repair the devastation of war, wherever it occurs in their territories, and the resources of both shall be equally, and as one, applied to that purpose.
During the war there shall be a single war Cabinet, and all the forces of Britain and France, whether on land, sea, or in the air, will be placed under its direction. It will govern from wherever it best can. The two Parliaments will be formally associated.
The nations of the British Empire are already forming new armies. France will keep her available forces in the field, on the sea, and in the air.
The Union appeals to the United States to fortify the economic resources of the Allies and to bring her powerful material aid to the common cause.
The Union will concentrate its whole energy against the power of the enemy no matter where the battle may be. And thus we shall conquer.

The silence lasted for a while once Paul Reynaud had finished reading the document for the second time so as to make his point very clear. The first to break the silence, standing up to a still stunned room, was a man with a never before seen fire in his eye and a man whom would later play a very important role in building our country as we know it today. His name was Georges Mandel.
Extracted from “Seventy Years of l’Union Cordiale” special edition of the Daily Telegraph, 16th June 2010.

“Messieurs les Ministres, l’honneur de la France urges us to accept this generous proposal coming from our ally. The alternative I am afraid is an unknown fate at the hands of Hitler and his cronies and the honour of France demands us to reject such uncertainty.”
“Because you don’t think that becoming a British Dominion is uncertainty, Monsieur Mandel. Barked Camille Chautemps, further adding, Monsieur le Président du Conseil allons this proposal is a luncacy, the dire situation we are in calls for decisiveness, not for zany schemes such as this one coming from a country likely to be invaded over the summer!
There I am afraid that we will have to disagree Monsieur le Vice Président du Conseil, the Manche is slightly wider than the Rhine and according to intelligence from Général Spears the German navy is still smaller than the Royal Navy.
Mais Monsieur le Président du Conseil, said a man at the back of the room in a voice worn down by time. Do you realise that the war is lost in France and that we should rather be thinking about asking for an armistice!”
“Maréchal Pétain, there are still over a million of our soldiers fighting the Germans, we therefore can hold the line for some time. As for an Armistice I hope that you realise that this mean uncertainty at the hands of the enemy and a betrayal of everything this country stands for!”
“Monsieur le Président du Conseil, continuing the war is a lunacy!”
“If you do not agree with this declaration Marshall you are free to leave this room, Indeed I believe that you handed your resignation yesterday, so I will ask you to assume the consequences of your actions!”
“This is an outrage!”
“Not as much as the outrage your are proposing to commit by handing this country to the enemy!” Georges Mandel said in a stern voice.
“But I do not propose to betray my country either by handing it to the English! I am a soldier, let me speak to my fellow German soldiers, together we can find an honourable arrangement!”
“An arrangement with the enemy as opposed to an arrangement with our ally, Monsieur le Maréchal what you are mentioning is called treason! I will order my services to arrest you for high treason!”

The Maréchal left the room stunned and shaken, under the awed eyes of the members of the council.

“This body will now vote on the proposition!”

By 13 votes to 9 the French Conseil des Ministres had decided to continue the war!

London Waterloo station, 17h15

“Prime Minister a message from France!” The Prime Minister read the message and said to the assembled audience, comprosing the leaders of the three parties and military and civil advisers. “Gentlemens, en route to Concarneau, France stays in the war!”
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=142137

 

[Some Bloke]

One thing that immediately occurs is that this is going to generate resentment among the dominions. Don't forget that in WWI each dominion had a representative in the War Cabinet, but this was not the case in WWII (Thank you Winnie, you saved Britain but destroyed the empire).

ITTL France will certainly have a representative and therefore direct influence in Imperial (Union?) Grand Strategy. IOTL Jan Smuts (A South African Field Marshal and sometime PM) was also on the war cabinet. With this in mind it is almost certain that the remaining dominions are going to request (read DEMAND) direct representation, and ITTL Churchill will have absolutely no grounds to refuse.

How will a more integrated high command before US intervention affect the course of the war?

 

[Dunois]

One thing that immediately occurs is that this is going to generate resentment among the dominions. Don't forget that in WWI each dominion had a representative in the War Cabinet, but this was not the case in WWII (Thank you Winnie, you saved Britain but destroyed the empire).

ITTL France will certainly have a representative and therefore direct influence in Imperial (Union?) Grand Strategy. IOTL Jan Smuts (A South African Field Marshal and sometime PM) was also on the war cabinet. With this in mind it is almost certain that the remaining dominions are going to request (read DEMAND) direct representation, and ITTL Churchill will have absolutely no grounds to refuse.

How will a more integrated high command before US intervention affect the course of the war?

A very interesting point whom you raise. Indeed the high command will be much more integrated but expect this to take some time, since France has very pressing concerns. Namely, the need to evacuate as much equipment, manpower and the like to North Africa. Therefore expect political matters to be rather "ad hoc" for sometime, at least until the evacuation of France is complete so until late July.

From August onwards, a Union cabinet will be constituted as well as a supreme high command however and a strategy will be put in place as well. The first combined Franco-British offensives will be aimed at Lybia and other Italian possessions in the Mediteranean Sea.

 

[Hendryk]

We'll be following this TL with interest.

 

[Whanztastic]

Often proposed, rarely executed. Do continue.

 

[MikeTurcotte]

Often proposed, rarely executed. Do continue.

An interesting aspect of all this is the German reaction to this - rather bizarre - announcement. Hitler and the Nazis are likely to be flummoxed and angered by this - flummoxed becuase it flies in the face of 1000 years of history - angered because it means the war in the West is not over.

From a military standpoint, the Germans may still still find somebody (like Petain) and create a version of Vichy. Of course, this will be limited to Metropolitan France as the colonies would follow the 'legimate' government in London (which, coincidentally has a combined RN and MN to forestall any ideas of joining Vichy that any ambitious colonial governor might have - no matter what the fleet-less Nazis try to offer). This splits the French between the 'legitimate' government in London, and the 'alternative' on in Vichy. Oddly, I can almost see more Frenchmen rallying to Vichy as the Germans aren't saying anything about perpetual union...which holds the door open to eventual French 'independence' (albeit as a Nazi client state).

Of course, Hitler may be pissed (and dumb) enough to forego Vichy (or a Vichy analogue) and just occupy the whole of Metropolitan France.

With a more unified enemy in the West, Hitler may forego Barbarossa to 'finish off' the WAllies, but maybe not too. Japan will probably still try to occupy French IndoChina, and I doubt the WAllies would fight them. Though an early war with Japan would be intruiging (as I think the WAllies would lose rather badly at sea in the Pacific).

Mike Turcotte

 

[Astrodragon]

Was the joining to be permanent or just for the duration of the war? I had always assumed the latter, but an obvious way of fending off a lot of opposition was to make it last the duration, then if its worked, well you can always sort it, maybe make it permanent, after Germany is defeated.

By making it for the period of the war, you instantly disarm all the people who see France as being subjugated, its only until France is free again

 

[Dunois]

The announcement was designed to be temporary and for the duration of the war only and it will be made very clear by both all parties that this offers does not reduces France independence per se.

The legitimiate French government will be based in Algiers, which was considered as French as mainland France at the time. There will be a joint Franco-British core cabinet later in 1940; but as I have said, the next few weeks and months will be more aboit evacuating what can be evacuated rather than planning the workings and such of the Franco-British Union.

There will be collaborators but nothing on the scale of OTL Vichy France, rather more something like Norway's Quisking government.

The Union WILL LAST after the war though and the constitutional arrangements will be explained in details when time come. I expect the war to be won in late 1944 in Europe just so that you know and it is my firm intention to have a different Iron Curtain cutting accross Europe.

As for the Part two and three, I have a fair few ideas shall we say .

These folks will have very different lives TTL among others :

Georges Mandel: Famous for his leadership of France during the post war period, rose to premiership of the Union in the late 1940s playing a key part in building the ***CLASSIFIED*** model.

Enoch Powel: Famous for his speech from 1961 as a Minister in the Union government, would live to see his wish fullfilled many times over.

Albert Camus: Famous existentialist and then libertarian philosopher.

Alan Turing: Lived to a ripe old age of 94.

Marcel Bloch: Played an instrumental role in the creation of *CLASSIFIED* which became *CLASSIFIED* aerospace companies in the world.

Louis Armand: Engineer in chief for the HST project.

 

[Some Bloke]

If as you say the Union was intended to be only temporary, what happens that mkes people change their minds?

To be honest I can't see a Unitary Franco-British state lasting after the war, so if the Union remains, I suspect that it will be in a highly revised form (initially customs union, abolition of trade tarrifs, common defence polict after a fashion). After all, not many frenchmen are going to be happy with the idea of suddenly being subjects of a British Monarch. This could lead to some very interesting Nazi/Collaborationist propaganda though.

Perhaps the Union evolves in to a more integrated Commonwealth with (eventually) a separate Union Government distinct from that of both France and the UK?

Perhaps ITTL the phrase Commonwealth never becomes popular?

While you are understandably not revealing anything about the nature of the post war Union at this point, this does have some important implications for foreign policy during the cold war era ...

 

[Dan]

In 70 years, if the Union holds that long, by this time we'd have a kind of Franglais as the Lingua Franca for both nations.
C'est Pukka!

 

[Some Bloke]

That phrase would probably be less out of place in a Cliveless world TL (Pukka's Hindi). Although are there any Arabic words common in French (legacy of Algeria & all that)?

 

[Hendryk]

it flies in the face of 1000 years of history

No, only 500 or so

Although are there any Arabic words common in French (legacy of Algeria & all that)?

Quite, a number of Arabic words crept into the French language as a legacy of colonialism. Toubib (doctor), caïd (gang leader), bled (village), casbah (house), bakchich (kickback), etc...

 

[Dunois]

If as you say the Union was intended to be only temporary, what happens that mkes people change their minds?

The achievements of the common energies of France and Britain will create a large amount of goodwill between the two people. Propaganda will play a part as in every conflict, of course. But the feat of arms of certain branches will the Army will also go a long way in laying the foundations of common founding myths and folklore.

To be honest I can't see a Unitary Franco-British state lasting after the war, so if the Union remains, I suspect that it will be in a highly revised form (initially customs union, abolition of trade tarrifs, common defence polict after a fashion). After all, not many frenchmen are going to be happy with the idea of suddenly being subjects of a British Monarch. This could lead to some very interesting Nazi/Collaborationist propaganda though.

The Franco-British Union after the war will be very loose at first and explicitely confederal. BOTH governments will exist separately within the Union and both countries will be free to adopt different laws, a bit like the various states in the United States of America. A modern analogy could be the devolved Scottish government within the United Kingdom, but with MUCH more powers.

There will be some convergence in policy between France and Britain, especially post war when the need to create a Welfare state will come up. Things will end up very different from OTL in some ways, and will not be so different in some other ways.

To be fair though I have not entirely though up about the all post war arrangements yet.

Perhaps the Union evolves in to a more integrated Commonwealth with (eventually) a separate Union Government distinct from that of both France and the UK?

Perhaps ITTL the phrase Commonwealth never becomes popular?

The dilemna betwen Europe and the high seas which Britain never made OTL up to today, might be settled in a very interesting way indeed.

While you are understandably not revealing anything about the nature of the post war Union at this point, this does have some important implications for foreign policy during the cold war era ...

No worries, ATL Cold War will be very different, as might be ATL Space Race .

 

[Dunois]

Chapter 2: The Georges Directive

Chapter 2: The Georges Directive

The signature of the Treaty of Union onboard HMS Cardiff in Concarneau was a rather low key event and most of the decisions on the conduct of the war and the arrangements of the buoyant Franco-British Union took place behind the scenes both in London and in Bordeaux. For practical reasons it was decided to delay the creations of most joint organs until the evacuation of France and its armies to both Great-Britain and North Africa was complete. Nevertheless, the entrance of Italy in the war on June the 10th meant that the Mediterranean Area was now a warzone were both naval, aerial and land operations could be reasonably expected to take place. The decision to create a unified Franco-British Command for the area was therefore easy to take. While at first the priority was to ensure a frictionless evacuation of French personnel to North Africa, tentative plans for the conquest of Libya and the neutralisation of the Regia Marina were drawn by the end of the June.

It was decided for the moment that the French government would remains in France, albeit moved to the safety of Toulouse. Indeed while the broadcast of the news that France and Britain were one over the night of the 16th was for the most part passively accepted by the population and the military at large. It was thought essential to prevent any feelings of France having surrendered itself to the United Kingdom to appear and great care was taken to communicate the fact that France was still fighting as an independent nation. Plans regarding the future evacuation of the French government and Parliament to London were nonetheless drawn, despite a debate among French ministers on whether or not an evacuation to Algeria would be more suitable since the area was considered a part of France itself then. In the end the London option was favoured, chiefly for practical reasons as communication would be eased with Commonwealth allies and between the authorities of both members of the Union. With the benefit of hindsight, it can be said that the London option was instrumental in forging the links and friendships which made the Monnet Commission possible in 1944.

The military situation in France on June the 17th was serious but the French Army and Air Force both had fighting strength left. The replacement of General Weygand by General Georges was instrumental in reorganising what could be reorganised and the lines in the sand were clearly drawn by the Georges directive sent on the 17th to all commanders in France:

“The enemy progression is not as fast as it once was and we have reasonable hopes that their mechanised forces will have to slow down drastically over the next few days for logistical reasons. We have no hope to counter-attack and reverse the losses taken from May the 10th, our only hope now is the delay enemy advances for as long as we can, in order to make the evacuation of as much of our forces to North Africa and Great Britain possible. Our Navy and the Royal Navy have full mastery of the seas and will maintain the line of communications with the Empire, the British Isles and the United States open. In the skies the Armée de L’air is now in a better shape than it was a few weeks ago and able to dispute the mastery of the skies from the Luftwaffe.

Geography is on our side in this battle and the Massif Central will direct the enemy towards the Rhône Valley and the Poitou. It is imperative to hold the Rhône valley from a Line from Saint Etienne to Grenoble for as long as possible. Once broken a second defensive line is to be formed on the Isère encompassing Valence as strong point. The Italian Army must not cross the Alps at any cost and I have a full faith in the ability of our Alpine forces coupled with our fortifications there to delay the Italian advance for as long as will be necessary. In the West we must strive to hold the Loire at all costs, with the Cher acting as a fall back line. This should give us enough time to establish a defensive line running from La Rochelle to Niort and Limoges with the Vienne River as defensive base.

It goes without saying that any rail or road bridge potentially useful to the enemy should be destroyed during our retreats as any ammunition store or fuel dump whose contents cannot be evacuated southwards. Production in factories useful to our defence efforts must be continued for as long as it is possible to do so and anything which cannot be carried in the retreat must be destroyed to prevent it from falling in enemy hands.

Full cooperation must be sought from the Air Force and the Navy where appropriate as this defence is by necessity the work of all three arms.”

The defence of the Loire was marked by numerous heroic acts including the well know sacrifice of the Saumur Cadets. The pupils from the Saumur cavalry schools not wishing to evacuate to North Africa were tasked with the defence of a 30km wide front, helped in this task by whatever remnants of retreating units would join them. All in all they managed to hold the German advances for two days until the 19th.

The German advance in central France was made harder by the now significant logistical difficulties encountered by both the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe. Indeed the Panzers divisions were now far from their logistical bases in northern France and fuel was slow in coming, not helped of course by the numerous destructions of the French road and rail network. Breakdowns were also very common and crews more often than not tired after weeks of constant advance. The Luftwaffe was now operating at the limit of its range especially for the Me Bf109 fighters, leaving bomber escort to the longer ranged but weaker Me Bf110. Operational transfer to airfields in the Paris region and further south began as soon as possible but nonetheless took time and until early July, the Luftwaffe operational range was limited to the north of a Bordeaux Valence line.

However in some parts of France further retreat was already not possible. This was the case of Second Groupe d’Armée virtually encircled by the German Army from the 18th onwards. Resistance in the area lasted until June the 26th though some forts in the Maginot line would hold until the 3rd of August despite constant bombardments by Stukas and heavy artillery.
In Brittany Brest fell on the 20th but the resistance of both French and British forces in the area enabled the evacuation of 90 000 allied personnel as part of Operation Ariel. All elements of the French Navy able to take the seas were evacuated and as part of this evacuation many ships in various stages of building were also destroyed. The battleships Jean Bart and Richelieu were evacuated to the United Kingdom in order to be completed there.

Diary of corporal Bernard Petit.
I don’t know where to begin, the last few days have been hectic to say the least and had it not been for that R35 tank taking that shell back near Rennes I would be dead today. On the night of the 16th word came round the company that we were now a single country with Les Anglais. Some guys could not believe it but it meant that the war was not over yet for us and we were all glad to carry on the struggle against the Nazis.

We received orders to defend the outskirts of Rennes for as long as we could before falling back to Saint Brieuc. We only had a few 75 and some R35 heavy equipment wise. Yet we stopped them behind the Villaine for a few hours on the 18th before they crossed en force in inflatable boats helped in by Stukas. I was covering a position by the river with a FM close to a R35 tank, I shot quite a few of the buggers but they came back with a Panzer. That Panzer first shot went straight at our tank and it blew up right next to me and none of the three guys inside survived. I fell back further with other members of the squad and we then proceeded to evacuate back to Saint Brieuc.

There was a bit of action near Saint Brieuc but it became apparent that we would not be able to do much and we fell back on Brest. We were lucky that this ship the Lancastria was there for us on the evening of the 19th, otherwise I might be on my way to Germany now.

A lot of the guys are feeling down since we are leaving France for some time. I really don’t know what lies ahead for us now, I doubt that the Boches will be able to cross over to England but we will see.

The numerous delaying actions of the French Army coupled with the difficulties of the Wehrmacht meant that it took until the 25th of June for the Germans to reach the defensive lines mooted by Georges in his directive. By then however the supply problems of the Germans were starting to ease and the Panzers continued their march further south.

 

[Blackadder mk 2]

I wonder what the world reaction is to ze union.

 

[Dunois]

Chapter 3: The Battle of the Rhône Valley

The resumption of the German advance further south in early July was not as swift as the previous advances of early May or June as the supply problems were for the most part still there. But more importantly, the Rhône Valley was not the plains of the Flanders or Northern France. Furious battles were fought on the Isère line between the 4th and 9th of July with at time near fanatical resistance from troops such as the one offered by Senegalese Colonial Infrantry, whose likely fate in captivity was very well known to all.

While the French Army could count on its extensive network of bases and fortresses in the area for its ammunition supply, some production continued up to the end of July wherever that was possible. As might be expected in the light of the very difficult circumstances, a great deal of improvisation took place, best exemplified by the continued production of the Laffly40 self-propelled gun.

The Italian offensive in the Alps had been stopped dead in its track ever since it started and the Armée des Alpes commanded by General Olry was able to prevent a major breakthrough on that front. Fighting along the coast was fierce and led to a complete retreat from the town of Menton on July the 7th but the cost of this meagre conquest was high for the Italian army since more than a dozen thousands soldiers had lost their lives on the front. In the air, the Regia Aeronautica while on the offensive in southern France could not achieve any significant superiority over the Armée de l’Air, mainly due to its obsolete equipment and the proximity of the French fighters to their own bases. At the same time the Regia Aeronautica was also coming under pressure in the south, indeed bombings of airfields all over Sardinia and Libya became a daily occurrence from the beginning of July onwards.

The Franco-British strategy in the Mediterranean was decided on July the 5th and included a two pronged offensive against Italian Libya to be started as soon as it was deemed practical to do so. The Italian commander in Libya Italo Balbo was very well aware that his own situation was poor and repeatedly asked for reinforcements. Sending such reinforcements was however made difficult by the constant bombing of the ports by the combined Franco-British airforces and more importantly by the limitations of the Regia Maritima itself. Indeed, it was both outclassed and outnumbered in the area and any attempt to send reinforcements over was sure to be intercepted by the combined navies of France and Britain. The Regia Maritima was therefore reduced to a fleet in being status, status which would be ended by subsequent events.

Worldwide the stubborn resistance of France as part of the Franco-British Union was noticed in the United States in particular. Nevertheless the support from Roosevelt remained a moral one. The German reaction to the announcement of the Franco-British Union was one of irony and Hitler promised in a fiery speech the “defeat of the two-headed monster of Franco-British free-masonry plutocratic jewry!” and immediately ordered Hermann Goering to set out plans for the destruction of the allied airforces present in England “once the French mongrels had completed their retreat to Africa”.

 

[Dunois]

Chapter 4: On Reviendra (We will return!)

Chapter 4: On Reviendra (We will return!)

By the tenth of July the transfer of whatever equipment, troops, recruits and specialists could be moved to North Africa or Britain was well underway though not free of glitches and problems. While the Italian navy was reduced to a fleet in being based in Taranto and La Spezia for the most part, submarine and torpedo boat raids were nevertheless very frequent and forced a deviation of convoy routes to the west towards the Balearics Islands and away from Corsica considered too exposed. Convoys from the Atlantic ports had to face the occasional air and Uboot attacks but their infrequency meant that for the most part ships were able to steam ahead from Bordeaux to Plymouth unharmed.

The combats on land in France were more often than not very intensive and involved a great deal of destruction. Indeed, the retreat of the French army was accompanied by the systematic destruction of rail and road bridges particularly on rivers such as the Charente, the Dordogne and later the Garonne itself. The logistic situation of the Wehrmarcht had by then greatly improved but supplying the Panzers further and further south meant huge strains on the logistic chain. The French army by comparison could rely on the huge ammunition dumps of the Armée des Alpes in the Rhone-Alps area and albeit limited production continued more often than not until the very end in the factories of the Massif Central, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Of note is the continued production of the Dewoitine 520 figher with no less than 217 units produced until the fall of Toulouse in late July.

While brave and often desperate the resistance in the Charente and Perigord region cracked on the 14th of July the same day where in the Rhône Valley Orange was taken. The geography of the South East favoured the defenders with the Rhone valley acting as a huge funnel through which the Panzers had to go through. It is worth noting that the open city policy in place during the first half of June was not carried on after the 16th and the city of Avignon is one of few places where urban fighting did took place on a large scale. For over a week the city was defended as strongpoint in order to delay the German advance towards Nîmes and Montpellier and to allow the retreat of more elements of the French army across the Durance river. Indeed the position of the northernmost elements of the Armée des Alpes commanded by Gen Olry were now in an exposed position since the fall of Grenoble of July the 10th were redeployed further south in order to hold the Durance river line and the town of Digne. Urban fighting within the city of Avignon resulted in severe losses on both sides and for the civilian population. Significant parts of the historically important city centre were also destroyed by artillery bombardment. The Durance river line all in all held for nearly a week before breaking apart on the 23rd of July. The Italian offensive in the Alps started to gain some success by then, greatly helped in the evacuation of Menton and Monaco and now started to advance towards Nice. Greatly helped by the terrain the Armée des Alpes was able to dely an Italian entry into the city until the end of the month.

While evacuations proceeded more or less smoothly from Toulon, Sète and other harbours, it nonetheless came to a near halt in Marseilles due to amount of debris and sunken ships clogging the harbour. While the air supremacy of the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica was far from complete above the skies of Provence, helped by the limited amount of time Bf109 could spend on station and by some amount of radar coverage provided by Royal Navy ships as well as a local station. This could not prevent the numerous attempts to bomb Marseilles and its harbour so that by the time the city fell on the 27th July the harbour was completely unusable. Toulou became the main evacuation point for South Eastern France until its fall on the 5th August the German advance along the coast being hindered by naval artillery bombardments from Battleships and Cruisers such as the Dunkerque and Algérie.

In the South West Bordeaux fell on the 20th followed by Toulouse on the 25th, the French government having evacuated the city for London two days before embarking in Bayonne. Evacuations were carried on from Bayonne and Biarritz until they fell on the 3rd of August. By the then the remaining French forces were concentrated in the Roussillon region with only Sète in addition to smaller local harbours remaining as evacuation points. Montpellier fell on the 7th of August followed by Sète a day later. Fierce resistance on the Naurouze sill only delayed the fall of Narbonne to the 9th of August. By the 11th of August with the fall of Perpignan the whole of France was under German occupation.

This is it now we are on our way to Algeria, the last few days have been though and seeing Henri dyeing from his shrapnel wounds was horrible but so is war. The mood aboard is very tense but we are all pround of having done our duty. That Englishman a liaison guy which speak a very good French, I can’t remember his name it is something like Enoque, Enuque say it better than ourselves after all.
“You have all done your country poud, your fathers who were at Verdun would be proud of you, your ancestors crossing the Berezina with Napoleon would be proud of you and as we too stand by France in her hour of greatest need. Like the Greek phoenixes France will rise again to greatness from her ashes and will regain her pride and honour.
On Reviendra, on reviendra!”

And then all with our fists pointed towards the motherland we said it ourselves too singing the Marseillaise, this day is probably one whom I will remember until I die.

And indeed in the sands somewhere south France and Britain were about to strike back!

 

[Some Bloke]

Enoque?! Enoque Pouelle?!

 

[NumberSix]

Proposed Anglo French Union

Though you might enjoy seeing this- from the Public Records Office here in the UK. It always amazes me how little there is to be found on this subject.

 

[Grimm Reaper]

Nor should we forget Corsica. In the south all the French need to do is evacuate to Corsica instead of North Africa, with the trip further south able to wait until proper shipping arrive. This means shipping of shorter range can be used, more trips made, etc.

This also means that the Axis will simply have to move on Corsica at some point but Anglo-French subs, destroyers, light craft and airpower may make this rather costly. Not to mention the possibility of the proposed Sea Lion and the subsequent abandonment buying Corsica time until October or later.