Martlet
- Thread starter Admiral Beez
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davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
Great!!! Loved the story of painting the Brit F4Fs like American because the French seemed to accept Americans but not the Brits.
davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
After what the British did at Mersp-el-Kebir there had to be a lot of French animosity towards the Brits.
There still was when I worked there in 1990-92, had a long talk with the company secretary about it one day.
- Thread starter
- #5
Admiral Beez
Major
The French navy was given a perfectly reasonable proposal, sail with us to Britain to fight on against Germany, same as the thousands of Free French soldiers and pilots who've fled to Britain. The French mindset is odd to me, when the Netherlands fell to Germany the Dutch forces at sea and overseas fought on. Had Britain fallen, British forces overseas and the Dominions would have fought on.
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SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Drachinifel has a vid on Mers-El-Kebir. It seems that although the French were presented a reasonable set of demands, the French admiral(?) in charge refused to meet with the British officer because the Brit wasn't ranked high enough. When the demands were finally presented, this Frenchman passed on up his chain of command that the British were demanding the fleet be surrendered to the RN. The other options were never mentioned. I found the information in the video quite frustrating for if it were true, a lot harm could have been avoided. I haven't watched it in a while.
- Thread starter
- #7
Admiral Beez
Major
I do wonder what Britain would have done with the surrendered French fleet. Can its officers and men be trusted? I'd be tempted to sail them to Madagascar and FIC to deter the IJ.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
A great rhetorical question. Adm. Gensoul seems to be a kindred spirit of Hugh D'Oyly-Hughes. Adm. Darlan made contradictory statements regarding his fleet vis-a-vis the Franco German armistice eroding British confidence in him. Adm. Darlan did, however, scuttle his fleet at Toulon rather than submit them to the Axis. Personally, if I were commanding the French fleet, I'd have jumped at the chance to holiday in Martinique.
Would've been interesting to have seen MN Richelieu an MN Dunkerque with HMS Rodney and HMS KGV take on KMS Bismarck though.
Would've been interesting to have seen MN Richelieu an MN Dunkerque with HMS Rodney and HMS KGV take on KMS Bismarck though.
Good one!