Into the Fire - the "Minor" nations of WW2 strike back

[Tchitchix]

Eh, Dunkirk had train ferry facilities as well... Not used in OTL.

OTL, Dunkirk was under the fire of German artillery and the top priority was to save men. With a larger pocket and a much more organized evacuation, it could be envisaged.
It would depend on how long Dunkirk and Boulogne could be defended. As long as these two towns will be kept, Calais will remain safe for such a transshipment.

Richborough harbour in 1918:

It took only 30 to 40 minutes to load or unload the 54 railway wagons and fifty or sixty motor vehicles that could be carried by these train-ferries.

SS Twickenham Ferry

Twickenham Ferry could carry 12 sleeping cars or 40 goods wagons, with space for 25 cars. Accommodation was provided for 500 passengers.

Without railway wagons, fifty to one hundred vehicles could be transported on every trip.

 

[Wings]

July 15th - 26th, 1940

Western Front

​

Even before Delestraint’s counter-attack, preparations for a full evacuation had began. The Lys line would be manned by elements of both French, British and Belgian armies.

Most notably, the French redoubt at Lille, comprising of some 20,000 men, was ordered to stand its ground and to fight “to the last cartridge, or to the destruction of [its] command” [1]. In essence, both sides were aware that unless a miracle offensive could dislodge the trapped armies: they would need a massive evacuation.

The main priority for the Allies was to keep German forces at bay while holding the critical Boulogne-Calais-Dunkirk axis. The defenses of Oostende and Zeebrugge were also bolstered, though the Allied command knew that these were eventually doomed to fall. The Belgian Army Corps would only have to delay German forces up until the Lys canal.

In the meantime, the French fighters, which provided much of the air cover necessary for these evacuations, were ordered to operate from English airfields when their bases would eventually fall, though most fighters would redeploy to the airfields along the coast as a first line. With the RAF also covering the evacuation, the Allies could at least contest the air over the ports, which would greatly help the evacuations.

France, Belgium and Britain all mobilized all available means: military, civilian…anything that floated was immediately requisitioned and sailed to one of the Allied ports to help with this great feat. Indeed, one forgets that in the myth of the “little ships”, there were countless French vessels hailing from Cherbourg, Dieppe or even as far as Brest and Saint-Malo, that all had come to ferry the Allied troops.

The Allied forces also wished to evacuate much of the heavy equipment. Most notably, the motorized vehicles and remaining tanks left in the pocket. But that would prove to be a tremendous task.

AA and AT guns were given priority, along with much of the heavy artillery. Though, in some cases, the French motorized barges brought back from Norway did manage to load a lot of various armored equipment: SOMUA S35s, Vickers Mark VI, etc…

The intervention of the French barges would prove decisive for the transport of most of the heavy equipment. Reliable, and already experienced with the transport of such heavy equipment during the Norway campaign, the little boats multiplied the journeys between Dover and Calais or Dunkirk, saving many vehicles that seemed to have been condemned to rotting on the French beaches or falling into German hands…though these were still only able to do a couple crossings a day.

In the meantime, the British did not sit idle. The Royal Engineers constructed new piers in Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne, capable of evacuating many soldiers trapped in the pocket. But most of the first evacuees would actually come from the east: at Oostende and Zeebrugge, the Belgian Army Corps was evacuating everything it could to Britain.

With the German troops approaching, the Dutch and Belgian troops were the first to get to Britain, even before most British forces. It was also to be said that the Belgians were on the much weaker side of the Lys line, where the German pressure was the strongest.

Despite this, though, most of the evacuation was done in very good order.

This was due to Delestraint’s counter-offensive, which sent many German plans awry.

Indeed, OKH had hoped to quickly crush these ports to be able to inflict a considerable amount of casualties to the Allies. But with the threat of the pockets being linked on a coastal line that could be supported with naval artillery, it would undo all their plans.

And while the Allied forces would eventually be defeated, this greatly hampered the German forces. Not only had they had to lose more vehicles in this counter-offensive, but it had helped many more forces to quickly escape, while the French continued to fight all along the Lys line. Lille had not been cut off, and Zeebrugge had barely fallen.

But the Axis counter-attack at Abbeville also meant something more: the Allied forces that were now trapped in the pockets had just reinforced the defenders with much needed armor. Delestraint and Fortune’s forces, on July 14th, were almost a blessing in disguise for the Allied evacuations, as the French 21st Infantry Division was not equipped to deal with a Panzer thrust on Boulogne. But now, with the reinforcement of half an infantry division and a good chunk of armor, they could hold the port for much longer than planned.

And they were right. When the Germans tried to thrust towards the city, on July 15th, they found it to be extremely well defended, with the French armor being used as improvised forts along the road to Boulogne. The Germans were not doing terribly everywhere, though.

By July 16th, Lille had finally been cut off, and Oostende had fallen. But the crucial link between Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk remained. And the Germans, who were exhausted by the Allied counter-attack, the planning of the future Fall Rot, and having to deal with the 20,000 French in Lille, could not do more than watch as more and more Allied troops poured out of the ports.

It was not until July 18th that the Germans finally broke the final defence line at Licques, flooding past the Flemish hills and towards the gap at Calais and Dunkirk. Ardes, then Marck, were reached, isolating the British from Dunkirk.

While Weygand wanted to reestablish the link between these two, Alphonse Juin, who was organising the retreat of the French divisions, disagreed. He sent a message to Weygand stating that an attack towards Calais would only be a waste of men which would be needed to fight another day.

In the meantime, more than 70,000 troops were being evacuated every day, even as the air attacks became more frequent. The Armée de l’Air and RAF fought hard to keep the docks open, allowing more troops to pour out between July 18th and 21st, until finally, the pressure was too much to bear.

Calais was taken on the 21st, leaving two isolated pockets at Dunkirk and Boulogne. It was on the second that the first French soldiers were embarked, long after their Dutch, Belgian, Australian and British comrades. But this was much more a reality of the terrain than anything else: the French had been tasked to hold the line and they had done it masterfully, buying time for the others to evacuate.

The final British forces left on the night of July 23rd, those being the last remaining of Victor Fortune’s forces, which had held the line at Boulogne. The next day, the port fell, leaving a devastated harbor for the Heer to take.

Only Dunkirk stood, where British, French, Belgian, Dutch and Danish ships continued their ballet, under constant threat of air attack.

That same day, the last French forces in Lille were ordered to break out to Dunkirk. Their heroic stand had immobilized 160,000 German troops, which were much needed to reduce the Channel ports. Failing that, they were to surrender or disperse.

The break out attempt failed, but it still gave a headache to the Germans, who were now wholly focused on the inevitable capitulation of Dunkirk and the start of Fall Rot. Every single day’s delay was another day where the French reinforced the Somme and the Aisne…

Still, on July 25th, Lille capitulated. The next day, the last French elements were evacuated from Dunkirk. Alphonse Juin was the last to embark, managing to see the German Panzers in the distance as he left.

For the Allies, Dynamo was a massive success. In all, the Allies managed to evacuate just about a million men. 400,000 British (and Australians), 300,000 Belgians (and Dutch) and 300,000 French were successfully evacuated. A success trumpeted by the British for all that could hear. Not to mention that due to the Allied counter-offensive and overall ineffective Luftwaffe, the British were able to save most of their motorized vehicles, as well as a handful of armored weaponry.

However, for certain French generals, Dynamo was not seen in such a positive light. For people like Weygand, they saw it as a total defeat: the loss of most of their armored force and many good soldiers. To them, they would need to seek the best terms possible with Germany in order to get out of the war before their entire army was lost.

But for their young Minister of War, this meant one thing: France had lost a battle, but it certainly had not lost the war.

Though, all of this meant that the French nation was divided. And when the Germans came knocking on July 27th, so would end many Frenchmen’s hopes to be able to carry the fight from their own soil.

[1] OTL, 40,000 men were trapped, but a slower advance means half of them can get out.

 

[lukedalton]

A tragedy and an enormous blow for the Allies...but for us that we can compare this with OTL, well the situation is much much better, basically the people evacuated had been doubled and unlike OTL there has not be a total loss of equipment for the British Army, to have an idea to the dire situation of the British after the evacuation, in the entire British Island there were 420 field artillery piece, 105 medium tank and 53 antitank gun and the situation for the trunks and other support vehicles was even more dire

 

[generalurist]

Weygand is still a coward, though he is right this is still a major blow to France's combat effectiveness. I'm guessing the Germans will manage a panzer thrust towards Paris which will finally shatter their morale, with Paris being declared an open city.

 

[The Ghost of Danton]

Well with the French Navy having done rather well so far, I'd imagine surrender will be noticubly less popular with the sailors than the soldiers. Free France might get most of the fleet.

 

[Pblouin21]

I wonder how many ferries were available in 1940 and how many vehicles and artillery could have been evacuated under this TL with 3 major ports available and also working at night.
In the same idea, was a big Czech move possible after Czech-Polish agreement: the LT 38 and the 47 mm AT leave for England with perhaps means of production, the LT 35 remain in Poland with artillery, a TL never treated, not easy but lots of butterflies

 

[Tchitchix]

I wonder how many ferries were available in 1940 and how many vehicles and artillery could have been evacuated under this TL with 3 major ports available and also working at night.

There was only one ferry line between Dover and Dunkirk before WWII. Three ferries was used Twickenham Ferry, Hampton Ferry and Shepperton Ferry.
There were only passenger lines to Boulogne and Calais.
The operations in Dover and Dunkirk was tricky as there was a ferry dock at Dover and they had to pass a lock at Dunkirk, meaning it could only be proceeded by night to avoid air bombing during lock operation.
One can imagine each ferry could make one trip per night. With an average of 50 vehicles per ship, 1,500 vehicles could have been saved at the utmost. They could had been used during the day for passenger transport only with a capacity of more than 1,500 men each.

 

[duckie]

There was only one ferry line between Dover and Dunkirk before WWII. Three ferries was used Twickenham Ferry, Hampton Ferry and Shepperton Ferry.
There were only passenger lines to Boulogne and Calais.
The operations in Dover and Dunkirk was tricky as there was a ferry dock at Dover and they had to pass a lock at Dunkirk, meaning it could only be proceeded by night to avoid air bombing during lock operation.
One can imagine each ferry could make one trip per night. With an average of 50 vehicles per ship, 1,500 vehicles could have been saved at the utmost. They could had been used during the day for passenger transport only with a capacity of more than 1,500 men each.

With an max of 1500 vehicles, they could have saved all tanks (440 and about 40/60% of the 2,472 guns, anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns , that got left behind in OTL

 

[Tchitchix]

FWIW, 1,500 vehicles is probably very optimistic. And one gun means one truck to tow it: two vehicles. Plus lots of tanks are probably destroyed or our of order somewhere in Flanders. For AT and AA were to be given priority, let's say one or two dozen of tanks, a hundred of AT, a hundred of AA and a hundred of field guns, and two to three hundred tucks of ammunition seems more reasonable.

 

[Wings]

FWIW, 1,500 vehicles is probably very optimistic. And one gun means one truck to tow it: two vehicles. Plus lots of tanks are probably destroyed or our of order somewhere in Flanders. For AT and AA were to be given priority, let's say one or two dozen of tanks, a hundred of AT, a hundred of AA and a hundred of field guns, and two to three hundred tucks of ammunition seems more reasonable.

Yeah, the number of armored vehicles saved are a couple handful, definitely not in the hundreds.

 

[Wings]

July 27th - August 8th, 1940

Western Front

​

For most of the French forces, the fight was not over. Immediately after arriving in England, they would stay but one or two days before being repatriated to Norman or Breton ports. However, much of these would not have a chance to fight again…well, soon, anyways.

On July 27th, the German forces started their final assault on the French lines, where they found strong resistance. Many losses were replenished, including that of the 4e DCR, replaced by the resuscitated 2e DCR, formed with brand new tanks.

As such, when the Germans attacked, it was against very well defended obstacles, which severely hampered their progression. From Abbeville to Rethel, the Heer was kept in check for 24 hours, allowing the French to continue repatriating men from England, and to continue to bolster their defences.

However, the bloodletting of their air force meant that the fight was uneven. The Luftwaffe continued to hamper the French defenders, attacked by both ground and air. Extremely heavy fighting seized the city of Amiens, whose cathedral was badly bruised by Panzer and artillery shells.

Von Bock and his Heeresgruppe B were hit with similar resistance along the Ailette and Aisne rivers, fiercely defended by Frère’s 7th Army and the remnants of Touchon’s 6th Army that had not broken during the Panzer’s race to the sea.

But, with dwindling air support and roads cluttered with refugees fleeing south, the French did not have the resources to hold indefinitely. After 48 hours of strong resistance, Altmayer’s 10th Army was the first to give in against Kleist’s Panzers, which shattered the line on the Somme around Hallencourt and Amiens.

The shattering of the Somme line meant that Altmayer had to redeploy his troops to Rouen and the Seine, giving up valuable ground to the German Panzers, which did not ask for so much, seizing Dieppe and rushing to Saint-Valery-en-Caux.

There, the British initiated Operation Aerial: the evacuation of all British forces from Normandy, starting with the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, which had been battered on the Somme.

The Germans, too focused on trying to seize Paris, had only put up second-rate troops to claim the ports, allowing the British to evacuate almost all of their forces, along with a sizeable French contingent, from the ports of Le Havre, Saint-Valery and Cherbourg. With the evacuation of these British forces, there were no longer any other troops than the French fighting within the country, with the exception of some Canadians in Brittany, which the British were considering to evacuate as well.

Further east, the Weygand Line was also broken along the Aisne on August 2nd, the same day as the first German Panzers started to cross the Seine at Elbeuf, near Rouen, where the Tenth Army was in disarray, and starting a slow retreat to Brittany and the Loire.

With the fall of Paris being inevitable, the French government took the decision to evacuate the French gold reserves to Canada, the Antilles and French Sudan, along with the Polish and Belgian reserves. This evacuation also had orders for any ships in Brittany or Normandy to reach Casablanca or England as a last resort, to avoid the fleet falling in the hands of the Germans. Any ships not able to make it to an Allied port would need to be scuttled, and their harbor facilities destroyed.

To the south, beyond the Alps, Mussolini saw the inevitable come. Already pressured many times by Hitler to intervene during the month of July (including a threat that if France fell, Mussolini would get nothing out of it), the Italian dictator saw the piercing of the Weygand Line as proof that France’s fall was imminent, and with it any hope of the Allies winning. As such, to the consternation of most of his general staff, who begged him not to do so, as the Italian Army was not ready, Mussolini declared war on France on August 2nd, 1940.

The consequences for him, though, were disastrous. The Italian Army was met with fierce resistance all across the Alps, and his assaults were repulsed at every single turn. In Menton, the Pont-Saint-Louis fort, held by 9 men, would hold off an entire Italian regiment until the signing of the Armistice, denying the Italians even Menton.

For the French government, this was the last straw. “A stab in the back of a man that is already on his knees”, as one diplomat would put it.

Paul Reynaud, who supported carrying on the struggle, soon found himself fighting a battle of his own, in his government.

On the one hand, there were those who wished a peace with Germany. General Weygand, chief of all, but also his vice-president of the Council, war hero Philippe Petain. In the camp of those who wished to prolong the fight were Georges Mandel (Interior), Charles de Gaulle (War) or Cesar Campichi (Navy).

This split government only depressed Reynaud more, as he approached the next Inter-Allied supreme council.

By the time the British came, Paris had been declared an open city at Petain’s insistence, and the German Panzers were racing towards Cherbourg and the Loire, where the last line of defence had been set.

The British and French delegations met at Briare, in the Loire Valley, to discuss the continuation of operations. Churchill thus meets with a very determined De Gaulle, whom yesterday was still trying to convince Reynaud to demote Weygand and give the job to Huntziger (needless to say, Petain was also trying to have that pesky colonel demoted from his post as well).

However, Churchill did not do himself any favors, as he categorically refused to engage the RAF in the combats in France, and also refused to transfer any British troops to the continent [1]. This sentiment reinforced the defeatist attitude of some ministers, who saw this as a “British abandonment”, who were “willing to fight to the last Frenchman”. Weygand and Petain both thus continue to push for an armistice with Germany, something that De Gaulle and Mandel are categorically opposed to.

This reunion does bring in the subject of the French Navy: Darlan reassures Churchill by saying that the Navy will never fall into German hands, and Reynaud confirms that orders have been given for the fleets stationed at Brest and Cherbourg to reach English or North African ports as soon as possible.

On August 5th, a new reunion with French leaders unfortunately confirmed to Churchill that the French were growing more and more disillusioned with the war, with Reynaud himself saying that his only hope was to see the United States intervene on the Allied side. However, Reynaud also reassured Churchill that France would not seek a separate peace.

Reynaud also asked for Churchill to convince the French government himself, in Bordeaux, as Reynaud had promised it. However, to Churchill’s aides (generals Ismay and Spears) horror, he did not do so, continuing to reinforce the sentiment of British abandonment [2].

The last-ditch effort occurred on August 8th, when, in Bordeaux, the French government convened for a final time. At this point, the Germans had reached the Loire and were closing in on Cherbourg. Reynaud called the government to continue the fight from North Africa, even going so far as to propose a Franco-British union.

However, marshal Petain’s influence and the British blunders had put the armistice party in the lead. Reynaud, seeing his call for a U.S intervention rebuffed by Roosevelt, and seeing his government slowly slip away from the fight, finally resigned. Petain was soon appointed as President of the Council, to the shock and horror of many. De Gaulle arrived in Bordeaux, a letter from Alphonse Juin in hand, who assured Reynaud that he was willing to continue the fight from England or elsewhere. In his other hand, he had the project of a Franco-British union, ready for Reynaud’s signature. He was an hour late [3].

But De Gaulle had not capitulated. Many in the government and in the Army, remembering the success of the “hero of Montcornet”, as well as the French exploits, were ready to follow him in a mad endeavor.

At 10:30 PM, De Gaulle met with Georges Mandel and several other ministers in secret, in Bordeaux, for what will soon become “the General’s plot”.

[1] This was not Churchill's wishes, but rather under pressure from Marshal Dowding.

[2] It's not probable that Churchill wished to undermine Reynaud, but miscommunications with the French government and pressing meetings made that Churchill did not attend (as OTL).

[3] As OTL for the Franco-British Union bit.

 

[generalurist]

RIP Amiens cathedral 07. And France too I guess.

Whoa was the Franco-British union really so close to happening OTL? Well, I suspect they wouldn't have accepted anyway with Churchill and Dowding's blunders alienating the French.

Seems the capitulation of France to the Germans won't be so clean TTL, that General's Plot sounds like some chaos. At least it seems the navy is resolute in staying out of German hands, so no risk of the mess at Mers-El-Kebir?

 

[Wings]

RIP Amiens cathedral 07. And France too I guess.

Whoa was the Franco-British union really so close to happening OTL? Well, I suspect they wouldn't have accepted anyway with Churchill and Dowding's blunders alienating the French.

Seems the capitulation of France to the Germans won't be so clean TTL, that General's Plot sounds like some chaos. At least it seems the navy is resolute in staying out of German hands, so no risk of the mess at Mers-El-Kebir?

Darlan's promise is OTL as well.
Though circumstances are different here.

 

[Wings]

August 1st - 14th, 1940

Western Front

​

Since the Briare Conference, Charles de Gaulle had had a sinking feeling that the Reynaud government was going to fall. Petain was gaining support and momentum, and gaining more and more ears in the government.

But, luckily, while Reynaud sunk more and more into defeatism, De Gaulle was still booming with energy, and still had much power.

After Briare, he contacted Alphonse Juin in England, and ordered him to stop all repatriation of professional troops, asking him to concentrate only on the repatriation of conscripts. In the meantime, he also met with Minister of the Air Force Laurent Eynac as to the redeployment of the French GCs to England, as well as the stopping of the redeployment of air wings already there.

Finally, he also managed to contact Admirals Lacroix, Ollive and Derrien, in England, as well as Godefroy (in Alexandria), assuring himself of their support during the continuation of the war. He also met or talked with several generals that only wished to pursue the fight: Frère, Delestraint, Juin, Legentilhomme, Audet, De Larminat, etc…

Meeting with the Poles, De Gaulle also assured Sikorski that he would ensure their evacuation to England in priority, moving about 20,000 men from the eastern part of the country towards Bordeaux. In Bordeaux, De Gaulle also concentrated the 2e DCR, an armored force ready “to defend the government in case of a breakthrough”.

With these assurances, De Gaulle knew he had a backup plan if things went awry in Bordeaux. To his disappointment, they did.

Luckily, De Gaulle knew it was not over.

Acting quickly, he met with Georges Mandel at a private hotel in Bordeaux. Also present were Laurent Eynac (minister of the Air Force), Herriot (president of the Chamber), Jeanneney (president of the Senate) and Rollin (minister of the Colonies).

This group met in the greatest secrecy, with one goal: to evacuate as much French military personnel to England as fast and soon as possible. De Gaulle knew that his days as Minister of War were numbered, so why try to fake appearances?

De Gaulle and Mandel agreed to take with them as many deputies as possible to England, which the General had kindly organized with the complicity of Alphonse Rio (minister of the merchant navy), with a liner ready to leave on August 11th for Devonport.

Mandel took charge of convincing these government members, along with Herrior and Jeanneney. His first notable meeting was with Léon Blum, leader of the Socialist SFIO, who immediately voiced his support for the plan.

“It is not a coup, it is a revolution!” Blum chuckled.

In the meantime, De Gaulle had rushed to Brest, where he met with general Béthouart, the hero of Norway, which whom he started organizing the evacuation of French forces from Brittany. And they had to act fast, for Petain was no slouch: he already had assured himself of the support of Laval, Chautemps and, most importantly, Darlan, whom De Gaulle distrusted.

De Gaulle had time to convey his last orders to the loyalists: withdraw to Brittany, Bordeaux and La Rochelle and await evacuation for those who wished to leave. In the meantime, the RAF and Royal Navy would cover the French troops on land, slowing down the German advance.

Brittany in particular became a center of evacuations as French troops fiercely defended the Vilaine line, stopping German Panzers in their tracks. This two-day delaying battle helped to evacuate several thousand troops from the short-lived “Brittany redoubt”.

On August 11th, Mandel, Herriot and Jeanneney left Bordeaux along with 150 other deputies for London. Amongst them, one could note the presence of people like Charles Tillon, Robert Schuman, Pierre Mendes-France or Louis Marin. A quite heteroclite group of people. They were escorted to Plymouth by a Royal Navy-French Navy task force.

When informed of this, Petain was enraged, but also extremely embarrassed as Mandel immediately took to the BBC, expressing his desire to “fight on, whatever may come”, and “encouraging the French people to take up the struggle”. And while the Germans raced south, Petain soon found his newly-formed government torn and collapsing.

Not to mention: some of his troops weren’t even obeying anymore! On August 13th, general Aubert Frère evacuated himself and 15,000 troops from La Rochelle, reaching the growing number of Frenchmen in England. In response, Petain ordered the destruction of every single port on the Atlantic coast. Officially to deny their use to the Germans. Unofficially…to deny more exploits like these.

This order only irked some. At La Rochelle and La Pallice, it was even flatly refused.

As for the Air Force, Eynac had ordered any French Squadrons still available to fly to leave their stations for England, or, if that was not possible, Brittany (as a first stop to England), North Africa, or neutral Switzerland.

In the following days, the airfields of southern England would be shocked to see many flights of D-520 arrive, adding to an already dense crowd.

As for the Navy, it was complicated.

Francois Darlan had stayed loyal to Pétain, if not by distrust towards De Gaulle, more by pragmaticism. The admiral, overshadowed by the exploits of Ollive, Lacroix and Derrien in the cold seas, has seen his prestige dwindle, and taken a hit to his pride. However, Darlan was also smart, and saw the position that the Vichy government found itself in. Soon, he left for Algiers, to meet with General Nogues, and then for Oran, to discuss with Admiral Gensoul.

But the minister of the Navy, Campinchi, had defected to the Mandel government in London, prompting many in the Navy to question their choices.

Some, like captain Francois Drogou, defected with their ship to Malta. The small island would receive a total of four French submarines during the coming days. Similarly, Admiral Godefroy, in Alexandria, voluntarily placed himself at the disposal of the British force in the Egyptian port.

Others, like the captains of the ships in England, chose to continue the fight under the leadership of Admiral Ollive. This force, evacuated from Brest, Cherbourg and other ports of the Atlantic ports, comprised a total of 40 ships.

A total disaster for Petain, for whom the armistice signed on August 13th was already in jeopardy. He had severely underestimated the will to fight of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and even more the capabilities of De Gaulle and Mandel, who were now both having tea at Downing Street, with an ecstatic Churchill.

The Germans, as suspected, were furious. The capitulation of France was hardly relevant if the French fleet was out of their reach. And worst of all, some more of their army had escaped! Hitler personally phoned Hitler to demand that this be remedied immediately or else risk the occupation of the entire country.

Petain delegated this task to Darlan, who reluctantly ordered the fleet in Oran to be sailed back to Toulon. In the meantime, Petain had arrest warrants drawn up for all the “Judo-plutocrat traitors” that had escaped to London, with hefty rewards.

This did not have the consequence that it intended to, as, unbeknownst to Petain, Darlan had secretly changed cloaks. Darlan, having met General Nogues in Algiers, agreed that following Petain was not in their interest. However, Petain still retained some legitimacy. As such, Darlan and Nogues had agreed to secretly reinforce North Africa, and, when the right moment came, to turn it over to the Free French.

Darlan immediately took measures to protect what he saw as a potential turning over of the Mediterranean fleet, at Mers-el-Kébir, to the Germans.

Under Admiral Gensoul’s orders, the battlecruiser Dunkerque, along with two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, four destroyers and three submarines, broke formation from the fleet heading to Toulon and steamed to Gibraltar. Not a single other ship tried to stop them, which almost cost Darlan his post, though Petain, scared of a second mutiny, refused to sack him in favor of Admiral de Laborde.

Petain was furious. More of the army had escaped him, and along with it, about 500,000 French military personnel had settled in England (a good half of which would declare for the London government). At least, Petain had managed in keeping the armistice, as well as the key colony of French North Africa. But the fate of the rest of the French colonial empire lay uncertain.

Note:
Free French major warships:

Scapa Flow – CVL Verdun, BC Strasbourg, CL Montcalm, La Galissonnière (in repairs), DD Le Fantasque, L’Audacieux, Tramontane, SS Rubis

Portsmouth & Plymouth – CVL Dixmude, BB Courbet, Paris, CA Suffren, Dupleix, DD Cassard, Milan, Le Fier, L’Agile, Le Triomphant, Léopard, Ouragan, Bouclier, La Melpomène, La Flore, La Cordelière, L’Incomprise, Branlebas, SS La Bayadère, La Favorite, L’Africaine (incomplete), Roland-Morillot (incomplete), La Praya (incomplete), La Martinique (incomplete), Surcouf, Minerve, Junon, Orlon, Ondine, Pasteur, Achille, Agosta, Ouessant

Alexandria – BB Lorraine, CA Duquesne, Tourville, CL Duguay-Trouin, DD Le Fortuné, Forbin, Basque



DEFECTED VICHY TO FREE FRANCE

Gibraltar (from MeK) – BC Dunkerque, CA Algérie, CL Jean de Vienne, DD Le Flibustier, Mogador, Volta, Kersaint, SS Eurydice, Ariane, Diane

Malta (from Tunis) – SS Narval, Fresnel, Le Centaure, Le Tonnant

 

[John-Dax]

Hitler personally phoned Hitler to demand that this be remedied immediately or else risk the occupation of the entire country.

Well, cool to know that Hitler got some mental problems! /s

On a serious note, seems like Luftwaffe will have more troubles during Battle for Britain and Kriegsmarine will be having troubles during Battle for Atlantic due to the French reinforcements of the British Military.

 

[NHBL]

That is a delightful catastrophe for the Germans. The 12" ships are useful escorts, enough to see off anything of cruiser size and smaller.
Loraine would probably send Bismark or the Twins seeking prey elsewhere, and the two fast battleships/battlecruisers would be an interesting matchup for the twins. Bismarck wouldn't want to stay around with either of them escorting a convoy--too much chance of damage. (The French ships are a half knot slower on paper, but since the German ship would be fresh out of port, it might be a little faster.)

Where are the French 15" gun ships?

 

[John-Dax]

And since author mentioned that even Axis Minors will fare better then probably it's time for the best move that is not to play. So maybe Hungary will be butterflied from that Soviet mistake?.. Or what if Soviets decide to be more patient with Finland (i.e. not kickstarting war by bombing). Although, Finland was preparing to join the War anyway.

 

[CV(N)-6]

What happened with Jean Bart?

That is a delightful catastrophe for the Germans. The 12" ships are useful escorts, enough to see off anything of cruiser size and smaller.

Not really, they were only capable of about 12 knots and they captured historically and not considered useful enough to man and use.

 

[steamboy]

What happened with Jean Bart?

Not really, they were only capable of about 12 knots and they captured historically and not considered useful enough to man and use.

The Courbets were not in that bad a condition but they are manpower sumps for sure as the only real modernization they got was increased elevation for their main battery and oil firing and some AA guns. If they're not stripped of crews immediately (probably for the best as it might be seen as a blow against the crews morale) they could happily chug back and forth across the Atlantic escorting convoys and help free up simply more useful ships and be a damn sight more of a scarecrow than any armed merchant cruiser. The Lorrane's were not much better and in this scenario if the Bismarck did encounter one she could defeat it probably with little real threat barring a lucky hit to something like her bridge or fire control tower and mission kill her.

The real prize here is the two battlecruisers and the other cruisers, not for convoy duty but to help against the Italians. Also if the Anglo-French can get either the Richelieu or the Jean Bart (preferably the Richelieu as she's far more complete than the Jean Bart) there, it gives them another front like capital ship by 1941. The aircraft, the men, the tanks, this ensures that any notion of Sealion goes out the window, the Allies have absolute naval superiority too. So this might affect their procurement programs and prevent any panics or stop any silly ideas like the halt order for capital ship construction, which delayed the introduction of various carriers and the last of the KGV's. Churchill's halt order delayed the work on the Duke of York, Howe and Anson, meaning that for the really critical years of 40 - 41 the RN had 2 KGVs with the DoY coming into service later in the year in 41. This could well mean she's available many months earlier, giving the RN 3 front line battleships to 2 German ships, and we can assume that the French have at least one Richelieu class around so that would be the allies 'A Team'.

Also the Twins were sunk off Norway, so you've not got them to worry about, this really does take the pressure off the RN's surface ships and allows them and the main French units to be redeployed elsewhere. Its at this point you get the Hood in for a refit or possibly sent over to the states for some work to be done on her, same also with Repulse.

I will emphasise though that the French ships really should be used in the Med, their DD's were very short legged and not great for Atlantic convoy duties, but team them up with RN ships in the Med and you've got a force that the Italians can't handle, espeically if you add things like the RN battlecruisers and French ones to the mix.

 

[John-Dax]

The aircraft, the men, the tanks, this ensures that any notion of Sealion goes out the window, the Allies have absolute naval superiority too.

IMHO, it can set some butterflies via helping Soviet Intelligence to be more willing to recognise German threat (also maybe that bleeding in France will help them to less over-estimate Wehrmaht). So Soviets will be more ready to face German onslaught.