The main French base was a Toulon, on the Mediterranean coast, in the heart of unoccupied (Vichy) France. It was to here that the majority of the Marine Nationale gathered (about 135 vessels, including 80 sea-going vessels and about 55 small harbor craft) following the fall of France, and the British attack at Mers el-Kabir on July 3, 1940. On December 10, 1940, Hitler issued an order that secret plans be drawn up to occupy the rest of France, and seize the fleet and air force, should France's Colonial Empire show any signs of revolt against the Vichy government. But as long as the fleet remained neutral, and the colonies loyal to France, these plans would not be implemented.
The key players in the French Navy at the time were Amiral Darlan, the Commander and Chief of the Navy, and Amiral Jean de Laborde, the commander of the Forces de Haute Mer (the High Seas Fleet). De Laborde, fervently anti-British, reported directly to the Admiralty at Vichy, and not to the Prefet Maritime at Toulon, Vice-Amiral Andre Marquis. De Laborde was at personal and professional odds with Darlan, and he had been appointed commander of the High Seas Fleet in September 1940 for just this reason: Petain, the leader of Vichy France, knew that the fleet would be easier to control politically if it was led by two men who did not get along.
For two years the French Fleet lay inactive, with many of their ships in Armistice Custody, and others partially disarmed or in various states of repair, until the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. Hitler then felt it was necessary to occupy the rest of France, in order to garrison against an Allied landing from the Mediterranean.
Darlan had flown to Algiers to see his gravely ill son on November 5, 1942, and was caught off guard by the Allied invasion. At Toulon, feelings were mixed about the Allied landings. Anti-Gaullist De Laborde saw them as a threat to sovereign France and her colonies, and immediately proposed that the French Fleet should sail to attack the invaders. The Vichy French Admiralty, under Vichy Secretary of the Navy Contre-Amiral Auphan, responded that such an attack was out of the question, and the Vichy government, not the navy, would make any such decision. Auphan's personal feelings were that the fleet should indeed sail, but not to attack the Allies, but rather to join them in the fight against Germany.
After the initial anger that the British and Americans had invaded North Africa, a desire to join the fight against Germany began to surface in the fleet. Rumors began to circulate among the officers and men: Darlan had known about the invasion, and had gone to North Africa to assist the Allies with the backing of Vichy Prime Minister Petain. The Vichy leader would soon board the flagship Strasbourg, and the French Fleet would sail to join the Allies. The men of the fleet supported the idea of sailing agaist the Germans vociferously, and spontaneous gatherings of sailors on the Strasbourg, Colbert, Foch, Kersaint, and other ships chanted "Vive de Gaulle! Appereillage!" ('set sail!').
Amiral Laborde angrily ordered a stop to all such demonstrations, and the arrest of all involved. Most officers were loyalists, and put their personal feelings aside, ready to follow whatever orders came from Vichy. The captains of the vessels at Toulon unanimously reaffirmed their decision to follow only the legitimate orders from their Admiralty. In all cases, the captains refused to discuss the matter with their crews, fearing that any such talk would lead to a devastating German air attack on the near-helpless fleet.
On November 10, Amiral Darlan issued orders in Petain's name directing all French forces in North Africa to cease fire, and to observe complete neutrality, in effect turning control of all French territories in North Africa to the Allies. Under pressure from the Americans, Darlan sent a personal message to de Laborde, urging him to reject the Admiralty and sail the fleet from Toulon to Dakar. This request was of course ignored, as Prime Minister Petain had by then officially disavowed Darlan's actions. Three days later Petain sent a personal, coded message to Darlan expressing the 'intimate backing' of the cease fire by the Vichy government, but stating that an official decision depended on the occupying forces and not the free will of the Vichy government. Secretary of the Navy Auphan pressed Petain for approval to move the fleet from Toulon to Dakar, but Petain informed him that all of the official and unofficial communication, with contradictory messages, was just a ploy to gain time: the fleet was going nowhere.
With the Allies occupying a foothold in North Africa, the German occupation and fortification of Southern France was a logical response. The secret plans were updated, and the Italians clued in. All major warships would be turned over to the Italians for operations against the Allies in the Med, while the Germans would claim the small craft and submarines. The 1. Armee would sweep in from the Atlantic coast along the Spanish boarder, the 7. Armee would push down from the center of France, the Italian 4a Armada would occupy the French Riviera, and an Italian division would land on Corsica. Orders were issued on November 8, and by the night of November 10 everything was in place. German troops rapidly occupied Vichy France, which was able to resist only with broadcasts angrily condemning the Germans for violating the 1940 armistice. By the evening of the 11th, German tanks had reached the Mediterranean coast.
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The Commander and Chief of the Kriegsmarine, Grossadmiral Raeder, managed to convince Hitler that trying to take the French Fleet by force was a mistake. He argued that the French officers, primarily pre-war professionals, would honor their pledge that the French ships would not fall into the hands of ANY foreign power. Instead, he proposed that Toulon be left unoccupied, and that the Vichy government be pressured into pushing the French Admirals into a state of co-belligerence against the Allies, using the anti-British sentiments of the officer corps following the attack at Mers el-Kabir.
Late on November 11, Hitler's emissary affirmed to the Commander of the High Sea Fleet, de Laborde, that the terms of the armistice regarding the French Fleet would be honored, and encouraged him to ready the fleet to repel any attack on Toulon by the Allies or Free-French forces. Auphan, Secretary of the Navy, reluctantly agreed, and ordered the fleet not to carry out any offensive operations at sea, lest they provoke either the Germans or the Allies into destroying the poorly defended fleet at anchor.
On November 12, with the German & Italian advance halted 15 kilometers from the base at Toulon, Laborde issued his orders for the day, ending them with the reaffirmation that "no foreigner will come on board" any French vessel. It was crucial that the vessels not fall into German hands, but if they went over to Allied hands (highly unlikely with the Germans having complete control of the air over, and the land surrounding the base) the German reprisals against France would be swift and severe. He summoned the ship's captains to his office, asking each to give their word that their vessel would never fall into foreign hands. One captain, Capitaine de Vaisseau Mathieu Pothuau of the destroyer Tartu, refused and was relieved of command, as did the second officer of the destroyer Verdun, who was ordered ashore.
That afternoon Darlan broadcast a message from North Africa, urging the French admirals to lead the fleet to Gibraltar and join the Allies, a somewhat foolish proposal considering the tactical situation at Toulon.
November 13 saw a new message from Raeder, the German Naval Commander, to Secretary of the Navy Auphan, restating that the defense of Toulon was the French responsibility, and that the terms of the armistice would be honored regarding the French Fleet. But Hitler, who was only buying time to gather his forces, had misled Raeder.
What was left of the French Army, about 50,000 men, drew up around Toulon, manning artillery and anti-aircraft batteries. De Laborde, blindly trusting that the German army had advanced as far as it wanted, and distrusting the British, focused mainly on defending the base from an Allied attack from North Africa.
On November 14 the German area commander met with de Laborde, and per the original 1940 armistice, was given details of the defense of Toulon and the disposition of French forces against an Allied attack. But Hitler had deceived both the German and French admirals: he fully intended to take the French fleet by force. But the French admiralty was not completely trusting, and ordered detailed plans to be drawn up to scuttle all the vessels by capsizing them should the Germans attempt to seize the fleet.
November 15 saw de Laborde fly to Vichy to meet with Petain. He saw the Vichy leader for only a few minutes, and then met with Secretary of the Navy Auphan. Auphan personally urged de Laborde to try and escape with the fleet to North Africa, but de Laborde refused to follow anything besides written orders from the government, which at the moment called for cooperation with the Germans. And this suited de Laborde's personal feelings just fine, as he distrusted the British, De Gaulle, and Darlan at least as much as he did the Germans. Auphan saw that Petain was just an old, tired puppet of those collaborating with the Germans, and could think of only two options: lead a coup against Petain, taking over the government and ordering the French Fleet to North Africa, or resigning. He chose to resign, doing so after meeting with de Laborde.
On November 18, while the French forces were still deploying to defend Toulon, the Germans demanded that the Armistice Army be disbanded. Vichy France, with 99% of their nation occupied, could only comply. By November 19 most of the Army had been dissolved, leaving the Navy alone to defend Toulon from both the land and the sea. Sailors were put ashore to man anti-aircraft and gun emplacements, further increasing the time it would take to get the ships underway, and eliminating any chance of a few ships slipping out of harbor. As a further result, the defensive line around Toulon had to be compressed, so the Germans and Italians advanced to within a few kilometers of the city.
Hitler issued orders on November 19 to begin Operation 'Lila', the capture of the French Fleet at Toulon. Preparations would take until November 26 (actually delayed until the 27th due to logistical problems). Kriegsmarine officers were involved in the planning, as the goal was to capture as many ships intact as possible. 800 sailors would board the ships to take possession, while another 1500 manned the captured shore batteries. The large vessels, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, would be given over to the Italians for operations against the Allies in the Mediterranean, as it would be impossible to transfer them to areas of German operations. German naval officers made it clear from the start that they felt the operation was ill conceived, insisting that a French 'Scapa Flow' would result, and that the Germans would not capture anything of value. They were ignored.
On November 22, the remaining Vichy air forces were forced to abandon their base and withdraw North to be disbanded, and German squadrons occupied the airfield at Istres.
Admiral Abrail, who replaced Auphan as Secretary of the Navy, visited Toulon and met with de Laborde and Marquis (commander of the 3eme Region ships at Toulon) and repeated German assurances that the fleet would be left alone. But he also reiterated that the ships must be effectively scuttled if the Germans broke their word.
November 24, after pleas from engineers hoping to salvage the vessels after the war, scuttle plans are changed to sink the ships upright.
Toulon was thus left a small, isolated island of unoccupied France, without air cover, and with German and Italian army units just a few kilometers outside the base.
The Marine Nationale vessels at Toulon fell into three commands: the Forces de Haute Mer (the High Seas Fleet) under de Laborde, the Forces Navales de la 3eme Region under Vice-Amiral Marquis, and Ships in Armistice Custody, disarmed with skeleton crews.
The High Seas Fleet consisted of the battlecruiser Strasbourg, five cruisers, and thirteen destroyers. Their officers and crews had sabotaged fuel gauges and falsified reports sent to the Germans, and thus their fuel tanks were about half full instead of almost empty as prescribed by the armistice. These ships had enough fuel to reach North Africa, had they been able to escape German air attack. One of the cruisers was dry-docked and unable to get underway.
The Forces Navales de la 3eme Region consisted of six destroyers, three sloops, and twenty small patrol boats. Also in this command was the school flotilla, with the old battleship Provence, the seaplane carrier Commandant Teste, two sloops, five small patrol craft, and the hulked, immobile old battleships Condorcet and Ocean. A group of six armed submarines was based at Le Mourillon. Some of these ships were in drydock, and others were in various states of being repaired, so few would have been able to reach North Africa.
The Ships in Armistice Custody included the battlecruiser Dunkerque, two cruisers, fourteen destroyers, and several supply and support ships. All were disarmed with only skeleton maintenance crews, and were unable to get underway.
In the early hours of November 27, German armored forces rolled into Toulon. Luftwaffe planes dropped mines in the channels. Four battle groups converged on the city, with one capturing the peninsula to the west of the base, thus blocking the entrance to the harbor with artillery. A second group would capture the fortresses at Mont-Faron & Grand-Saint-Antoine, along with the barracks at Sainte-Anne. A third would capture the radio station at Le Mourillon after advancing on Toulon from the East, and the last group would capture the fleet and occupy the arsenal. All went according to plan, but at 3:45 a dispatch rider escaped the German advance and sent a warning to the arsenal.
Vice-Amiral Marquis was soon captured at his headquarters was occupied, but his chief of staff escaped. A phone call went out to the Prefect Headquarters, and then to the flagship Strasbourg at 4:40 AM. De Laborde could not accept that the Germans had broken their word, but her ordered all ships to prepare to scuttle, and ordered that anyone entering the base should be fired upon.
When German tanks reached the gates of the arsenal, already nearly an hour behind schedule, they were further delayed by discussion with the gate guards, who were under orders to buy as much time as they could without opening fire on the greatly superior force. The guards stubornly refused to open the gate without propoer authorization, and the Germans presenting proper paperwork. The Germans were confused, and delayed their entry by another ten minutes. By the time the German columns rolled through the gate into the arsenal, de Laborde had sent the final order: "Scuttle! Scuttle! Scuttle!" Signal lights flashed, radios transmitted, and dispatch boats raced across the harbor repeating the order over and over again. The harbor lit up with searchlights and flairs as Luftwaffe planes began dropping mines.
Crews began to disembark as scuttling parties went to work. Pre-set demolition charges were fused in boilers and engines, radio and fire control equipment was smashed, sea cocks were opened, fuel pumped overboard, and explosives stuffed into gun barrels.
Meanwhile, German command was left in the dark, receiving no position or status reports until 5:37 AM, when the first army group signalled, "March as planned. No resistance." The first detailed reports did not arrive until after 6:00AM. By 6:30 the three groups occupying the area around Toulon had all reported success, and at 6:45 the group taking the arsenal reported that they had occupied the western part of the base, but fighting had broken out near the Strasbourg and the Foch.
Just before 6, German tanks reached the mooring quay fifty meters from the flagship. Strasbourg's crew had been busy, setting charges and opening sea valves as they attacked the ship's machinery with blowtorches. Reports differ as to who opened fire first, but German tanks were soon trading fire with machine guns on the stern of the ship. A tank shell hit the rear starboard 130mm turret, killing Lietenant de Vaisseau Dominique Fay and wounding five others, who were busy setting charges in the mount. The mount trained on the tanks, which beat a hasty retreat around the corner of a building. The Germans then tried diplomacy, with a German officer approaching the ship to shout in French, "Amiral! My commander asks you to give up your ship intact", to which de Laborde replied, "The ship is sunk!"
As the ship settled on the bottom, and after confirming that all the crew save 50 were safely overboard, the ship's captain (Captaine de Vaiseau Seyeux) sounded the ship's siren, the signal to light the fuses on the charges. Shortly after 6:20 violent explosions that shook the whole harbor rocked the ship, flames engulfing the ship and igniting the fuel in the water around it. The destruction was quite complete, and though the ship did not appear badly damaged externally, she was a total loss. Laborde refused to leave the vessel, demanding an explanation for the German occupation from every German officer sent to take him off. He finally departed at 8:45 PM, taking his picture of Marshal Petain, and berating the German commander that 'your Fuhrer has double standards' as he was taken off, under arrest.
Next to the Strasbourg were the cruisers Colbert and Algerie. German officers walked up the gangplanks of both ships and asked to see the captains. The Germans boarding Colbert were still engaged in conversation with the gangplank guard when first the the Strasbourg, and then the Colbert blew up. The captain of the Algerie told the German officer assigned to board his ship, who insisted that sabotage was forbidden, that he would have to discuss the matter with the division commander, and would he please wait right there for a minute? The German complied, and the division commander, Vice-Amiral Lacroix, calmly led the rest of his crew down the gangway as the fuses on the scuttling charges burned. The Germans announced that they were there to take the ship, but Lacrroix advised them that the cruiser was about to explode. The Germans took the French officers prisoner, and as the ship exploded their leader was heard to say, "What a shame." The ships were devastated, and Algerie would burn for 20 days.
German officers were less diplomatic at the cruiser Dupleix, where they rushed aboard and forced French sailors below decks, where they successfully located and closed the sea valves. But the ship's captain, Captain de Vaisseau Moreau, ordered the scuttling charges in the main turrets lit with shortened fuses. As they exploded and fires took hold, Moreau ordered the final evacuation, and French and Germans alike fled the vessel. Explosions of the ship's torpedo stores destroyed the vessel, which would burn for 10 days.
On the cruiser Marseillaise, her captain was anxious to deny his vessel to the Germans, and ordered scuttling charges set and the sea valves opened only on one side, ignoring orders to sink his vessel on an even keel. German commandos arrived at the gangplank and politely asked permission to come aboard, which was denied. They took no further action, and stood on the dock and watched the ship slowly capsize. Fires consumed the ship as the last officers abandoned ship, and explosions ripped the vessel apart. The ship's officers were taken prisoner, and the ship would burn for 7 days.
The cruiser Jean de Vienne was in drydock, and her captain, Capitaine de Vaisseau Mailloux ordered her moved forward, half in and half out of the dock, to block the gates. German commandos rushed on board, and found and cut the fuses on the demolition charges, but it was too late: the ship's valves were opened, and her crew had smashed every piece of equipment. The ship settled blocking the gate, making the drydock useless.
Aboard the old battleship Provence, part of the school flotilla, Captaine de Vaisseau Le Merdy engaged the German officer in charge of boarding his ship in pleasant conversation on the fantail and the vessel slowly sank beneath them. Not until the ship settled on the bottom with a list did the German realize he had been tricked, and the ship's officers were arrested and treated roughly. A similar story played out on the seaplane carrier Commandant Teste, which sank while the Germans milled about on deck, stalled by French officers.
The battlecruiser Dunkerque was in drydock, disarmed in Armistice Custody. Her captain refused to scuttle without a written order, but when the captain of the nearby cruiser La Galissonniere telephoned and said he had seen written orders, Capitaine de Vaisseau Amiel ordered the destruction of his vessel. Equipment was smashed, and her drydock flooded to sink the ship via large un-repaired holes in her hull, left over from a previous British attack on the vessel. The Germans reached her just as the fuses were lit, but made no effort to stop the French, so the ship was destroyed by a series of tremendous explosions in her machinery spaces, bridge, and turrets.
The cruiser La Galissonniere shared the drydock with Dunkerque, and her captain moved her forward and opened the sea valves so she would sink and block the gates. The nearby cruiser Foch was also scuttled with open sea valves, plus charges to her main armament. She would burn for several days, a complete loss.
There were 14 disarmed submarines at Toulon, and most were scuttled, the others being damaged. There were also 6 armed submarines, one being scuttled and 5 making a break for the open sea. One was scuttled in deep water, the other four escaped. One was interned in Spain, and the other three joined the Allies.
All over the harbor, in the inner basins, and in drydocks, destroyers were blown up and sunk at their moorings. Dozens of smaller vessels were sunk by their crews all over Toulon, as were supply and support vessels. Their gun crews also destroyed shore batteries. In all, more than 80 vessels were destroyed as the French kept their 1940 promise that their warships would never be turned over to the Germans. An estimated 12 French sailors died in the operation, and 26 were wounded, while the Germans lost only one man wounded.
The Germans managed to board and save only two destroyers, the Tigre and Panthere, both disarmed with skeleton crews that were unable to effect complete destruction. A third destroyer, the Lion, was captured high and dry in dry dock, with her equipment smashed and armament destroyed. Two submarines remained afloat, the Galathee and the Eurydice, and two others in drydock, Espoir and Vengeur, were captured, badly damaged. One submarine tender was captured. The hulk of the old pre-dreadnought Condorcet stubbornly remained afloat, but was of no value. The immobile ex-battleship Ocean, now used only as a storage pontoon, had no crew and was not scuttled. Two civilian tankers and a passenger ship were not scuttled.
German and Italian troops took what they could from the base, and French civilian workers soon looted the rest. The French Navy had ceased to exist.
Some 78,888 French officers and sailors were taken prisoner, but were released in exchange for assurances from the Vichy government that French workers would co-operate with Axis salvage efforts.
The Germans and Italians divided up the scuttled ships for scrap metal, with 212,500 tons (the major warships) going to the Italians and 24,500 tons going to the Germans. The Italians seized the surviving French destroyers in December 1943 despite French protests. When Italy capitulated, the ships were seized by the Germans and returned to the French.
The Italians salvaged several vessels, returning 5 destroyers and a submarine to Italy in hopes of returning them to service. A few small vessels eventually entered service with the Italian and German navies. But mostly the salvers concentrated on removing the valuable non-ferrous metals from the wrecks.
From April 1944 the French Navy tried to save what they could, having been given back the ships previously given to the Italians. But Allied air attacks (Toulon had become a German sub base) combined with German scuttling before they surrendered the harbor re-claimed most re-floated vessels. By war's end, of the 135 vessels at Toulon in November 1942, only the destroyers Tigre and Trombe, plus the four submarines that had escaped, had been recovered and made operational by the French Navy.