French fleet scuttled in Toulon
Title
French fleet scuttled in Toulon
Description
Article 1. Headlines: French fleet scuttled in Toulon, crews act as Germans seize town, not a ship left afloat, Hitlet's excuse for a broken pledge. Article 2. Headlines: The Toulon fleet, the effect of long disuse. Includes battleships Dunkerque and Strasboug along with other vessels.
Date
1942-11-28
Temporal Coverage
Language
Type
Format
Two newspaper cuttings mounted on a scrapbook page
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
SValentineJRM1251404v10037
Transcription
THE TIMES SATURDAY NOVEMBER 28 1942
FRENCH FLEET SCUTTLED IN TOULON
CREWS ACT AS GERMANS SEIZE TOWN
“NOT A SHIP LEFT AFLOAT”
HITLER’S EXCUSES FOR A BROKEN PLEDGE
Early yesterday morning German forces entered Toulon, and the French warships in the port were immediately scuttled by their crews. The Vichy News Agency announced that by 10 a.m. not one vessel remained afloat.
A broadcast report from Vichy stated that French sailors opened fire on the Germans and kept them at bay until the ships could be scuttled. Casualties among the crews are said to have been heavy. German bombers which appeared over the port dropped flares round the warships and attacked the fortifications with high-explosive bombs.
In a letter to Pétain Hitler asserted that he had occupied Toulon on receiving evidence that Admiral Darlan had ordered the French defences not to open fire in the event of an allied landing.
THE TOULON FLEET
EFFECT OF LONG DISUSE
FROM OUR NAVAL CORRESPONDENT
The French men-of-war at Toulon, as far as is known, were the battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg, 26,500 tons, eight 15in. guns, completed two years before the war, and the old battleship Provence; four 10,000-ton cruisers, the Colbert, Algérie, Foch, and Duquesne; three light cruisers, La Gallissoniére, Jean de Vienne, and La Marseillaise; the sea-plane carrier Commandant Teste, 10,000 tons; about 28 destroyers, of which some 18 were of the large 2,400-ton class, and about 20 submarines.
The Dunkerque was severely damaged at Oran in July, 1940, and it is not known whether her repairs had been completed; the Provençe was of small fighting value. It is not known what was the state of readiness for service of the remainder, but since they had not been out of harbour for two years they could hardly have been at the highest pitch of efficiency.
FRENCH FLEET SCUTTLED IN TOULON
CREWS ACT AS GERMANS SEIZE TOWN
“NOT A SHIP LEFT AFLOAT”
HITLER’S EXCUSES FOR A BROKEN PLEDGE
Early yesterday morning German forces entered Toulon, and the French warships in the port were immediately scuttled by their crews. The Vichy News Agency announced that by 10 a.m. not one vessel remained afloat.
A broadcast report from Vichy stated that French sailors opened fire on the Germans and kept them at bay until the ships could be scuttled. Casualties among the crews are said to have been heavy. German bombers which appeared over the port dropped flares round the warships and attacked the fortifications with high-explosive bombs.
In a letter to Pétain Hitler asserted that he had occupied Toulon on receiving evidence that Admiral Darlan had ordered the French defences not to open fire in the event of an allied landing.
THE TOULON FLEET
EFFECT OF LONG DISUSE
FROM OUR NAVAL CORRESPONDENT
The French men-of-war at Toulon, as far as is known, were the battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg, 26,500 tons, eight 15in. guns, completed two years before the war, and the old battleship Provence; four 10,000-ton cruisers, the Colbert, Algérie, Foch, and Duquesne; three light cruisers, La Gallissoniére, Jean de Vienne, and La Marseillaise; the sea-plane carrier Commandant Teste, 10,000 tons; about 28 destroyers, of which some 18 were of the large 2,400-ton class, and about 20 submarines.
The Dunkerque was severely damaged at Oran in July, 1940, and it is not known whether her repairs had been completed; the Provençe was of small fighting value. It is not known what was the state of readiness for service of the remainder, but since they had not been out of harbour for two years they could hardly have been at the highest pitch of efficiency.
Citation
“French fleet scuttled in Toulon,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 18, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/20897.
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