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November 27, 1942 saw the end of the French fleet in World War 2. At Toulon, France in the face of a German advance on the port the order was given to scuttle the fleet to keep it out of German hands. The German plan was to capture the French ships and turn them over to Italy to reinforce the Italian fleet which had suffered several losses. At around 04:30 the Germans arrived at Fort Lamalgue and placed Admiral Marquis under arrest. His chief of staff managed to place a phone call to the arsenal and alert them of the German attack. At 05:25 German tanks arrived at the Naval base and the order went out from the flagship Strasbourg "scuttle, scuttle, scuttle". Soon after this the ships of the fleet began to burn and sink. In all over 100 vessels including the battleships Strasbourg, Dunkerque and Provence were sent to the bottom leaving only a hand full of small rather useless vessels for the Germans. |
© 2006 Michael W. Pocock MaritimeQuest.com |
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The French Fleet at Toulon. |