Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-06-11
Inside Story
OF TOulOn
By J. C. Fernand-Laurent
'WNU Fcaturc-Through special arrange
with Golfers Weekly

by j. L. FeTu0Uu.LuuTeHt
(WNU Featurc-Through special arrangement
with Golfers Weekly
1t was nothing but German stupid
ity that lost Hitler the French fleet
last November, and the arms and
munitions at the great naval base
of Toulon. 1 know the story, because
was in Toulon.
Admiral De Laborde, the French
commander, had received no recent
instructions from Vichy. The only
orders in his possession were those
dating from the armistice, COM
manding him to resist all aggression
from whatever source, and to sabo-
tage the fleet rather than surrender
it.
These orders never had been
countermanded. Preparations for
sabotage had been made. On the
morning of November 81, Vichy, in
the name of Marshal Petain and as
ordered from Berlin, tried to rescind
this order by telephone from Vichy
to Toulon.
The new instructions authorized
surrender of the fleet to the Ger
mans. But the telephone was not
functioning.
Why not? The truth is simple.
Germans Cut Wires to Isolate.
The German commanders at Tou-
lon, having completed encirclement
of the place and not wishing to be
disturbed in carrying out their in
tentions, cut every telephone wire
on the night of the 26th, and jammed
all radio transmission in order to
isolate the naval base from the rest
of France-including Vichy. 1t is
for this reason alone that Vichy's
orders to surrender the fleet never
arrived-until too late to save the
ships for Germany.
Here was Justice: self-adminis-
tered!
Many accounts have been pub
lished concerning what happened at
Toulon and why it happened. Most
of the accounts have contained mis-
takes. This article, I believe, is the
first true story of the heroic end of
the major part of the French navy.
On November 81 I was near Tou-
Ion at the home of member of our
underground movement. We were
awakened little before seven in the
morning by the crash of explosions.
Germans Filter In At Night.
During the night, the German
troops had filtered through the Sleep
ing city. They encountered no one.
The French sailors were aboard
their ships, the infantry and the
Senegalese were in the arsenal, the
forts and the easements. The Ger
mans hesitated, losing precious time.
After while, two columns formed,
one heading toward the arsenal, the
other toward the docks. Soon the
Nazis were throwing themselves into
every boat they could find, crowding
upon pontoons they had brought with
them. Suddenly gun doomed
from the flagship.
Gun Signal Booms.
1t was the signal-the order to
sabotage all ships, to destroy port
installations, to spike the guns of the
coastal batteries. Aboard the 10 YES
sells moored or anchored in the har-
Dor, commanders were at their
posts. They gave the pre-arranged
orders. Soon the old dock, the wa
ter front, the harbor and the road
stead-the anchorage where Frances
proud ships had lived-were no more
than cemeteries.
Fresh explosions came from the
arsenal. Machines and workshops in
the factories were being destroyed.
To the south, flames and clouds of
smoke from burning ammunition :,
dumps rose high. All around the
base, from the Saron to Cape Brun,
| there were new explosions. Nor
tars, huge rifles, shells in vast guam
tity-all were destroyed. Frances
most powerful naval base, the work
of 20 years, was a mass of smoking
Wreckage.
Blind with rage, the Germans
stormed the arsenal, killed the SEN
tinels and forced open the heavy
gates. They were too late. There
was hand-to-hand fighting in the
workshops between Nazi soldiers and
French workers, many of whom
were killed or wounded.
In their rage the invaders then
turned against the cadet school, sur
rounded the youngsters and by
weight of numbers manacled them,
thrust them into trucks and rushed
them to concentration camp. Sew
eral times along the route, crowds
tried to free the lads.
First reports after the tragedy
said that crews had gone down with
their ships. This was not so. The
truth was simpler but no less fine:'
Officers and sailors, to man, hav-
ing done their work of destruction,
remained at their posts to the
last moment, and then in perfect Or
der abandoned their ships and
reached shore.
A number OF both officers and men
we're explosion victims; some others
we're drowned.
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