News in the first half of June rolled on, all bad. Norway finally fully evacuated, the surrender of the Government and the flight of the King to London, the Germans pushing deeper into France, crossing the Aisne. There was another evacuation, this time from Le Havre, but the German general, Rommel, was there a day after and ending the resistance of the 51st Highland Divisions and part of the French Army.
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| Italians bomb Malta |
On the 10th had come the news that Italy had declared war on us and on France, and I was split, whether it felts like the final blow for us, or comic grandstanding. The day after we bombed an Italian airfield in North Africa, a place called El Adem. Out came the Atlas again, but it was only me looking. As my wife said, she had lost the appetite for following more defeats on maps. Later that day, with the dominions declaring war on Italy, Italy bombed Malta.
News Reel: Italian Declaration of War
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| After The Fall |
On the 14th, the German's took Paris. There was no fighting, the city had been declared open and Germans just marched in. It had been inevitable, but still, the shock was enormous. The day after, the fortress of Verdun surrendered. For those of us that served in the last war, no matter where we served, the desperate fight in '14 to halt the advance on Paris and the long fight for Verdun, were semi-mythical symbols, pivotal moments. All of that was swept aside, all that we fought for reduced to meanless nothing. On the 17th, Petain, now Premier, told the French that the fighting needed to stop, with a French general, De Gaul, broadcasting on the BBC exalting his people not to lose hope. All the while more people were being evacuated from Cherbourg, ships fleeing the wreckage wherever they could. In radio bulletin, after bulletin, we listened to the disintegration of a nation. Finally, on the 22nd, an armistice between France and Germany was signed, but the humiliations continued - German forces continuing to advance until they reached the Spanish border on the 27th, having seized the whole Atlantic coast.
News Reel: German Troops in Paris
News Reel: French Surrender
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| Mers-el-Kebir |
On the 3rd of July, reported as a signal to the world that we will fight on, British aircraft attacked the French North African port of Mers-el-Kebir, bombing French naval vessels to stop them falling into German hands. The French 'government', now operating out of the small town of Vichy broke off diplomatic relations with Britain and bombed Gibraltar in revenge. I see the logic, but cannot but help feel that we piled on the pain for our lost allies. We killed over a 1000 of their sailors that day.
On the 18th of June, Churchill had given speech - We will never surrender! This rings hollow to me now, though, having believed the speech he gave just weeks before. That first speech was given at the very time that he must have known that French armies were disintegrating, and he asserted strongly, confidently, convincingly, that the bulk of the French army had yet to be committed to battle. I have to concede that my neighbour, who wrote the French off even before Dunkirk, seems to have understood events better than me, but will be fare any better?
News Reel: Churchill's speech - we shall never surrender
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| Occupation of The Channel Islands |
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| Occupation of The Channel Islands |
One final sad postscript. My wife and I honeymooned in Jersey, back when days were brighter. We stayed in a B&B in St Helier, with a view of the harbour and Fort Elizabeth. A picture of Castle Gory hangs on our landing. The Germans occupied the Channel Islands on the 30th of June, without a shot being fired.
It must surely be our turn next, and the first pictures from Jersey, German staged shots, I don't doubt, kept me awake the evening I first saw them. Staged or not, there seems little but naive hope between us and a similar fate.
How long before I see German troops in Norwich? Or Hingham, even? Perhaps just weeks.
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