Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 337: Compensation plan

Speaking logically, the French’s claim was reasonable and reasonable. There were 16 military ships, large and small, and 1,759 lives. This is not something that can be cancelled with a single stroke.

At that time, the French Mediterranean Fleet stationed in Alexandria had no other casualties other than the sinking of the fleet commander and chief of staff. However, the British airstrikes on Millskbild, Oran, Saint-Nazaire and Toulon, As well as the conflagration of Portsmouth and Plymouth, the French Navy suffered heavy losses.

The two old French battleships docked in Portsmouth Harbor. As usual, half of the crew were on vacation on the shore. Because it was impossible to know the truth of the information for a while, the two captains did not issue a summoning order. These remained Although the French naval officers and soldiers on the shore were put under house arrest by the British army after the incident, they finally saved a precious life.

However, the fate of the half of the crew who stayed on the ship was completely different. On that **** night where iron and fire were intertwined, the [Guba] and [Paris] attracted more than 90% of the firepower of the British coastal artillery and surface naval forces.

The tenacious fighting will shown by these French navy officers and soldiers that night made the Royal Navy feel incomprehensible. According to an American tanker captain who witnessed the entire conflagration on the balcony of the naval dormitory in the port area, he recalled to the media after the war that the French battleship "Guba" that night until one deck was submerged in the water, the two in the back The main gun is still fighting back. The brave performance of this French battleship is completely worthy of the three-color flag on the high mast.

Both battleships belong to the Fifth Squadron of the French Navy. Both [Guba] and [Paris] are designated as artillery training ships. There are many new sailors and naval officers in the crew. Interns and reserve officers who have just graduated.

The French Naval Command declared that the two battleships were sent to the United Kingdom to enter the Atlantic Ocean for training missions. In fact, in addition to this, it was still to avoid the loss of these two old and slow battleships in the hands of the Germans. , Because under the rapid offensive of the Luftwaffe, the two old warships with poor air defense firepower may not last for fifteen minutes.

At that time, the French Navy even thought about getting these two warships to get repairs and weapon upgrades in the British naval port. As a result, Churchill brazenly launched Operation Trebuchet before stopping for two weeks.

The original [Guba]-class battleship was fully staffed with 1,108 people. At this moment, as a training ship, a batch of trainee sailors and reserve officers have been added, and the total number of crew members has reached 1,550. .

Except for the officers and men who spent the night on the shore, there were still 677 naval officers and men on board when the battle started. When the battle was over, the Royal Navy rescued only 65 men from the water, and the rest Five hundred and fifty-two officers and soldiers sank into the bottom of the sea with the "Guba".

Until two weeks after the incident, the Royal Navy was still able to find the bodies of French officers and soldiers floating on the water from time to time. It is estimated that there are many corpses trapped in the silt at the bottom of the harbor and unable to float to the surface, and more people are still left behind. Sinking in the hull of the harbor.

The work of consolidating the remains of the French army did not really begin until the end of the war, because the port was previously carpet bombed by the Luftwaffe, the port equipment was severely damaged, and the naval personnel suffered serious losses. Portsmouth It was beaten into a mess and almost turned into a deserted port. At that time, even if the Royal Navy had any ideas, it was already overwhelmed.

By the time the British began to clear the ports and waterways under the supervision of the German occupation forces, everything seemed to be too late. Most of the corpses have been highly corrupted in the sea, and some have even been swallowed by marine life and become bones. Returning such corpses to the French Navy is simply sprinkling a handful of salt on the French wounds.

Although the British tried their best to conceal this, the French finally learned the truth from the Germans. However, Petain had no other choice but to be angry. He had to complete the reconciliation with the British. It is related to the European strategy of the German head of state. In any case, we cannot refute the face of von Steide on this issue.

Betain can become a marshal, of course he is not a Virgin, so he simply pretended to be deaf and dumb, as if he had never heard of it.

Families of French naval officers and soldiers who died in the months after the war went to the naval headquarters to petition, and the French high seas fleet stationed in Toulon also delayed the handling of the incident, and there was general dissatisfaction. If you can't give a satisfactory explanation to the navy, President Petain will be quite embarrassed here.

The problem is that in this matter, the British are completely unprepared to make a face. Chamberlain’s cabinet first shifted the responsibility for the incident to Churchill and the wartime cabinet, but at the same time, it was just a distraction. Regretful of the misunderstanding, they were willing to apologize to the French government in the name of the Cabinet of the British Empire, but rejected the French request to punish those directly responsible, and finally came up with a compensation package worth 400,000 pounds.

The Royal Navy also promised to be responsible for the salvage of the sinking French ships in the harbor and the remains of the dead soldiers, and to search for the remains of missing officers and soldiers as much as possible.

Of course, France will not accept this kind of proposal. In fact, apologies and the like are official articles. Everyone understands the tricks. As long as the media can pull it through, it will be no problem in anyone's name. But dealing with those directly responsible is purely to appease the people of the navy. After all, France is now a big country, and only the High Seas Fleet can be put on the table.

The French side thinks that Britain should at least throw a scapegoat of a little enough weight, and let the French side pretend to make a job. Then the military court will sentence a dozen years in prison and let Marshal Petain be in the navy. In the meantime, the French people can also have a good time.

It's a big deal to wait for a year and a half to get the limelight, and find another chance to issue a presidential amnesty, and the two sides will compensate this hapless guy with some benefits. Isn't it a happy ending?

The other is the 400,000 pounds of compensation, which looks quite a lot at first glance, but note that the British mentioned in the agreement is a total value of 400,000 pounds, which means that part of this payment is repaid in kind Yes, it may not even be the real thing, there are too many tricks to play with.

The British claimed that the war had dealt a heavy blow to the British economy and that the domestic financial situation was so bad that it was temporarily unable to mobilize too many funds. However, the British government reserves a lot of strategic resources for war preparations, which can be handed over to France as compensation.

In addition to the famous woolen textiles, there are also a number of second-hand agricultural machinery and processing machine tools in the plan. The British have a very poisonous vision. These are the most urgently needed in France, and in order to show a friendly attitude, the United Kingdom claims these Only the cost price will be calculated.

Betain doesn’t know how much money the Germans have robbed from the UK~IndoMTL.com~ But he knows how much France has lost. The UK should be only a lot more than France, but the sun never sets the empire , Will definitely not fall to the point where even hundreds of thousands of pounds can't be paid out.

Finally, after continuing to rip for more than half a month, both sides made some concessions. Britain agreed to throw out a scapegoat, and Petain agreed to the rest of the British settlement plan.

It's really because the British finally came up with a big move, so that President Petain had to be willing to submit.

Before Renault ordered a batch of treasury gold to be sent to Canada as a reserve for purchasing weapons and equipment in the Americas. As a result, when France surrendered, the Canadian government took the opportunity to freeze this batch of gold, and after the war ended, Canadians looked for it again. A bunch of reasons, anyway, just don't want to return this gold to the French.

This time the British cabinet stated that if France agrees to this "compensation plan," the British government will urge Canada to unfreeze the gold and return it to the French people as soon as possible.

Betain never thought that this kind of operation could be possible between countries, and the shamelessness of the British opened the eyes of the old marshal.

PS: Thank you for your support, the author will continue to work hard.