After the Fall of France and the Armistice of 1940, France was divided in two zones, one occupied by the Germans, and the "Free Zone", administered by the Vichy regime. The armistice stipulated that the French fleet would be largely disarmed and confined to its harbours, under French control. The Allies were concerned that the fleet, which included some of the most advanced warships of the time, might fall into enemy hands and so the British destroyed the French Fleet at MerselKebir on 3 July 1940 and at the Battle of Dakar on 23 September 1940.On 8 November 1942 the Allies invaded French North Africa (Operation Torch). General Dwight Eisenhower, with the support of Roosevelt and Churchill, made a secret agreement with Admiral Franois Darlan, commander of Vichy Naval forces, that Darlan would be given control of French North Africa if he joined the Allied side. When Adolf Hitler discovered this plan, he immediately triggered Case Anton, the occupation of Vichy France, and reinforced German forces in Africa.From 11 November 1942 negotiations took place between Germany and Vichy France. The settlement was that Toulon should remain a "stronghold" under Vichy control and defended against the Allies and "French enemies of the government of the Marechal". Groadmiral Raeder, commander of the Kriegsmarine, believed that French Navy officers would fulfill their armistice duty not to let the ships fall in the hands of any foreign nation, and managed to have the ear of Hitler. Raeder was led to believe that the German aim was to use antiBritish sentiment amongst the French sailors to have them side with the Italians, while Hitler was in fact preparing a forcible seizure of the fleet. Hitler's plan was to have German sailors capture the French ships and turn them over to Italy; German officers privy to this plan were critical of it, but their objections were ignored. Orders to implement the plan were given on 19 November.On the 11th, as German and Italian troops encircled Toulon, the Vichy Secretary of the Navy, Admiral Auphan, ordered Admiral Jean de Laborde and Admiral Andr Marquis to:Oppose, without spilling of blood, the entry of foreign troops in any of the establishments, airbases and buildings of the Navy;Similarly oppose entry of foreign troops aboard ships of the Fleet; find settlements by means of local negotiation; andIf the former proved impossible, to scuttle the ships.Initial orders were to scuttle the ships by capsizing them, but engineers, thinking of recovering the ships after the war, managed to have the orders changed to sinking on an even keel.On the 15th, Laborde met with Marshal Ptain and Auphan. In private, Auphan tried to persuade Laborde to set sail and join with the Allies; Laborde refused to obey anything short of a formal order of the government. Auphan resigned shortly after.Technical and tactical aspectOn the French side, as a token of goodwill towards the Germans, coastal defences were strengthened to safeguard Toulon from an attack from the sea by the Allies. These preparations included setups for scuttling the fleet, in case of a successful landing by the Allies. French forces were commanded by Admiral Jean de Laborde (chief of the "High sea fleet", composed of the 38 most modern and powerful warships) and Admiral Andr Marquis (prfet maritime, commanding a total of 135 ships, either in armistice custody or under repairs).Under armistice provisions, the French ships were supposed to have their fuel tanks almost empty; in fact, through falsification of reports and tampering with gauges, the crews had managed to store enough fuel to reach North Africa. One of the cruisers, Jean de Vienne, was in drydock, helpless. After the remnants of the French Army were required by the Germans to disband, French sailors had to man coastal defense artillery and antiaircraft guns themselves, which made it impossible to swiftly gather the crews and have the ships quickly underway.Crews were initially hostile to the Allied invasion but, out of the general antiGerman sentiment and as rumours about Darlan's defection circulated, this stance evolved towards backing of De Gaulle. The crews of Strasbourg, Colbert, Foch and Kersaint, notably, started chanting "Vive De Gaulle! Appareillage!" ("Long live De Gaulle! Set sail!"). In the afternoon of the 12th, Admiral Darlan further escalated the tension by calling for the fleet to defect and join the Allies. The population of Toulon was in the main favourable to the Allies; the soldiers and officers were hostile to the Italians, seen as "illegitimate victors" and duplicitous, and defiant of the Germans. The fate of the fleet, in particular, was seen to be doubtful. Between the 11th and the 26th, numerous arrests and expulsions took place. The French admirals, Laborde and Marquis, ordered their subordinates to take a pledge of allegiance to the regime (two of the senior officers, Humbertand and capitaine de vaisseau Pothuau, refused). Four combat groups including two armoured groups and a motorcycle battalion from 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich were entrusted with the mission. To prevent the French naval units scuttling themselves, Marinedetachment Gumprich was assigned to one of the groups.[2]On 19 November, was triggered by the Germans, with the objective of capturing Toulon and the French fleet, with an execution date of 27 November.German forces were to enter Toulon from the east, capturing Fort Lamalgue, headquarters of Admiral Marquis, and Mourillon arsenal; and from the west, capturing the main arsenal and the coastal defences. German naval forces were cruising off the harbour to engage any ships attempting to flee, and naval mines were laid.The combat groups entered Toulon at 04:00 on 27 November 1942 and made for the harbour, meeting only weak and sporadic resistance. At 04:30 the Germans entered Fort Lamalgue and arrested Marquis, but failed to prevent his chief of staff, ContreAmiral Robin, from calling the chief of the arsenal, ContreAdmiral Dornon. The attack came as a complete surprise to the Vichy officers, but Dornon transmitted the order to scuttle the fleet to Admiral Laborde aboard the flagship Strasbourg.Twenty minutes later, German troops entered the arsenal and started machinegunning the French submarines. Some of the submarines set sail to scuttle in deeper water. Casabianca left her moorings, sneaked out of the harbour and dived at 5:40am, escaping to Algiers.The German main force got lost in the arsenal and was behind schedule by one hour; when they reached the main gates of the base, the sentries pretended to need paperwork so as to delay the Germans without engaging in an open fight. At 5:25am, German tanks finally rolled through, and Strasbourg immediately transmitted the order "Scuttle! Scuttle! Scuttle!" by radio, visual signals and dispatch boat. French crews evacuated, and scuttling parties started preparing demolition charges and opening sea valves on the ships.At 6:45am fighting broke out around Strasbourg and Foch, killing a French officer and wounding five sailors. When naval guns started engaging the German tanks, the Germans attempted to negotiate; a German officer demanded that Laborde surrender his ship, to which the admiral answered that the ship was already sunk.As Strasbourg settled on the bottom, her captain ordered the ignition of the demolition charges, which destroyed the armament and vital machinery, as well as igniting her fuel stores. Strasbourg was a total loss. A few minutes later the cruiser Colbert exploded.The German party attempting to board the cruiser Algrie heard the explosions and tried to persuade her crew that scuttling was forbidden under the armistice provisions. However, the demolition charges were detonated, and the ship burned for twenty days.Meanwhile, the captain of the cruiser Marseillaise ordered his ship capsized and demolition charges set. German troops requested permission to come aboard; when this was denied, they did not attempt to board. The ship sank and exploded, burning for seven days.German troops forcibly boarded the cruiser Dupleix, put her crew out of the way, and closed her open sea valves. The ship's captain, capitaine de vaisseau Moreau, ordered the scuttling charges in the main turrets to be lit with shortened fuses and when they exploded and fires took hold, Moreau ordered the final evacuation. French and Germans alike fled the vessel. Explosions from the ship's torpedo stores destroyed the vessel, which burned for ten days. john paxson jersey