synarchy movement of empire book ii - Pierre Beaudry's Galactic ...

word to the Germans than to be truthful to their allies. "You could have
saved your ships," replied Clemenceau to Admiral Gensoul, during the
committee questioning.
Not only Admiral Gensoul, but also Admiral Darlan, and Secretary of
State of Petain, General Charles Huntziger, who had negotiated the
Armistice with the Germans, had appealed to the Germans to help the
French against the British. General Huntziger even went as far as to write to
the German Armistice Commission to apologize for having taken the liberty
of giving the French Navy and Air Force in North Africa the order to strike
back at the British. The German Minutes of the Commission reported that
"He [Huntziger] told General Von Stuelpnagel that the French government
now realized that by giving its orders, it was exceeding the scope of the
Armistice Agreement. It hoped, however that the German Government
would understand that it was fighting for its life." (Shirer, p.916.) Hitler
more than "understood"! He was tickled pink to see that finally, French
officers had enough "courage" to fight against their "ex- ally" the British.
Hitler responded personally to Huntziger, the next day, telling him that he
was suspending momentarily the provisions of the armistice, which had
called for the disarmament of the North African French fleet and Air Force.
Hitler was giving the French permission to fight back against "unjustified
and dishonorable aggression by other powers." It was indeed ironic that the
Vichy authorities thought it necessary to get the German permission and
approval to launch an attack against a rare British friendly gesture of
accompanying the French fleet to safety. As Shirer noted: "At any rate, the
permission arrived too late." (Shirer, p.916)
At 2:30, an hour and a half before the deadline of the British
ultimatum, Admiral Gensoul received Captain Holland on the {Dunkirk},
and the two officers argued back and forth without resolution. Finally, as
Holland had finished sending a message of his unsuccessful negotiations
back to his mother ship, the {Hood}, a radio message came from the British
Admiralty stating: "If one of our propositions is not accepted by 5:30 p.m.,
British Summer Time, I shall have to sink your ships." Holland was shown
the message by Gensoul, then took his leave in silence.
At 5: 54 p.m., the British fleet began to fire on the French fleet. After
an hour, the French fleet no longer existed. On July 4, Churchill spoke
before the House of Commons and described the unfortunate tragedy.
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