August 15th - November 1st, 1940
Western Front
In the aftermath of the fall of France, Churchill was confronted with a problem even more vast than war: the fate of the exiled forces in England.
The smallest of these was…Luxembourg. Luxembourgian forces in England were small, and would be integrated with the Belgian Army Corps. The Luxembourgian government would establish itself at Wilton Crescent, with Grand Duchess Charlotte establishing herself at Penrhyn Castle, in Wales [1].
The second-smallest government in exile was…that of Denmark. Albeit very unofficial, since the King was still in Copenhagen, the Danish exiled forces still comprised a few forces, notably due to the exiled naval elements. Under the leadership of Admiral Hjalmar Rechnitzer, and with the covert blessing of King Christian X, the Danish forces in exile also started to be constituted. For the most part, they would be affected to the war at sea. With no modern vessels in their fleet, the escaped Danish vessels were used as barrack-ships and spare parts. In compensation and thanks to the defection of much of the French Fleet, the British agreed to transfer one destroyer, two corvettes and one submarine to the Danish forces: the HMS
Arrow,
Heliotrope,
Gladiolus and
Sunfish. These would see service as the HDMS
Absalon,
Hvidbjornen,
Vaederren and
Bellona, respectively.
The next government in exile was the Dutch one. With only 5,000 land troops, they were (after Luxembourg and Denmark), the smallest force of the exiled governments. This one, led by Queen Wilhelmina, established itself at Stratton house, with Princess Juliana, the heir to the throne, being sent to Sint Maarten.
However, while the Dutch still had the means to fight, notably through the Dutch East Indies force, their government was still split. Most notably, Dirk Jan de Geer, the Prime Minister, who saw in Germany the potential of collaborating. Considered defeatist by most of his peers, Queen Wilhelmina also did not see his value. Dismissed by the Queen, De Geer was sent to Indonesia. On the way, he would defect to the Germans [2]. He was replaced by Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy.
For Poland and the Czechs, nothing much would change, with the government relocating to London from France. The Polish forces did manage to save a consequential number of men from France, which would greatly help the constitution of the Polish First Army. In addition, the Poles would also manage to evacuate their three operational squadrons (the equivalent of six British squadrons) to England: the GC I/145 "Warsaw", GC II/145 "Krakow-Poznan" and GC III/145 "Deblin", all on MB 152. These would be transitioned to Spitfires quickly enough.
The Belgians were by far the most numerous of the Allied government in exile. Almost 350,000 Belgians had managed to reach England one way or another, and with much of their light equipment. In addition, the entire government had been evacuated to London, establishing a government of national unity at Eaton Square. The King, for his part, had been evacuated “for his own safety” to Bath.
The presence of 90% of the Belgian Parliament and the entirety of the administration’s cabinet greatly helped Belgium’s efforts at gaining goodwill from the United States, which would greatly help its cause in building a “Belgian Army Corps”. This one, to be constituted of 6 infantry divisions and 2 armored divisions, would need to be at the forefront of the fight against Germany…and the liberation of Belgium.
In the meantime, the Belgians had gained the allegiance of the Belgian Congo in its fight against Germany…but there was a problem.
The British wanted to use the Belgian Force Publique in order to attack Italian-occupied Ethiopia. However, Italy had not declared war on Belgium, and it was unlikely that it would in the near future. Thus, spurred on by Churchill, the Belgians decided to act by sending a missive to Pierre Ryckmans, Governor of the Belgian Congo, to prepare an intervention force that could be sent to Khartoum and participate in the East African Campaign. It wouldn't be until the said force arrived in Khartoum that the Belgians would transmit the declaration of war on Italy, in October 1940.
Spurred on by Pierre-Henri Spaak, of the Socialist Party, PM Hubert Pierlot also encouraged Ryckmans to recruit from the “native” population, promising Belgian citizenship to the soldiers enlisting and their families. Although this measure was hardly popular with the most radical members of the government, Spaak’s influence and British pressure won the day, and would greatly help in the establishment of a Congolese Republic many years later. Of these divisions raised in the Congo, one infantry regiment would be comprised only of natives coming from the Ruanda-Urundi region, and would soon see action in Eritrea.
By far, though, the most important Government in exile was the French one. Mandel’s government, claiming itself to be the “true” successor to the 3rd Republic, found support in the French Armed forces in Britain, about 500,000 strong. Most of these would agree to carry on the fight, along with their leaders: Alphonse Juin, Aubert Frère, Charles Delestraint, Antoine Béthouart, to name but a few.
With the support of the Navy, who had a substantial number of assets in England, along with the defected elements in Alexandria, Malta and Gibraltar, these numbers would soon swell to create the Free French I Corps, and would help Mandel in his efforts to reclaim the French Empire.
Another crucial element of the exiled forces was the Air Force: France in particular had managed to send a substantial amount of its air assets, along with its veteran pilots, to Britain. With five squadrons on Curtiss Hawk, three squadrons on MB 152 and no less than six squadrons on D-520 and D-523 (about 500 fighters total), added to the two squadrons on LeO-451, two squadrons on A-20 Havoc (DB-7) and one squadron on Maryland (M-167F), not counting the carrier-based aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft, Britain had received a substantial reinforcement.
The French government did congratulate itself on the feat, but pointed out to London that most of these aircraft did not have spare parts, and that while Mandel was optimistic in his negotiations with the Americans for the delivery of new aircraft to the Free French (most notably P-40s, added to those already in the process of being delivered [3]), he would likely need to reequip most of these Squadrons on British aircraft. For the Belgians, it would be much of the same, though they already had managed to acquire American aircraft thanks to their previous orders, which would just be delivered to the United Kingdom instead of Belgium [4].
For France, there was thus the question of the Empire at hand.
As soon as Mandel made his proclamation, the colony of the New Hebrides rallied to the London government, though it was far behind the Domain of Saint-Helena, which proclaimed its allegiance to the Free French government almost on the day. This would be soon followed by French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, the Indian ports and New Caledonia.
On September 1st, two good news would come to Georges Mandel’s attention.
The first was the rallying of the French colony of Djibouti, led by General Paul Legentilhomme. This one, a firm believer in the fight against the enemy, was all too eager to join the new government against the Germans and Italians.
The second was the rallying of the French colony of Chad to the French cause. Its civilian governor, Félix Eboué, and military commander, Lt.Col Marchand, both professed their loyalty to the London government. This was soon followed by a domino effect: Cameroon, Ubangi-Shari, Gabon and the Congo all swore fealty to the London government.
This was not all.
On September 6th, after receiving guarantees from London, General Mittelhauser, military governor of Syria-Lebanon, defected to Free France. On September 8th, the French Antilles also defected, soon followed by French Guiana. Seeing where the winds were blowing, St.Pierre and Miquelon also defected, though later, in October. Madagascar, Reunion and the Comoros would follow suit in late September.
Mandel also received another telegram: that of General Catroux, military governor of Indochina. This one notified London of the aggressive stance of Japanese forces on the border, and that an invasion may be imminent unless Catroux gave in to their demands…which included the right of Japan to station troops in the country.
For the British, the thought of seeing Japanese squadrons so close to Singapore was unthinkable. Churchill thus urged Mandel to give Catroux any security guarantee that he would need in order to sway him. It must be said that Catroux really did not need much to be swayed…Vichy could do little else than parrot what Berlin was saying, and Catroux himself wished to continue the fight.
On September 26th, after Mandel agreed to send the
Dixmude group to Saigon, Catroux publically announced the rallying of French Indochina to Free France. That same day, he sent a telegram to Tokyo informing the Japanese that every single one of their demands were rejected.
General Nishimura, commanding the invasion force, was ordered to stand down for the moment. The Japanese were clearly biding their time, but they were also not risking war with the French and British so soon. In the meantime, though, the
Dixmude sailed from Devonport for Singapore…
In all, Vichy was left only with French North and West Africa, both of which were now in Mandel’s sights. The fall of Dakar was only a matter of time, and with it, the road to Alger would be open. Churchill especially pushed Mandel for a quick intervention in order to recover the French, Belgian and Polish gold stored there. Something Mandel was quick to push back: the veteran politician knew how to bide his time, and he wasn’t exactly willing to kill fellow Frenchmen. Churchill would have to be a little more patient, and wait for November to see the gates of Africa open…
Regardless, the Allies were not the only ones to draw the conclusions of the Battle of France. The Germans were too, and the picture was grim.
Hitler, who believed that an invasion of Britain was still possible, was now struck. With the defection of the majority of the French fleet and a substantial amount of its air assets, Britain looked more and more like a fortress. And this wasn’t mentioning the Allied forces that had been evacuated…
While Goering proclaimed for all to hear that his Luftwaffe would crush the RAF without blinking, OKH was much bleaker in its prediction. With so many veterans having crossed the Channel, the Luftwaffe would be bled dry…not to mention the attrition suffered by the land forces! Land forces that Hitler was keen in sending to Libya to assist Mussolini.
The Germans had taken France, but at what cost! Nearly 70,000 killed, many more wounded, several divisions gutted and very measly prizes at the end of it all. OKH was not optimistic: to properly prepare for Operation Barbarossa, and have proper air support, Hitler would need to choose: Africa and Britain or Russia. He could not have both.
To say that Hitler was enraged was an understatement, but in the end, the Fuhrer had to relent. Britain could not be attacked? It would be bombed into submission. Africa could not be reinforced? Mussolini would have to hold with what he has for as long as possible. Hitler also thought about strongarming the French into participating in the fight, but with recent events, he’d be likely to see the French shoot the Italians in the back.
Though, Hitler did not totally abandon his ally. He still ordered the dispatch of a motorized infantry division to Libya as a token force to show that Germany was not completely abandoning her allies [5]. And then, Hitler could finally turn towards the East…
No? What was there to solve? Oh, right, the Norwegian problem…
[1] OTL, Grand Duchess Charlotte went to Canada, but with less of an invasion scare, she opts for Wales.
[2] As OTL.
[3] 100 Vought SB2U Vindicator, 330 Douglas A-20 Havoc, 150 Martin Maryland, 55 Grumman F4F Wildcat, 40 PBY Catalina, 110 B-24 Liberator, 90 Northrop A-17, as well as 600 P-40, 150 P-46 (would eventually be transformed to P-40 orders) and 100 Curtiss Hawk.
[4] These aircraft are U.S-made Douglas A-20 Havoc, Brewster Buffalo, Grumman F4F Wildcat and Bell P-39 Airacobra.
[5] Said division was too late to prevent the fall of Libya.
