FOW: Free French in North Africa, a Mid-War list

“This war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not over as a result of the Battle of France. This war is a world war. All the mistakes, all the delays, all the suffering, do not alter the fact that there are, in the world, all the means necessary to crush our enemies one day. Vanquished today by mechanical force, in the future we will be able to overcome by a superior mechanical force. The fate of the world depends on it.   I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and the French soldiers who are located in British territory or who might end up here, with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the specialised workers of the armament industries who are located in British territory or who might end up here, to put themselves in contact with me.”
Charles de Gaulles
Extract from BBC broadcast, 18th June 1940

NOTE the history is first, Formations, Units and Cards at the bottom

The fall of France
On paper, the French army of the late 1930s was one of the strongest in the world. It had thousands of tanks, millions of men under arms, fully mechanized divisions and large sections of its border were extremely heavily fortified.

The French plan for war with Germany was to stand by the defences and fight a war of attrition, causing so many German casualties that Germany would then be forced to negotiate. The Germans had other ideas, and on 10th May 1940 launched a daring invasion via the Ardennes, which the French thought was impassable to tanks. After just 6 weeks of fighting, France surrendered.

The Germans split France in half; the Northern half was directly occupied, whilst the Southern half was governed by the new French government situated in the town of Vichy, this became known as Vichy France.

Charles de Gaulle and The Free French
Charles de Gaulle was the lowest ranking general during the battle of France; in fact he started the war as a Colonel and was only promoted to Brigadier General on 1st June 1940. He was an early advocate of mechanised warfare and had written books on the subject in the 1930s.

His views clashed however with the French accepted military theory of defensive war, and cost him promotion on at least one occasion.

During the battle of France, he led the various tank formations with mixed success.

Shortly after his promotion, he was made a Government minister – Under Secretary of State for National Defence and War with focus on coordination with the British. By this time however the battle of France was practically lost, and de Gaulle flew to England on 17th of June with 100,000 gold Francs and hopes of setting up a French Government in exile. The following day he was allowed to make a broadcast on the BBC appealing for any available French soldiers to join him and the government in exile to continue the fight against the Germans.

When de Gaulle made his 18th June appeal in 1940 there were thousands of French troops in Britain at the time mostly evacuated from Dunkirk and Norway. Only 1,400 came forward to join the free French. The vast majority decided to be repatriated back to France; after all, for them, the war was over, and they had lost. Thanks to incorporating air force and navy personal as ground troops, escapees from France and expats living in the UK, de Gaulle managed to scrape together a regiment of roughly 2,700 men of all ranks by August 1940.

French Colonies
France had a colonial empire including large parts of North, West, East and Equatorial Africa. When de Gaulle made his radio broadcast on the BBC, the French colonies had to choose. Did they side with the ‘legitimate government’ of Vichy France, or did they side with de Gaulle and the Free French?
Of the four Equatorial colonies, Chad, Congo, and Ubangi-Chari (now The Central African Republic) sided with the Free French almost immediately, as did nearby Cameroon (a French mandate territory), but Gabon sided with the Vichy French. In the North; Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia all sided with the Vichy Government as did all of French West Africa. The French Levant colonies of Syria and Lebanon also sided with Vichy France.

Battle of Mers-el-Kébir
In 1940, the French Navy was the 2nd largest in Europe (in terms of capital ships) after the British Royal Navy. When France surrendered, the British were worried that if the Germans requisitioned the French navy, it would radically alter the naval balance of power. The most powerful group of ships was at anchor at Mers-el-Kébir in Algeria, so on 3rd July, the British delivered an ultimatum to surrender or scuttle the fleet. However, before negotiations were officially terminated the British ordered the bombing of the harbour mouth with magnetic mines, and shortly afterwards the order was given to open fire on the harbour. The British fired 30 salvos, killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank 1 battleship, and damaged 6 other ships. Some ships escaped the harbour but were subsequently hunted down. The battle destroyed a significant portion of the French fleet, but also seriously hardened Vichy French feelings towards the British.

Vichy secret rearmament
Under the terms of the French surrender in 1940, the Germans limited the garrison in North Africa to 120,000 men with the intention that they should only be used to police the colonies, and as a deterrent against allied invasion, however, some people had other plans. General Weygrand was appointed the Vichy Governments representative in North Africa on 6th September 1940, giving him complete military and civil power in North and West Africa. He used the power to arrange new recruitment and resupply of arms. To the 120,000 allowed men, he added an additional 60,000, disguising them as provisional conscripts, unarmed workers and auxiliary police. He also secured arms for them including 55,000 rifles, 1,500 heavy machine guns, over 200 mortars, 75 anti-tank guns, and even 6 tanks. The Germans, realising that Weygrand had far too much power, had him recalled to France in November 1941, and his replacement General Juin had only military authority, and only in North Africa.

Operation Exporter
The French Levant was comprised of Syria and Lebanon, they had been granted autonomy in 1936, but with the understanding that France would be allowed to maintain a large garrison and some airfields in the region. The British were worried that axis forces would use the Levant as a base to bomb British controlled Egypt, so the decision was made to invade.

On 8th June 1941 Commonwealth troops from Australia and India supported by 2 brigades of the 1st Free French Division invaded Syria from British controlled Iraq. Vichy France had 45,000 troops in the area supported by approximately 90 tanks (mostly likely R-35s), and just under 300 aircraft. Things went well for allies from the start, as most of the Vichy air force was destroyed whilst still on the ground. The Vichy French fought hard, but Damascus the Syrian capital fell on 17th June, and Australian forces captured Beirut on 10th July. After this, the Vichy forces sought an armistice, which was signed on 14th July.

Operation Menace
French West Africa was a federation made up of 8 French Colonial territories. Dakar in Senegal was the capital and the other 7 states were Mauritania, Guinea, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Niger, Dahomey (now Benin) Sudan (now Mali) and The Ivory Coast. If the government in Dakar could be persuaded to join the Free French, then it would be a great political victory.

The port at Dakar was also the best naval base in the area, the Gold reserves for the bank of France and the Polish Government in exile were located there. Due to these factors, the British and Free French decided to launch Operation Menace, sending a task force of 2 battleships, an aircraft carrier, several smaller vessels and troop transports carrying 8,000 British and Free French Troops. The initial aim was for de Gaulle to talk the Dakar government round to the Free French cause, but if this failed, Dakar would be captured by force.

On 23rd September a boat with representatives of the Free French sailed into Dakar harbour and was immediately fired upon. Vichy ships then attempted to sail out of the harbour, and were fired upon by the British fleet. This caused the coastal defence batteries around Dakar to open fire on the British fleet, which returned fire.

An attempt was made to land Free French troops south of the city, but this was met with determined resistance from Vichy troops. De Gaulle called off the attack not wanting to have Frenchmen fighting Frenchmen. After 2 more days of exchanging fire with the defences of Dakar, the British and Free French withdrew. French West Africa would remain loyal to the Vichy Regime until the allied landings of Operation Torch.

Capture of Gabon
After the failure of Operation menace, de Gaulle set his sights on uniting French Equatorial Africa by capturing Gabon instead. On 8th October 1940 de Gaulle landed in Cameroon and drew up plans for the invasion of Gabon. He would not, however, take part in the capture of Gabon himself, as he was already planning on using French Equatorial Africa as a springboard for invading Italian controlled Libya. He headed to the Chad Libyan border instead.

Free French Forces invaded Gabon on 27th October, with the objective of capturing Libreville, the capital of Gabon. This they achieved on the 10th of November, after bombing parts of the city. The last Vichy troops surrendered in French Equatorial Africa on 12th November. The Free French now had a unified large territory to govern which gave them a small degree of legitimacy in the eyes of the world. The next step would be taking the fight to the Axis with the invasion of Libya.

Free French Equipment
When French troops were evacuated from Norway and Dunkirk, they were initially offered British uniforms and equipment, but de Gaulle was worried this would rob them of their national identity and they would end up just being another unit of the British army. So whenever possible, Free French troops tried to keep their original French uniforms and equipment.

They were helped with this by a brilliant move on de Gaulle’s part. He managed to get the British to agree that any equipment that was captured that was of French origin would become the property of the Free French. This meant that as the various African French colonies came over to the Free French side, whether by choice or force, all their equipment would immediately become the property of the Free French.

Using this, the Free French managed to keep on using French equipment for some time. Eventually, supplies and spare parts ran out or, equipment became so obsolete that they had to accept British replacements. This led to some Free French units in early 1943 having a rather mismatched appearance due to a mix of French and British kit.

The Battle of Bir Hakeim – The birth of the Fighting French
By the end of 1941, British and Free French forces had managed to drive the axis out of the Cyrenaica area of Libya, but in doing so had dangerously overstretched their supply line. Whilst the British were reorganising, the Axis managed to resupply and counterattacked, forcing the British back to the Gazala Line. This was a defensive line running from Gazala on the Libyan coast 30 miles (48km) west of Tobruk to the old Ottoman Fort of Bir Hakeim 50 miles (80km) south of Gazala.

The line was not manned in its entirety but was made up of a series of strong points behind minefields and barbed wire, each containing a brigade. Bir Hakeim was the southernmost strong point and was garrisoned by the 1st Free French Brigade. The Garrison consisted of just over 3,600 men, 54 75mm cannons (a mix of dedicated anti-tank and artillery), 7 47mm anti-tank guns, 18 25mm anti-tank guns and assorted small arms. They also had 63 Bren Gun carriers. From 27th May, the French were repeatedly attacked, at first by the Italian Ariete Division, then by the Italian Trieste division and the DAK 90th Light division ultimately being outnumbered by about 10:1.

They stubbornly held until 10th June when supplies in the fort became critical, the last rounds of ammunition were issued and the dead were searched for spare cartridges, the decision was made to break out. As darkness fell on 10th June French sappers began to clear a pathway through the defensive minefields. Once a narrow corridor had been cleared, the French Forces made a fighting withdrawal. Even though the French were forced to retreat, they had inflicted significant losses on the Axis. It was a much-needed victory and was a great boost to Free French morale. After the battle, Winston Churchill said that they should no longer be known as the Free French but as the Fighting French.

Operation Torch
On the 8th November 1942, the allies launched Operation Torch, a naval invasion of Vichy held Morocco and Algeria. The inva-sion force was primarily made up of American troops, as the Americans were former allies of the French, and it was believed this would be more acceptable to the French then an invasion by British forces. The allies hoped that the Vichy forces would surrender without a fight. To aide in this they made contact with French General Henri Giraud in the belief that he would be able to order Vichy forces to stand down when the invasion happened.

What they didn’t realise was that General Giraud didn’t actually hold any real military power. Instead, the power lay with General Alphonse Juin, who was a strong Vichy supporter. Worse for the Allies was that Admiral François Darlan, effectively the Vichy government second in command, was in Algiers for personal reasons. The one person the allies didn’t inform about Operation Torch was Charles de Gaulle, as the Americans didn’t trust him. He was in London at the time and only made aware of the Invasion when an aide woke him with the news. He allegedly said “I hope the Vichy people will fling them into the sea! You don’t get France by burglary!”

The allies landed in three places, Casablanca in Morocco, Oran, and Algiers in Algeria, with orders not to fire unless fired upon. Whilst the Vichy forces didn’t fling them into the sea they did resist the landings. Algiers was captured first at 18:00 on the 8th November, as several key points around the city, had been captured by local resistance fighters prior to the landing. Oran was captured on the 9th and Casablanca on the 10th after heavy fighting. After the fall of Casablanca, Darlan made a deal with the allies in exchange for being made “High Commissioner“. He ordered the all French forces in North Africa to cease hostilities, then a few days later the Vichy forces in Africa joined the allies on mass.

To start with the ex-Vichy forces were separate from the Free French and were known as the Armée d’Afrique (Army of Africa). It would not be until August 1943 that the Free French and the Army of Africa would be merged to form one single force.

Once Hitler heard that the Vichy forces in Africa had switched to the Allies, he immediately ordered the occupation of the Vichy half of mainland France, and that reinforcements be sent to Tunisia.

Tunisian Campaign
The French governor of Tunisia was now in an impossible situation, sandwiched between the Allies in the West and the Axis in the East. He could not pick a side for fear of immediately being attacked by the other, so he declared Tunisia open; it would belong to whoever got there first. The French military forces in Tunisia retreated to the Western mountains. The Axis were the first to move and by 10th November there were reports of 100 Axis aircraft on Tunisian airfields. By 17th of November 15,000 troops, 176 tanks, 131 artillery pieces and 13,000 tons of supplies had been shipped or airlifted into Tunisia.

Whilst Operation Torch was happening the British, and Free French forces were heavily engaged against Rommel’s Afrika Korps in the second battle of El Alamein. After 2 weeks of hard fighting, the British and French forces managed first to push the Ger-mans out of Egypt, and then all the way to the Eastern Tunisian border, where they occupied a series of old French fortifications known as the Mareth Line.

The Axis forces in Tunisia were now surrounded. On the western border they had the American Army and French Army of Africa (now renamed the French 19th Corps) and to the South East the British 8th Army and Free French Forces.

In early 1943 the allies attacked. First the Americans and French Army of Africa from the West in January, then the British 8th army and Free French forces in March from the South East. The Axis fought hard, but were trapped and they surrendered on 13th May. This was the end of the Axis forces in Africa. The continent was now firmly in Allied hands.

French Politics
Whilst the Tunisian campaign was being fought, there was much political manoeuvring behind the scenes for the French. Admiral Darlan had not been well liked by the Allies and was seen by some as a Nazi collaborator. De Gaulle and the Free French were outraged by his appointment. On 24th December 1942 Darlan was assassinated by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, a French monarchist and resistance member.

General Giraud succeeded Darlan and became commander in chief of the French Forces in North Africa. De Gaulle reluctantly agreed to have joint leadership of Free French forces with Giraud, forming the French Committee of National Liberation on 3rd June 1943. However, Giraud was not very politically minded, and after several blunders de Gaulle managed to force him out of Government, and then shortly afterwards military command. De Gaulle was left in sole command of all French Forces, which were renamed L’Armée Française de la Liberation (the Army for the Liberation of France).

Rearmament and reorganisation
The army of Liberation existed in spirit and mentality, but in reality, they were in a poor state. Their uniforms were a mismatch of worn-out French or Borrowed British. Most of their equipment was either obsolete; even the tanks the British had given them were run down and worn out. A rearmament and reorganisation was needed. The French joined the American lend-lease system and were wholly reequipped with American equipment. They were also reorganised along American lines. From then on, they may have looked like Americans but their hearts remained French.

Italy and Beyond
The surrender of Axis forces in Tunisia was not the end of French involvement in World War II. Far from it. They took place in the invasion of Italy, fighting through the Gustav Line and the assault on Monte Cassino. They participated in the Normandy landings on D-Day and the invasion of southern France, being the first Allied army to enter a Liberated Paris. They went on to fight in the invasion of Germany. The Free French started the war with 1,400 men answering de Gaulle’s BBC broadcast. They finished it with 1,300,000 men under arms and fighting in the German heartland. Honour had been restored.

Special Rules

One Man turret:
Most French tanks and armoured cars of the interwar period were designed with a turret that was only big enough for one man. Meaning the tank commander had to load and fire the gun as well as command the tank.
Tanks with a one man turret have the Overworked special rule and a worse tactics rating

Limited Vision:
As well as having small turrets French tanks lacked a cupola which meant the commander’s view was very restricted when buttoned up.
Tanks with Limited Vision have a worse Cross rating

Trench Warfare:
French military doctrine called for a defensive war, all troops were well trained in digging defensive positions.

Troop with Trench Warfare have an Improved Dig In rating

Quick Fire:
The French 75mm cannon was the first true modern artillery piece and could fire extremely quickly
Artillery with Quick Fire reduce the score to Hit enemy team under the template by 1 when firing bombardments

Running a Vichy List

If you would like to run a Vichy French list to fight against the British and Americans then its very easy to do.
You won’t have access to any British or American equipment so you cannot use Valentine 3 or Crusader Tank companies. It is not known if Vichy France fielded a Somua S-35 company but they here definitely in Africa somewhere, so it’s up to you if you use one but if you do you cannot take Valentines in the third Platoon.
The most common tank in Vichy service was the R-35 so using the R-35 Company Command card is more appropriate.

You can take an Infantry company but you cannot add a Boyes anti-tank rifle to the Rifle platoons and you can’t take a Universal Carrier Platoon.

For support use the Laffly S15 TOE card instead of Marmon Herrington’s, do not use M5 75mm GMC. Use DAK Stuka as air support.

If you wanted to add allies you should use German or Italian instead of British or American