26th of November, 2pm,
Maréchal Weygand, supreme commander of the Armée d'Afrique (Army Group) has come to the bar with his aides. Apparently, our bar was chosen following a recommandation from his colleagues of the Marine Nationale. Usually, the old man (73) remained in his HQ building, but today was different. The 1ière Division d'Infanterie Motorisée was moving into Alger, under his orders no doubt. As the front was nearing, it seems that the French decided to place a Division in the city.
The Maréchal was expecting to meet Général de Division (Maj. General) Legentilhomme, the commander of the Division, and as even his office had run out of liquor, he had come to the bar to receive his subordinate with a drink. To me, at the bar, he talked about the lack of pretty much everything his staff faced. There wasn't enough ink, not enough paper, barely enough food, let alone ammunition for weapons training. Just as the Maréchal started enumerating the disciplinary consequences of not having enough regulation shaving cream for his subordinate officers, we heard a Mechanical rumble, slowly growing louder.
The people in the bar all stood up and went outside. Soon the rumble became a roar, and not one, but about 40 vehicles were approaching along the boulevard Sadi Carnot, in the direction of the bar. As the lead vehicle approached, it was clearly identifiable as some kind of Armoured Car, the vehicle stopped and a man with a square face and a bushy moustache stepped out through the rear hatch.
The small crowd spread to let the Maréchal through on his way towards the vehicle.Their short opening conversation was overheard:
Weygand: "Welcome to Alger Général de Division Legentilhomme."
Legentilhomme: "I'm glad we made it...Maréchal... The Italians..."
He was interrupted by the Maréchal, who wanted to know more about the Armoured Car the Général had just jumped out of.
A picture that was given to 'Odinadsat' by the driver of the AEC in which Général Legentilhomme had just arrived.
While the picture overflows with manly swagger, the interesting part, for us, is the AEC Mk.I Armoured car, QF 2-pdr facing the camera...
"So these are the AEC Mk.1's, French edition? I've seen pictures and specifications, but never the real thing. We'll talk more about Italians and the war inside, please, tell me more about this particular variant, as I hear that some modifications have been made since these rolled out of the factory."
Slightly taken aback by the Maréchal's enthusiasm for his vehicle, Legentilhomme obliged:
"You are right, even though these are only a few months old, our mechanics did tinker a bit. Mostly, the engines have been entirely rebuilt, they now have more power, and they are more reliable. This is lucky, because we haven't seen many spare parts since the fall of Metropolitan France. The QF 2 pdr leaves nothing to be desired, and it easily outperforms common axis 37mm guns. In the future, we might need a better gun, but right now, these have all te punch they need. Adding armour seems unnecessary, as the 25mm our cars have can stop almost anything the Italians throw at it. Now, if we were facing Germans it would be another matter, but out here, we really don't need more weight to lug around."
The Maréchal again "But why, if you have such splendid Armoured cars to back up your infantry, did you lose so much ground to the Italians before I reassigned you here?"
The Général simply said: "Our men barely have enough food to survive, none of my AEC's have more than 2 rounds of ammunition for that splendid British gun on top. I'm sure we have killed more Italians by running them over, than by actually shooting at them. Don't get me wrong, my Division is still in existence, but without more food, bullets, spare parts etc. it's mostly ineffective against any opposition. And sadly, that's the state of all of our Divisions we crossed path's with out there on the front lines... At least I drilled my men to use everything as a weapon, and what they can't use as a weapon, they eat to stay alive"
While the conversation was ongoing, behind the vanguard of Armoured Cars, thousands of ragged, hungry, and exhausted Infantrymen tried their best to parade past their Général and his Maréchal, they had trouble to keep moving at an acceptable pace, let alone to step in goosestep...
Weygand then had to ask a question, he probably already suspected the answer to:
"Why are the bulk of your men on foot? Isn't this supposed to be the 1ière Division d'Infanterie Motorisée?"
They entered the bar, and while they walked over to the table that had been prepared for them, Legentilhomme replied:
"Well, I asked for trucks many a time, but all they could give us were 50 brand new Armoured cars and some support vehicles. Gamelin's aide said, and I quote: 'As long as the Axis think the Division is fully Motorised, everything will be fine.' So, as you can see, my 'Motorised' Division is made up of three full regiments of foot Infantry 1er, 43ème and 110ème Régiment d'Infanterie. And to add some Motorisation, I have a full Reconnaissance Regiment equipped with Armoured Cars and a few trucks, and that's it."
Weygand:
"And I was wondering all that time why your Division was moving just as slowly as the others... Drink up, and let's go to my office to talk about these Italians"
The careful Maréchal certainly didn't want anyone to overhear any information that might help the Italians, little did he know that he was keeping Legentilhomme's war stories from a secret Russian Committee that reported directly to Stalin. Let's hope he never finds out...
2nd of December 1940,
Today, Maréchal Weygand returned to the Café Sud-Américain, announcing that another Division would soon be halting in Alger. He ordered the same small table in the corner, and two glasses of our best Cognac. Soon, there was a swelling ruckus of horses and men outside the bar. On a horse, in front of the exhausted column, rode a dashing Général de Hesdin, he's 50 years old, but you couldn't tell by his demeanour on horseback. In contrast with his men, he was perfectly shaven, and his shirt even looked crisp, as if it was freshly pressed.
He halted his horse right in front of the Maréchal, saluted, and swung off his horse with the vitality of a 30 year old and started narrating the "parade" of passing soldiers, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were clearly exhausted, hungry, and had trouble keeping up with the horse drawn guns:
"Maréchal, I give you the 7ième Division d'Infanterie, close to eight thousand men spread over four regiments. First up, the 7ième and 8ième Régiment d'Infanterie with close to 3.000 foot soldiers each. Their are all wielding a Pistolet-Mitrailleur MAS mle 38, very effective at short range, in trenches and in urban combat, it is wildly inaccurate at long range and thus not very well suited to Desert combat. Every platoon has a specialist Sergeant with a 1935 60mm Mortar, and another one with an Anti-Tank 'Bazooka', and every Regiment has 10 76mm Cannons. I have made sure that all this equipment is in perfect working order, despite our severe lack of ammunition."
Heavy Weaponry of the 7ième Division d'Infanterie. Top left, the old 1897 75mm with 1933 updates used by the Infantry Regiments themselves. Bottom left, the 47mm LIght Anti Tank Cannon, this is the 1939 version, it is widely considered the best Anti-Tank gun the french Army has ever seen. On the right, the 75mm CDA (Canon de Défense Aérienne) an Anti-Air Cannon in use in the 2ième Régiment Anti-Aérien.
"To make up for the relatively small size of the Division, the remaining 2.000 men are split in two support Regiments. The 4ième Régiment Anti-Char, with it's 100 light 1939 47mm Anti-Tank Cannons, and there, in the back, we have the 2ième Régiment Anti-Aérien, with it's 150 1936 75mm Anti-Aircraft Cannons. Both of these weapons have proven quite effective against hard targets, but, as with everything, we have only very little in the way of ammunition, with an average of 2,4 rounds per gun. This is a proud unit Maréchal, but we really can't fight like this, the men are demoralised, and too exhausted for any form of organisation under attack. With all due respect, how do you expect us to fight a war like this?"
Maréchal Weygand replied:
"The move of the central supply stocks to Hanoi has lengthened supply lines, and it seems Généralissime Gamelin has no idea how to get supplies to us. He never struck me as particularly brillant outside of his natural territory of setting up Great War style Defensive lines, at which he is, admittedly, very good. In short, I can't help you, I've been sending angry letters to Hanoi for months, but it really seems that neither Giraud, nor de Guillebon are focusing on getting us supplies. From what I heard, it seems they are more concerned about getting resources to fuel their tiny industry. After talking to Legentilhomme, Ive had my staff look into this as their first priority. They've been watching empty merchant ships come into the Port empty, and leave laden with resources."
The old Maréchal wasn't finished, and before de Hesdin could get in a word, he continued his rant.
"For some reason, the French government has decided that the same ships cannot both ferry in supplies and ferry out resources. This means that our convoys are badly overstretched, and barely any Supply ships are sent all the way to Alger, and when they are, half of their cargo is fuel, meaning that we are swimming in the stuff, but don't have enough bullets or rations, it's all an unprecedented display of incompetence at the highest level of the Army hierarchy. But enough about that, let's have a drink and talk about some Italians."
A French Infantryman and his Pistolet-Mitrailleur MAS 38. French soldiers with american helmets training with bazookas in the Algerian Desert. A specialist posing with his 60mm Mortar. All of these are in use within the 7ème Division d'Infanterie.
It soon became clear that the 7ième Division d'Infanterie wasn't planning on staying in Alger, 'Odinadsat' overheard something about the Italians being too close and the Division needing to find supplies further from the front, but those were snippets of a larger conversation. The next morning, the entire Division was packing up again, and by noon, every last man was gone.
6th of December 1940,
The men of the next Division to arrive looked not only exhausted, but also properly frightened. The 85ième Division d'Infanterie d'Afrique didn't even attempt a parade, most of the men barely lifted their hand in a feeble attempt at a salute when they passed in front of the Maréchal on their way to their stations. Their commander is Général de Division Chardigny, a veteran of the Great war who had been recalled to active service and promoted to General because of the war. Why this man was selected is quite unknown, as he is quite unskilled and set in his old ways of trench warfare.
Général Chardigny arrived, on a mule, it seems that he lost his horse in the hasty retreat from the battle of Dellys. He was out of breath, and before Weygand could say anything, he yelled:
"24. Divisione 'Pinerolo' is coming, they're on foot, so it could take some time, but they have bullets, and food, and a a skilled Commander. General Appiotti will take Alger sooner rather than later! Quick, get all the reserves out, get my men bullets, and shovels, and food, and water, and they might hold off those 6.000 Italians! We need to do something! I'm tired of running away, how can we fight like this? With our fists? Where are my supplies?!"
Upon which Maréchal Weygand replied:
"There are no supplies, so I guess we should prepare to evacuate the city and abandon it to the Italians. But we'll deal with that once the Italians get here... From what I've heard, your African troops run faster than any short Italian, so we should be fine for a week a least... Come in and have a drink, we'll think of a strategy in my office..."
This, quite unexpectedly, calmed down the veteran, and he fell into his chair to drink a cognac with a look of total desperation and hopelessness on his face...
Then, on the next page, the hand writing gets a bit more nervous:
15th of December,
Today we saw our first Italian soldiers, the vanguard arrived at the entrance of the city this morning. The 9.000 men of the 85ème Division d'Infanterie d'Afrique pointlessly dug in all around the city, sitting around, sharpening their bayonets, they didn't have much else to fight with. Once the night set in, a tall african private took out some kind of drum and played the same slow rythm for an hour straight. In trance from the hunger and the exhaustion, the men guarding the approach to the Avenue Sadi Carnot moved to the beat. From the bar, all we could see where these macabre silhouettes, moving without thinking, as if they were already lost to the demons of war. We sincerely hope the music cheered them up a bit.
16th of December,
In the morning, the Italians attacked. After half an hour of pointless fighting at the edges of the city, with marginal casualties on both sides, Maréchal Weygand invited the Italian General Appiotti to our bar for some talks. The conversation was short, and the gist of it was, if you let our ships leave the port, and our men leave the city in good order, we will not pose any resistance, and no man will die needlessly for a battle that was clearly over before it started. He handed Appiotti the symbolic key to the city and told him that the last french troops will have vacated the city in a week. Appiotti, knowing that moving his Division into the city would take more than a week, agreed to the terms.
85ème Division d'Infanterie d'Afrique is packing up, Général Chardigny and Maréchal Weygand have taken to drinking through the proceedings, and sit silently, in their corner of the bar. Then Amiral Darlan appeared and took a seat at their table. He wasn't very happy:
"Evacuate Alger, just like that, hand it to the Italians! And I wasn't consulted, Maréchal, what is this travesty?"
Weygand, having grown even more cynical from the alcohol and the irrevocably bad situation simply stated:
"If the navy has any ammunition, please, you are free to share. Or even better, why don't your sailors get of their ships and try to beat up the Italians when they start moving in? Do you ships have any rounds left? Please, my men were dying out there. I heard some took to hiding behind a corner, then jumping out at unsuspecting Italian soldiers. The results were mixed, with the french soldier often being shot dead before he could fatally wound his enemy. I think this was the best solution, and I don't need the navy to lecture me on tactics!
Maybe you should just take your precious fully fuelled up fleet, sail it to Hanoi, and then bring me back some supplies, then you would be doing something actually useful. All I've seen your ships do is sit in port waiting for supplies that were never coming! You have the ships, you can go and get your supplies, especially as you have some fuel left. I even heard that they have enough supplies in Beyrouth. Maybe you should go get us some? You know, instead of complaining that the army is incapable of putting up a fight!"
That quickly settled that, and the Amiral came to the bar:
"Mesdames, what will you do now? The Italians are coming, and we wouldn't like you to be stuck here, with those spaghetti eating fascists doing as they well please. I propose to you, mesdames, that you join me on board the Colbert, until we reach another port anyway. I wouldn't like for your hospitality and good looks (he winks creepily at 'Odinadsat') to be wasted here when I'm offering you a way to safety and french sovereign territory..."
He was cut off by Maréchal Weygand, who just, drunkenly, stated:
"If you ladies want protection from this 'Amiral', I can offer you a ride, there is still room in one of my trucks. You can pay me and my staff with liquor, I'm sure they'll appreciate it..."
'Odinadsat' executed an entirely unbelievable shy smile at the thought of both Military commanders arguing over who would escort our damsels to safety. She said:
"Monsieurs, you flatter me with your offers, but me and 'Maman' have to think about this. None of your plans is necessarily safe, the Colbert could be sunk while at sea, and the Armée de l'Afrique could be taken prisoner by the Italians, and then where would we be? As you have told the Italian gentleman that the french would take a week to evacuate the premises, we will let you know in a week which way we will go, if we even decide to move at all. In the meantime, make yourselves confortable... ah... Maréchal, I don't even need to tell you, do I, you've made yourself at home all on your own..."
And that's where the text abruptly stopped.
I then turned over the letter, and here is what it said:
With hopeless officers coming in and out of the bar, and the french armed forces slowly evacuating the city, we need to know which way to go. We'll make the final decision, but what do you think would be most beneficial, especially considering the risks?
I managed to make 'Tri's equipment work, well sort of, it can't really receive speech anymore, but we can hear how long a message is judging by the duration of the static... So 5 seconds means that we go with the Navy, 10 seconds means, go with the Army, 15 seconds means, stay where we are and learn Italian, and 20 seconds means, try to make our own way to Oran or Casablanca, keeping at a distance from french offers of help. If your message lasts beyond a minute, we will consider that as an order to come home as quickly as possible. We await your answer...
Here are some pictures of the Générals mentioned above, they were procured by 'Odinadsat' in the usual way:
Maréchal Weygand, Général de Division Legentilhomme, and Général de Division Le Hesdin, no picture could be procured of Général de Division Chardigny.