of all their forces. The two parliaments would be formally associated. And thus, the declaration concluded: ‘We shall conquer.’
It was an amazing leap of faith for a government which included its fair share of hard-headed realists, and a sign of how desperate the situation had become. Despite having flirted at one point with the idea of trying to open negotiations with Hitler, Lord Halifax backed the scheme. So did the two Labour Party members of the Cabinet, Clement Attlee and Arthur Greenwood. On the French side, his later unshakable defence of French sovereignty gave an ironic tinge to de Gaulle’s involvement though, as the future ‘Father of Europe’ and promoter of the original Common Market, Jean Monnet was acting entirely in character.
‘
Nous sommes d’accord
,’ Churchill cried as he emerged from the Cabinet Room, launching into an impromptu speech while ministers clapped de Gaulle on the back and told him he would become Commander-in-Chief. ‘
Je l’arrangerai,
’ Churchill broke in. The Prime Minister’s private secretary wondered if the General was a new Napoleon. ‘From what I hear, it seems a lot of people think so,’Colville added in his diary. 3 ‘He treats Reynaud (whom he called
ce poisson gelé
) like dirt.’ What nobody in London seems to have taken into account was the danger that the proposal would make those in Bordeaux intent on reaching an armistice even more determined to take the final steps to end France’s war.
Heading for evacuation from St-Nazaire, Horace Lumsden heard news of the unity proposal on the radio. He and his fellow soldiers approved, but they realised they were caught up in ‘a major disaster’. What particularly struck Lumsdenwas the blank expression on the faces of the French people crowding the roads. It was, he thought, as if they did not understand what was going on and, if they did, could not grasp it.
When he arrived at the airfield outside St-Nazaire, Lance Corporal Morris Lashbrook and his friend, Alan ‘Chippy’ Moore, scouted round to see the lie of the land. They were both very hungry after the drive from St-Etienne-de-Montluc. They found a field kitchen, and plenty of wood. The only food to hand was bully beef, potatoes and margarine. They cooked it up, and helped the meal down with Scotch from a bottle provided by one of their officers. Then they were ordered to set out on foot for the docks.
Feeling bored in a Royal Engineers camp some thirty miles from the coast, Neville Chesterton, the former railway clerk from Staffordshire whose unit had wandered apparently aimlessly across France, decided to go to a cinema in a local town with a friend called Derek. They thought the trip would pass the time though neither would understand the French dialogue.
They were let into the cinema without paying. There were only half a dozen other people inside
. As the film went on, Chesterton and Derek heard excited chattering round them, and the audience began to slip out. By the time the film had finished, the hall was empty. The French had left after hearing rumours that their government had surrendered.
British troops in St-Nazaire began to embark on the first evacuation boats that had arrived during the afternoon of 16 June. Two big troopships, the
Georgic
and the
Duchess of York
, lay well off the coast in Quiberon Bay together with two Polish vessels, the
Batory
and the
Sobieski
. They had no protection against German planes or submarines, but were not attacked. In St-Nazaire, a hospital ship pulled into the harbour and, shouting through a megaphone, the captain offered to take men on board if they left their weapons behind to enable the boat to keep its noncombatant status – their commanders refused.
Some of the rescue ships had sailed in haste without time to prepare. One was so short of food that the captain and crew went ashore to grab a wooden case that had been dumped on the quayside – it turned out to contain only biscuits. Wanting
It was an amazing leap of faith for a government which included its fair share of hard-headed realists, and a sign of how desperate the situation had become. Despite having flirted at one point with the idea of trying to open negotiations with Hitler, Lord Halifax backed the scheme. So did the two Labour Party members of the Cabinet, Clement Attlee and Arthur Greenwood. On the French side, his later unshakable defence of French sovereignty gave an ironic tinge to de Gaulle’s involvement though, as the future ‘Father of Europe’ and promoter of the original Common Market, Jean Monnet was acting entirely in character.
‘
Nous sommes d’accord
,’ Churchill cried as he emerged from the Cabinet Room, launching into an impromptu speech while ministers clapped de Gaulle on the back and told him he would become Commander-in-Chief. ‘
Je l’arrangerai,
’ Churchill broke in. The Prime Minister’s private secretary wondered if the General was a new Napoleon. ‘From what I hear, it seems a lot of people think so,’Colville added in his diary. 3 ‘He treats Reynaud (whom he called
ce poisson gelé
) like dirt.’ What nobody in London seems to have taken into account was the danger that the proposal would make those in Bordeaux intent on reaching an armistice even more determined to take the final steps to end France’s war.
Heading for evacuation from St-Nazaire, Horace Lumsden heard news of the unity proposal on the radio. He and his fellow soldiers approved, but they realised they were caught up in ‘a major disaster’. What particularly struck Lumsdenwas the blank expression on the faces of the French people crowding the roads. It was, he thought, as if they did not understand what was going on and, if they did, could not grasp it.
When he arrived at the airfield outside St-Nazaire, Lance Corporal Morris Lashbrook and his friend, Alan ‘Chippy’ Moore, scouted round to see the lie of the land. They were both very hungry after the drive from St-Etienne-de-Montluc. They found a field kitchen, and plenty of wood. The only food to hand was bully beef, potatoes and margarine. They cooked it up, and helped the meal down with Scotch from a bottle provided by one of their officers. Then they were ordered to set out on foot for the docks.
Feeling bored in a Royal Engineers camp some thirty miles from the coast, Neville Chesterton, the former railway clerk from Staffordshire whose unit had wandered apparently aimlessly across France, decided to go to a cinema in a local town with a friend called Derek. They thought the trip would pass the time though neither would understand the French dialogue.
They were let into the cinema without paying. There were only half a dozen other people inside
. As the film went on, Chesterton and Derek heard excited chattering round them, and the audience began to slip out. By the time the film had finished, the hall was empty. The French had left after hearing rumours that their government had surrendered.
British troops in St-Nazaire began to embark on the first evacuation boats that had arrived during the afternoon of 16 June. Two big troopships, the
Georgic
and the
Duchess of York
, lay well off the coast in Quiberon Bay together with two Polish vessels, the
Batory
and the
Sobieski
. They had no protection against German planes or submarines, but were not attacked. In St-Nazaire, a hospital ship pulled into the harbour and, shouting through a megaphone, the captain offered to take men on board if they left their weapons behind to enable the boat to keep its noncombatant status – their commanders refused.
Some of the rescue ships had sailed in haste without time to prepare. One was so short of food that the captain and crew went ashore to grab a wooden case that had been dumped on the quayside – it turned out to contain only biscuits. Wanting
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