Chapter 286 Chess Piece

I have something urgent to do tonight, so I only have one chapter. I will make it up tomorrow. Sorry!

One of the reasons why Hitler did not attack France and gave the Vichy government a place was the Toulon Fleet... The French Toulon Fleet was a fleet of 80 warships and submarines, including 3 battleships and 7 cruisers, and its performance was quite good. So no matter which side coveted it, Hitler was no exception.

The Vichy government also knew this, so soon after Pétain and Darlan surrendered to Germany, they deliberately publicized an order... Once the German army threatened or might occupy the port, the navy should blow up the warships and sink them in the shortest time.

This obviously contained a component of intimidation. The French did not want the Germans to go south, but no one doubted that the French would do so... The reason was that if these warships fell into the hands of the Germans, it would not be good for France at all.

Hitler was frightened, or it could be said that he was afraid of it, so he never dared to do it.

Of course, the port of Toulon is at the southernmost tip of France, and the German army is in the north of France. The Toulon fleet, which had been neutral and had nothing to do, thought they had enough time to prepare, so they did not take much precautions.

To some extent, they were right. Germany was fighting from north to south, and it would take several days even for a march, not to mention preparing to blow up the ships. These warships would have enough time to escape one by one.

But the French fleet had nowhere to escape: Britain was also France's enemy, and France was always worried about the British "Catapult Plan"... Especially the French Navy, because they were the direct victims, so they refused Britain's "rescue" and "accommodation". In history, they could only end their lives in a tragic way of self-sinking.

But this time was different.

Zemamouche was taken to a school that served as a temporary cell. To be precise, he was escorted there by German soldiers, and dozens of his subordinates went with him.

In this school, there are at least 500 French officers and more than 300 officers and soldiers of the Zoaf Corps. More importantly, this school is close to the port of Algiers, so it is very convenient for the rebellious French army to rescue them.

The French army acted on time. At one o'clock in the morning of the next day, there were several explosions in Algiers, and then fires broke out in several directions... These fires were set by Algerians, who were accustomed to obeying the orders of the French army. Of course, some of them were because their families were coerced by the French army.

Then there were gunshots, and shouts were everywhere in the darkness, as if a vigorous city-wide riot was launched.

But if you listen carefully, it is easy to distinguish that the gunfire is mainly concentrated in the north of the city, that is, the harbor.

"The French have fallen into the trap!" Qin Chuan said.

Colonel Slain raised his glass to Qin Chuan and said, "This is completely expected, Lieutenant! The French are certainly not your opponents. I can't wait to see the French warships. I think General Rommel is also looking forward to it!"

Colonel Slain was right. Rommel in Alexandria was anxiously walking back and forth in front of the telegram, and he kept saying from time to time: "God, this is a fleet, can they really get it?"

"It would be great if they could get them!"

...

If Rommel hadn't needed to preside over the overall situation in Alexandria, he would have flown to Algiers to command with Qin Chuan and others.

The French army quickly gained the upper hand in the port of Algiers. They quickly occupied the school and rescued hundreds of officers, including Zema Muche and his men.

This was not entirely the German "letting go". In fact, most of the German troops stationed in the port did not know the inside story, but their forces were relatively weak... In other words, they were actually sacrificed.

Qin Chuan had no choice but to face this situation. Sometimes wars have to face this situation.

Then, as everyone can imagine, the German and Italian troops coming from other directions tried to retake the port, but it was not easy, because the French officers led the soldiers of the Zoave Corps to defend along the buildings beside the street, and then retreated while fighting, and they took this opportunity to board the ship.

Ship after ship was loaded, and a total of thirteen ships were loaded with nearly five thousand people leaving the port. Of course, most of them were soldiers of the Zoave Corps under the command of French officers.

The German army, however, could not pursue because it had no warships, and could only watch these transport ships and fishing boats leave the port on the shore.

Those French officers even stood on the bow and shouted to the German and Italian troops triumphantly: "Go to hell, Germans, we will fight back!"

"Wait for us!"

...

After knowing this, Darlan hurriedly called Colonel Slaine... Although Darlan was under house arrest in his own room, he could still talk to Colonel Slaine with permission.

"Colonel!" Darlan explained: "I didn't know about this in advance. Please believe that this is their spontaneous behavior and has nothing to do with the French government!"

"General!" Colonel Slaine replied angrily: "I believe this, but your spontaneous behavior has challenged my limits again and again. If it were my personal idea, I would regard it as tearing up the armistice agreement, but I know they (superiors) will not do this, so please take care of yourself!"

Colonel Slaine hung up the phone with a "bang", and then asked Qin Chuan: "My performance is good, right?"

"Great, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied with a smile: "If Darlan still has some channel to contact the outside world, then he will also convey the wrong information!"

This is just in case. After all, Algiers was still the world of the French not long ago, and the German army did not completely control this area.

The French defecting fleet sailed on the sea for more than 30 hours, and arrived at Toulon Port in the afternoon of the next day.

When the fleet entered Toulon Port, the surrounding warships and the French troops in the port cheered... Although this was not a victory for France, France needed something exciting at this time. The successful escape of this 5,000-strong force into the "asylum" of France was worth celebrating for them, even if most of them were soldiers of the Zoaf Corps.

"Welcome to you!" Claude, deputy commander of the Toulon Fleet, personally welcomed Zemamouche at the port. Claude, like other French people, believed that Zemamouche would become a useful chess piece in the counterattack against Algeria.

What these French people don't know is that when they treat others as chess pieces, they are actually the chess pieces themselves.