René-Émile Godfroy (10 January 1885 – 16 January 1981) was a French admiral, commander of the

Force X The Force X was a squadron of the French Navy, assembled on 29 April 1940, after the outbreak of the Second World War, to deter Italy from striking in the Levantine Sea. It was constituted of the old battleship ''Lorraine'', of the three modern hea ...

at the outbreak of the Second World War. He was interned with his command at

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

until 1943, and then retired on suspicion of favouring

Henri Giraud Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944. Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...

over

Charles De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

Biography

Godfroy was born at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In June 1940, he commanded French naval forces at

, where he negotiated, with British Admiral Andrew Cunningham, the peaceful internment of his ships. The French squadron consisted of the battleship , four cruisers (, , and ), three destroyers (, , ) and a submarine (). The French emptied their fuel bunkers and removed the firing mechanisms from their guns. Cunningham promised to repatriate the ships' crews. Controversially, after the collapse of Vichy authority following British and American landings in North Africa in November 1942 and the subsequent German occupation of

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

in November 1942, Godfroy refused to support the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

even after all other French forces in North Africa had done so. It was only, on 17 May 1943, after the Allies had cleared North Africa of Axis forces that, the British Commander-in-Chief, Levant, received a letter from Godfroy, expressing the desire "to join the French Navy in North Africa". Docking of the French warships was at once started at Alexandria. Tute, Warren, 1989, The Reluctant Enemies, London: William Collins Sons René-Emile Godfroy died at

Fréjus Fréjus (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 54,458. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one urban agglomeration. The north of ...

, southern France, in January 1981, aged 96.

References

External links

New York Times report, 22 January 1981
1885 births 1981 deaths Military personnel from Paris French Navy admirals Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur French military personnel of World War II {{France-mil-bio-stub