Jean de Laborde

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
Jean de Laborde (center)

Jean Joseph Jules Noël de Laborde (born November 29, 1878 Chantilly, † July 30, 1977 Castillon-la-Bataille) was a French admiral . During the Second World War he became known for the sinking of the French fleet in Toulon under the government of Vichy .

Life

At the beginning of the war, Laborde Vice Admiral led the 1st fleet of the French naval forces with the French battleship Strasbourg . As commander of the Brest naval district, Laborde had the gold reserves of Belgium and Poland stored in Brest shipped to Dakar in view of the French defeat and the German advance on June 16, 1940. The Richelieu , Dunkerque and Surcouf ran from Brest to French West Africa and French Algeria together with 80 other warships and 76 civilian ships; 32,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated from Brest. The Strasbourg escaped from Saint-Nazaire to French North Africa. After the defeat of France , Laborde supported the new government of Vichy. He was appointed commander of the French deep sea fleet by Philippe Pétain . The high seas fleet consisted of 38 modern ships and made up about a quarter of the total French fleet. Petain hoped that the differences of opinion between Laborde and Darlan, known to him, would make it easier for him to manage the fleet.

In complete contrast to De Gaulle and the British, Laborde advocated the reconquest of Chad for the government of Vichy, whose leadership had joined the Allies on August 26, 1940 and raised troops to attack the Axis powers. After the Allied landing in French North Africa in Operation Torch , he suggested that the French fleet should depart and attack the Allies. This proposal was strictly rejected by Minister of the Navy Gabriel Auphan .

In order to prevent the German, Italian or British navy from using the fleet in the military port of Toulon , Laborde ordered the French fleet to sink itself on November 27, 1942 .

Because he had prevented the preservation of the fleet and its overflow to the Allies with his self-sinking order and had committed high treason, Laborde was sentenced to death by the Haute Cour de Justice during the purges after the liberation of France . His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment , and on June 9, 1947 he was granted a pardon .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Kurowski: Cruiser - On all seas. Pavillon Verlag, Munich 1999, pp. 111–112.
personal data
SURNAME Laborde, Jean de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Laborde, Jean Joseph Jules Noël de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French admiral
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1878
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 1977