Roy, Just a note that I've now seen your Admiralty Diary transcript re Op Aerial on naval-history.net . Whilst trying to resist the temptation to sidetrack (difficult) there were some useful snippets for me; Thanks Charlie
Very late in the day to come into this discussion, but to leave the French soldiers behind during the evacuations would have no doubt incited animosity and even attacks. But I can also see that those brave men who had gone out in small craft and the RN who lost ships and mates would have also railed against the futility of rescuing them, possibly at the expense of British troops, only to return them through the Med to French Territories in Africa. Did the British Government try to keep the French in the UK until they decided whether they would prefer to continue to fight or surrender? Taking places in ships that others could have had, and therefore a larger British rescue, does seem futile. Were the French troops under some form of duress against their families if they didn't return to surrender?
From what I have seen so far, the daily stats show that after May 29th the French Evacuation was authorised ( CAB 106/270 has daily stats) and the British Government ordered that British and Allied evacuation should proceed on a 50/50 basis. The continuing fighting after Dunkirk made it imperative that French troops returned asap. Exactly when they were retuned from UK to France (or elsewhere) is what I am trying to determine. Indeed the fear of reprisals on families was an important factor in the minds of those who had the possibility of choice; Charlie
If anyone turns up anything in the record about what was done with the arms held by the French troops I'd be interested to know about it. I'd expect that troops returned to France prior to the armistice would have been sent back with their arms, but what about those troops still remaining in the UK at that time or evacuated to the UK after the armistice (Poles in French service, etc.)? I know that some stocks of French weapons wound up in British hands post-Dunkirk and I'd like to learn more about that.
