French Somaliland in World War II
After the battle of France and the armistice of 22 June 1940, the colony's status was briefly in limbo until a governor loyal to the client Vichy regime was installed on 25 July.
After a British aerial bombardment against the colony in 1940, Nouailhetas instituted a brutal reign of terror in French Somaliland, targeting both European and African residents perceived as collaborating with the Allies; he was eventually recalled and forced to retire as a result of his action.
[4] In October 1938, in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement, Italy demanded concessions from France, among them a free port at Djibouti and control of the Djibouti–Addis Ababa railway.
[5] On 30 November, after anti-French protests in Rome, the Italian foreign minister, Galeazzo Ciano, demanded the cession of French Somaliland to Italy.
"[6] On 18 December 1938, there was a counter-demonstration in Djibouti in the course of which a huge crowd gathered in the centre of town waving the French flag and shouting pro-French slogans.
[9] In January 1940, the Italian viceroy and commander-in-chief in East Africa, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, submitted a proposal to Rome for a "surprise" invasion of French Somaliland involving sixteen motorised battalions and a force of 6,000 Azebo Galla and 6,000 Danakil tribesmen already near the frontier.
[10] On the eve of World War II, Fauque de Jonquières, a battalion commander, was in charge of the local intelligence outfit, itself an arm of the Section d'Études Militaires (SEM), the Deuxième Bureau station in Marseille.
[12] Despite the fact that British Somaliland bordered French Somiland and both were surrounded by Italian East Africa, no Anglo-French joint military planning took place prior to a meeting at Aden in June 1939.
[13] Italy's declaration of war on France and Britain came on 10 June 1940, and the next day Legentilhomme was named supreme commander of all Allied forces in the Somaliland theatre.
[13] Since the Allies were outnumbered by about 40,000 to 9,000 along the Somaliland frontier,[c] no offensive actions were planned, although Legentilhomme did receive an order on 11 June to resist "to the end" (jusqu'au bout).
[16][d] By the end of June the Italians had also occupied the border fortifications of Magdoul, Daimoli, Balambolta, Birt Eyla, Asmailo, Tewo, Abba, Alailou, Madda and Rahale.
[9] When the government on 10 July learned that the armistice was not yet put into effect in Somaliland, President Philippe Pétain sent General Gaëtan Germain as his personal representative to correct the situation.
[25] On 19 July the local conseil d'administration (administrative council) voted unanimously (with the exception of Legentilhomme) to remain loyal to Pétain's collaborationist government at Vichy.
[24] Germain then negotiated the resignation of Legentilhomme and convinced the armistice commission then being set up that it was inadvisable and impractical to demilitarise French Somaliland, in which approximately 8,000 soldiers (with tanks and airplanes) remained on guard.
On the same day, Governor Hubert Jules Deschamps (FR) was dismissed for his refusal to expel the British consul, with whom he had reached an agreement to supply the colony with food.
[9] On 2 August Legentilhomme and two officers, Captains Appert and des Essarts,[9] refused an Italian offer of being repatriated to France by air and defected to the British.
In a note penned that day, now in the Archives nationales d'Outre-mer, the French colonial official Edouard Chedeville recorded that "the Italians have taken by force our posts at Dadda'to and Balambolta, and occupied certain others after we had evacuated them, notably Dagguirou and Agna in the Hanlé, Hadela to the north of lake Abbe and possibly also Alailou.
[25] The 17th Colonial Brigade under Colonel Agosti occupied the French fort at Loyada on the border with British Somaliland in early August.
[28] On 18 September 1940, the Royal Navy established a blockade of French Somaliland (and dividing the colony) with ships based out of Aden.
On 25 September, the Royal Air Force (RAF) carried out a bombing raid against Djibouti, prompting Nouailhetas to institute a brutal reign of terror.
[30] In the last week of November 1940, De Gaulle and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in London to discuss a proposed operation to take French Somaliland.
[32] Nonetheless, in November a certain Major Hamilton went to Aden to begin preparing a "Mobile Force" for blowing up the railway from Djibouti to Dire Dawa.
[33] On 24 March 1941, in an attempt to prevent an Italian withdrawal from British Somaliland, the RAF bombed a section of the Djibouti–Addis Ababa railway and met with heavy French anti-aircraft fire.
The suggestion was accepted by the British government but, because of the concessions granted to the Vichy regime in Syria and Lebanon, proposals were made to invade the colony instead.
Nouailhetas wrote to Aden on 15 June about the high rate of infant mortality owing to malnutrition in the territory, but he rejected the British terms.
[37] When negotiations resumed with Nouailhetas later in the summer, the British offered to evacuate the garrison and European civilians to another French colony upon surrender.
[38] As late as November flights from Italy were still landing in Djibouti,[39] and on 11 December a RAF Mohawk fighter and a French Potez 631 exchanged shots over the British aerodrome at Ayesha.
Some air force pilots escaped to Aden to join the Escadrille française d'Aden under Jacques Dodelier, and Captain Edmond Magendie began training some non-commissioned officers who would become the backbone of the Bataillon de tirailleurs somalis (FR), which later fought in Europe.
On hearing this, Dupont surrendered and Colonel Raynal's troops crossed back into French Somaliland on 26 December 1942, completing its liberation.
The power plant was in poor condition and electricity functioned only intermittently, while the rail infrastructure was in disrepair and awaiting deliveries on orders placed in the United States when the war ended.
