Jean-Marie Abrial

December 17, 1879 (age 83)

Realmont, France

On 23 May 1940, Weygand (who had just taken over from Gamelin as Allied supreme commander), named Abrial commander in chief of French naval forces in the north. Five days later, when Allied troops began falling back on Dunkirk, the last available French port, the admiral was ordered to organize a beachhead. Abrial’s deputy commander was Lt Gen M. Falgade, whose 16th Corps (composed of two French divisions) was on the perimeter’s western flank. Abrial and the French high command believed the beachhead could be held (and Falgade had some success), so no evacuation plans were made. But the British had decided on 20 May that withdrawal from the continent was essential. Vice Adnt B. H. Ramsay, Flag Officer Dover, began organizing Opn Dynamo. Abrial did not know about this until the evacuation began on 26 May, Weygand having failed to inform him. The admiral then hastened to organize French maritime forces into an evacuation fleet, using the Pas-de-Calais flotilla and requisitioning all privately owned boats in the region. Abrial’s first convoy was formed on 28 May, and his evacuation began the next day. By 1 June the losses to British and French shipping and to the RAF were prohibitive (Spears, II, 5). “Abrial is very anxious to prolong the period of embarkation,” said Churchill in a message that day to Reynaud, “but he is perhaps not in a very good position to judge since he is directing operations from the depths of a casemate”. SPEARS broke the tension of a grim meeting with Reynaud by referring to “l’Amiral Abri,” the last word meaning shelter (ibid.). The French government, increasingly embittered by what it saw as abandonment by an ally, subsequently demanded (and got) equal space aboard British ships. Of the 338,000 troops moved to England by 4 June, 123,000 were French most but by no means all moved by the British. In a radio speech on 6 June, Reynaud referred to “Admiral Abrial, the defender of Dunkirk,” as a hero. Admiral North and General Falgade reached Dover on 4 June with the last wave. As senior officer at Cherbourg, Abrial surrendered the port to Rommel on 19 June 1940 (RP, 83). The admiral, saved from the POW cage by the armistice, was governor general of Algeria from 20 July 1940 until replaced by Weygand on 16 July 1941. Succeeding AUPHAN, Abrial was Vichy's secretary of the navy from 18 Nov 1942 to 26 Mar 1943. Arrested after the liberation on charges of collaboration, he was sentenced on 14 Aug 1946 to “national indignity” and 10 years of forced labor. The sentence was commuted to five years in prison, but on 2 Dec 1947 he was granted a provisional release. (Larousse.)

Jean-Marie Charles Abrial Edit Profile

military admital naval minister

Background

He was a southerner, born in Realmont on 17 December, 1879.

Education

Jean-Marie Abrial was educated locally.

Career

On 23 May 1940, Weygand (who had just taken over from Gamelin as Allied supreme commander), named Abrial commander in chief of French naval forces in the north. Five days later, when Allied troops began falling back on Dunkirk, the last available French port, the admiral was ordered to organize a beachhead. Abrial’s deputy commander was Lt Gen M. Falgade, whose 16th Corps (composed of two French divisions) was on the perimeter’s western flank.

Abrial and the French high command believed the beachhead could be held (and Falgade had some success), so no evacuation plans were made. But the British had decided on 20 May that withdrawal from the continent was essential. Vice Adnt B. H. Ramsay, Flag Officer Dover, began organizing Opn Dynamo. Abrial did not know about this until the evacuation began on 26 May, Weygand having failed to inform him. The admiral then hastened to organize French maritime forces into an evacuation fleet, using the Pas-de-Calais flotilla and requisitioning all privately owned boats in the region. Abrial’s first convoy was formed on 28 May, and his evacuation began the next day.

By 1 June the losses to British and French shipping and to the RAF were prohibitive (Spears, II, 5). “Abrial is very anxious to prolong the period of embarkation,” said Churchill in a message that day to Reynaud, “but he is perhaps not in a very good position to judge since he is directing operations from the depths of a casemate”. SPEARS broke the tension of a grim meeting with Reynaud by referring to “l’Amiral Abri,” the last word meaning shelter (ibid.). The French government, increasingly embittered by what it saw as abandonment by an ally, subsequently demanded (and got) equal space aboard British ships. Of the 338,000 troops moved to England by 4 June, 123,000 were French most but by no means all moved by the British. In a radio speech on 6 June, Reynaud referred to “Admiral Abrial, the defender of Dunkirk,” as a hero. Admiral North and General Falgade reached Dover on 4 June with the last wave.

As senior officer at Cherbourg, Abrial surrendered the port to Rommel on 19 June 1940 (RP, 83). The admiral, saved from the POW cage by the armistice, was governor general of Algeria from 20 July 1940 until replaced by Weygand on 16 July 1941. Succeeding AUPHAN, Abrial was Vichy's secretary of the navy from 18 Nov 1942 to 26 Mar 1943. Arrested after the liberation on charges of collaboration, he was sentenced on 14 Aug 1946 to “national indignity” and 10 years of forced labor. The sentence was commuted to five years in prison, but on 2 Dec 1947 he was granted a provisional release. (Larousse.)

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Jean-Marie Charles Abrial Edit Profile

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1940

May 23, 1940