My grandfather was the one who gave the "batter up" signal. He was the radio operator on a Kingfisher recon plan flying from the Massachusetts. He and his pilot were tasked with flying over the harbor and finding out if the French were going to fight back. They did, and shortly after making that radio call, his plane was shot down. Crashed landed on the beach and both my grandfather and his pilot were taken prisoner. They were held for three days in the soccer stadium before being rescued by Patton's army.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment! We're always glad to hear from veterans and their families. We recall reading about the incident in Massachusetts's action report. If you're so inclined, we'd like to hear from you offline (rrussell@bearingstraight.net). We focus on ships in part because it's so difficult to obtain period photos and film of most service personnel. Thanks again!
Very well done! Finally, I have a good picture of how this battle went down. Big Maimie is HUGE! Hard to imagine it functioning at full combat effectiveness and maneuvering! I bet it was a scary sight to behold for the enemy.
were the french destroyers any of teh countretourpilliures .... wondering if teh tourville was part of it i think that was a cruiser... my name is tourville...im from pepperell mass but my family is french
The Tourville was confined to her harbor in Alexandria, Egypt by Germany after they defeated France in June of 1940. Since Egypt was British territory she was ordered to surrender to British control. She became part of the Free French fleet. She was used for anti blockade duty. She was too obsolete to be used as a fighting ship so they used her as an anti-aircraft ship.
