Case Anton
Case Anton (German: Fall Anton) was the military occupation of France carried out by Germany and Italy in November 1942. It marked the end of the Vichy regime as a nominally-independent state and the disbanding of its army (the severely-limited Armistice Army), but it continued its existence as a puppet government in Occupied France. One of the last actions of its armed forces before their dissolution was the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon to prevent it from falling into Axis hands.
| Case Anton | |
|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |
 Panzertruppen watching a burning French warship, probably Colbert | |
| Location | |
| Planned | December 1940 |
| Commanded by | Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz |
| Objective | Military occupation of France |
| Date | 10–27 November 1942 |
| Outcome | |
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Background
A German plan to occupy Vichy France had been drawn up in December 1940 under the codename of Operation Attila and soon came to be considered with Operation Camellia, the plan to occupy Corsica.[1] Operation Anton updated the original Operation Attila, including different German units and adding Italian involvement.
For Adolf Hitler, the main rationale for permitting a nominally-independent France to exist was, in the absence of German naval superiority, the only practical means to deny the use of the French colonies to the Allies. However, with the Allied landings in French North Africa on 8 November 1942 and the French submission to Allied occupation made that rationale disappear. Moreover, Hitler could not risk an exposed flank on the French Mediterranean. After a final conversation with French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, Hitler gave orders for Corsica to be occupied on 11 November and Vichy France the following day.
Operation
By the evening of 10 November 1942, Axis forces had completed their preparations for Case Anton. The 1st Army advanced from the Atlantic coast, parallel to the Spanish border, while the 7th Army advanced from central France towards Vichy and Toulon, under the command of General Johannes Blaskowitz. The Italian 4th Army occupied the French Riviera and an Italian division landed on Corsica. By the evening of 11 November, German tanks had reached the Mediterranean coast.
The Germans had planned Operation Lila to capture intact the demobilised French fleet at Toulon. French naval commanders managed to delay the Germans by negotiation and subterfuge long enough to scuttle their ships on 27 November, before the Germans could seize them, preventing three battleships, seven cruisers, 28 destroyers and 20 submarines from falling into the hands of the Axis powers. Despite the disappointment of the German Naval War Staff, Hitler considered that the elimination of the French fleet sealed the success of Operation Anton[2] since the destruction of the fleet denied it to Charles de Gaulle and the Free French Navy.
Vichy France limited its resistance to radio broadcasts objecting to the violation of the armistice of 1940. The German government countered that it was the French who violated the armistice first by not offering a determined resistance to the Allied landings in North Africa. The 50,000-strong Vichy French Army took defensive positions around Toulon, but when confronted by German demands to disband, it did so since it lacked the military capability to resist the Axis forces.
See also
- German occupation of France during World War II
- Italian occupation of France during World War II
Footnotes
- Schreiber 1990, p. 78.
- Schreiber 1990, p. 827.
References
- Schreiber, Gerhard; Stegemann, Bernd; Vogel, Detlef (1990). Der Mittelmeerraum und Südosteuropa 1940–1941: Von der "non belligeranza" Italiens bis zum Kriegseintritt der Vereinigten Staaten [The Mediterranean, South-East Europe and North Africa 1939–1942]. Germany and the Second World War. III. trans. Dean S. McMurry, Ewald Osers, Louise Willmot, P. S. Falla. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822884-4.