Battle of Gabon
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| Battle of Gabon | |||||||
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| Part of World War II | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
 United Kingdom Free France |
 Vichy France |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Andrew Cunningham Charles De Gaulle Pierre Koenig |
Marcel Tetu |
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| Casualties | |||||||
| Unknown | 1 cruiser, 1 submarine | ||||||
| West Africa Campaign |
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| Dakar - Gabon |
The Battle of Gabon or the Battle of Libreville was part of the West African Campaign of World War II fought in November 1940. The battle resulted in the Free French Forces under General Charles De Gaulle taking Libreville, Gabon, and liberating all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy French forces.
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[edit] Background
On October 8, General De Gaulle arrived in Douala, and, on October 12, authorized plans for the invasion of Gabon. He also wanted to use French Equatorial Africa as a base to launch attacks into Axis-controlled Libya, and personally left to survey the situation in Chad to the north.[1]
On October 27, Free French Forces crossed into Gabon and took the town of Mitzic. On November 5, the Vichy garrison of Lambarene capitulated, while the main Free French Forces under General Leclerc and Marie Pierre Koenig departed from Douala, French Cameroon to take Libreville, Gabon.[1]
[edit] Course of the Battle
On November 8, HMS Milford sunk the Vichy submarine Poncelet.[2] Koenig's force, comprising French Legionnaires (including the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade), Senegalese and Cameroonian troops land at Pointe La Mondah.[1]
On November 9, Lysanders operating out of Douala bombed the Libreville aerodrome. Koenig met stiff resistance approaching the city, but eventually took the aerodrome. Free French naval forces, including the patrol sloop Savorgnan de Brazza attacked and sank the Vichy cruiser Bougainville.[1][2]
On November 12, the final Vichy forces capitulated at Port Gentil. Governor Masson, despairing of his actions, committed suicide[1].
[edit] Aftermath
On November 15, De Gaulles' personal appeal fails to persuade most of the captured Vichy soldiers, who, along with General Tetu, are interned as prisoners of war in Brazzaville, Congo for the duration of the war.[1]
