Re: Surcouf - French submarine.

Orsino wrote:
> What is the latest thinking about the Surcouf?

The same as before.

> It escaped to the UK after Germany conquered France but then controversially
> disappeared with foul play suspected and the British/Americans suspected.

No fould play was suspected, from the British or the Americans. The 
British were no interested in sinking vessels which for all intents and 
purposes were part of the Royal Navy.

I remember a claim that the Surcouf might have been sunk by collision or 
friendly fire from US escorts or aircraft, but IIRC the evidence is not 
conclusive.

Most likely suspect is simply an accident. The Surcouf was a very 
complex piece of machinery, like lots of French vessels. Like all French 
vessels, it wasn't "compatible" with British spare parts. Blueprints 
were lacking, a lot of the apparatus was jury-rigged, there were no 
spares, the boat had suffered a bit during the St-Pierre and Miquelon 
operation (rough seas), etc.

> Apparently many French officers on the sub had pictures of Hitler on the
> bulkheads.......

That is about as believable as a claim that when Yahoo! sunk most of the 
  US crewmen had penned a picture of Hiro Hito or Tojo to their 
bulkheads. Given that the Free French sailors were all volunteers who 
had usually left behind a family (which they could no longer support 
financially, and which wouldn't become elligible to drawing a pension - 
that was a big motivation behind lots of people choosing to go back to 
France), accepted to be called traitors by their legal government, and 
still decided to fight despite a total lack of British encouragement (at 
least in the beginning, i.e. 1940, the British attitude was "let's 
encourage all the foreigners to get home, we'll be better off without 
them"), I would find it exceedingly strange that they should have 
pictures of Hitler, the man whose armies were sitting in their country, 
on their bulkheads.


Louis
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