On 28 August 1940, when Gabon rallied to the Free French side, TOUAREG was at Pointe Noire. On 28 August she was allowed to sail with the colony's 450 Vichy personnel on board, bound for Libreville and Dakar. She sailed on 2 September, but on 16 September she was intercepted in the Gulf of Guinea by HMS DRAGON and taken to Takoradi then by HMS DEVONSHIRE to Douala, where the passengers and the pro-Vichy crew disembarked. In mid-December 1940 she sailed under a Free French crew put together to join off Libreville a convoy bound for Capetown. She carried 700 legionnaires and 500 black infantry from an Oubangui-Chari foot Bataillon, with 100 white Volunteers. From Capetown she went back to Freetown. In February 1941 she was again at Pointe-Noire embarking the 2nd Foot Btn of the FFL as Middle East reinforcements, landing them at Suez on 23 April. She was at Capetown on 1 June 1941. In late February 1942, having left Liverpool in convoy on 7 February, she had an engine breakdown due to sabotage to a fuel pump during repairs at Liverpool. She went via Freetown, Lagos, Douala, Port-Gentil and Pointe Noire then back on the same route. She was under the management of Elder Dempster on behalf of the MoWT with a Free French crew, and had on board 20 FFL women Volunteers bound for the Middle East, which were disembarked at Pointe Noire.



Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2018 01:43PM by de domenico.