Word: boisson
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Dakar's Governor Pierre Boisson prepared to evacuate European (mostly French) women and children. (Dakar's military commander, General Paul Felix Barrau, was in Algiers burying his wife and son, who were killed in a French plane crash last fortnight...
...Pierre Boisson, Vichy's territorial Governor at Dakar, flew to Vichy to see Marshal Pétain. Reported reason: the Nazis had demanded the right to base bombers at Dakar...
...vessels opened fire on the town. During the night they tried several times to effect a landing on Rufisque beach across the bay, but each time machine-gun fire drove them back. The commander of the supporting British squadron threatened attack unless the town gave in. Governor General Pierre Boisson, who lost a leg fighting the Germans in 1917, signaled in reply: "France has confided Dakar to me, and I shall defend it to the end." British guns spoke. Their conversation touched the Governor General's house, the town radio station (so that for several hours Vichy heard nothing...
Three days later two large British battleships, four cruisers, "several" destroyers and four troop transports under the command of General de Gaulle appeared off Dakar. General de Gaulle sent a message to Governor General Pierre Boisson demanding the surrender of the colony. M. Boisson refused. At 2 p.m. the British and French force opened fire. The bombardment proceeded far into the night, and Vichy sources indicated that General de Gaulle would attempt a landing. Foreign Minister Paul Baudoin declared: "This is not a question simply of ships which might be taken by the Germans or Italians, but a British desire...