 Sailors of the French battleship "Strasbourg»  on parade in front of the tower of the main 330 mm gun battery.

In better times

American soldier on the deck of the destroyed French battleship Strasbourg in Toulon,august 1944.  Near the battleship on its side is the  light  cruiser  La Gallissoniere.
 Battleship "Strasbourg" entered service  on April 6, 1939.   In October 1939  the ship was part of the "Connections X» with the British fleet and took part in the hunt for the German "pocket" battleship "Admiral Graf Spee".  Then, until the fall of France, it accompanied the French convoys. After the fall of France during "Operation Catapult"the  ship was damaged and broke out of Mers-el-Kebir  making for Toulon. On the  morning of December 27, 1942, "Strasbourg" was scuttled and sank  near the quay wall at Toulon, to avoid capture by German forces.  Later,on 17 July 1943 it was raised by the Italians, who  removed the catapult , added armor and stripped one of  the main gun batteries.   On  August 18, 1944 before the Allied landings at Toulon ,36 American B-25 aircraft dropped 156   250 kilo  general-purpose bombs on the Strasbourg and the La Gallissoniere.  The "Strasbourg" was hit by seven bombs and sank to the harbor bottom..  In 1946, the ship was raised, but because of the great destruction was not restored.It was used for experiments with underwater explosions, and on  May 27, 1955, its remains were sold for scrap. 



battleship "Strasbourg" at Toulon 

Résistance fighters with a destroyed German train, transporting Tiger tanks, somewhere in France 1944.

@Carn
 