ABSTRACT
The armistice between France and the Axis powers came into effect 35 minutes after midnight on 24/25 June. A quarter of an hour later, the Flag Officer Commanding, North Atlantic, assuming that, as the French were no longer allies, liaison officers should be withdrawn, ordered the destroyer Watchman, at Casablanca, to embark all British Service personnel and return to Gibraltar. The Admiralty, however, had no intention of withdrawing the officers, who were serving as antennae, until French demands became insistent and subsequently reversed Admiral North’s order to leave Casablanca,1 before the Watchman could sail.
