Letters

Father was serving aboard the Danish freighter Sally Maersk during the battle of Dakar

Dear Mr Gregory

My Father was serving aboard the Danish freighter Sally Maersk during the battle of Dakar in Sept 1940 and took these photos during the bombardment from the deck of his ship.  Having British passport,  he was subsequently interned at Couricoulis prison camp in present day Mali.  He was exchanged for some Vichy French sailors in May 1941 and returned to Canada and served in the canadian Merchant Navy for the duration of the war.
 
Best regards
Brian Milthorp


Brian,

My thanks for your most interesting E-Mail and the photographs your Father took from the deck of his ship Sally Maersk.

It is fascinating to have this evidence of our bombardment from the receiving end at Dakar so long after this event, which proved to be so totally ineffective in the long haul. I am afraid that de Gaulle had the wrong perspective on the possible outcome of this disastrous operation which turned out to be a debacle.

We will publish these photos unless I hear from you that you do not wish that to happen.

Again thanks for taking the trouble to contact us, my web master Terry Kearns in Atlanta Georgia, will be just as delighted as I was to hear from you. It is one of the joys of the internet when a specific item that I have recorded brings out of nowhere, a message such as your one.

With kind regards,
Mackenzie Gregory.

 

Dakar bombardment

Dakar - bombardment

 

Dakar bombardment

Dakar - bombardment

 

Dakar - French destroyer

Dakar - French destroyer

 

Dakar - French cruiser

Dakar - French cruiser

 

Dakar - Freighter

Dakar - Freighter

 


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