Flames Over France
“Thirty-two Italian divisions that had concentrated on France’s Alpine Front moved forward to the attack, confident of overwhelming the thinly-spaced French defences by sheer weight of numbers.
They were destined to receive a harsh rebuff. When General Weygand had called for “one last battle to save honour” with the French armies in the north collapsing, the Alpine Front had been furthest from his mind. Yet it was here, in the snow and the rarefied air of the mountains, that the battle was f...ought.
The airfield at Luc-en-Provence was packed with aircraft. As well as the surviving Hawks, flown in by Armstrong and his fellow pilots, there were Morane406s, Dewoitine D.520s, and a variety of types belonging to the French Naval Air Arm: American-built Chance Vought 156 single-engined attack bombers and Bloch 151 fighters. Some of the latter were running up their engines before setting out on patrol and Armstrong watched them idly. He was stretched out on the parched grass near the airfield’s command post, stripped to the waist in the heat, playing a desultory game of chess with Kalinski, who unlike Armstrong was very good at it.MoreLess
They were destined to receive a harsh rebuff. When General Weygand had called for “one last battle to save honour” with the French armies in the north collapsing, the Alpine Front had been furthest from his mind. Yet it was here, in the snow and the rarefied air of the mountains, that the battle was f...ought.
The airfield at Luc-en-Provence was packed with aircraft. As well as the surviving Hawks, flown in by Armstrong and his fellow pilots, there were Morane406s, Dewoitine D.520s, and a variety of types belonging to the French Naval Air Arm: American-built Chance Vought 156 single-engined attack bombers and Bloch 151 fighters. Some of the latter were running up their engines before setting out on patrol and Armstrong watched them idly. He was stretched out on the parched grass near the airfield’s command post, stripped to the waist in the heat, playing a desultory game of chess with Kalinski, who unlike Armstrong was very good at it.MoreLess
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