FREE FRENCH BARRACKS IN LONDON

[Mike B]

I wonder if anyone can help trace or confirm the location of two barracks used by Free French, in London I believe, during WW2.

The first is 'Surcouf Barracks' which I think was in Clapham Common

The second is 'Bir Hakeim' Barracks

Were these Navy, Army, or general Barracks?

Any help appreciated
Thanks
Mike

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Mike B

The second is 'Bir Hakeim' Barracks

'Bir Hakeim' Barracks -Emsworth (Portsmouth) .

Caserne Bir Hakeim, the World War II Free French barracks off Southleigh Road. The barracks were occupied by the Free French from 1942 to 1944.

The Emsworth area was also a Marshalling Area , used by Allied forces before D-Day.

Emsworth Common, Hollybank Woods and the nearby Hollybank House was one of the camps in Marshalling Area ‘A’, used by Allied forces before D-Day. British, Canadian and, Free French troops were based here, including Canadians of the North Shore Regiment (March 1944), the headquarters of British 8th Infantry Brigade, and 5th Beach Group. The camp could hold 2,100 men and 210 vehicles.

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[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Mike B

The first is 'Surcouf Barracks' which I think was in Clapham Common

Can't find any real details about 'Surcouf Barracks' , it is described as :

The Free French Navy Barracks on Clapham Common

But there is also mention of the French Naval Headquarters Clapham Common and of recruits enlisting there before going to 'Bir Hakeim' Barracks .


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[Mike B]

Mike
Many thanks for your excellent research - extremely helpful thank you


Paul
Thank you for the link provided via email - it gives a great overview of Free French in London



Thank you both - I was stuck until you provided assistance
Regards
Mike

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Mike B

Mike
Many thanks for your excellent research - extremely helpful thank you

Have sent you a PM with links to sites the info came from.

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[Mike B]

Originally Posted by mike_vee

Have sent you a PM with links to sites the info came from.

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Superb Mike - very much appreciated. I had searched Google extensively, but not found these 'nuggets'. Many thanks - Mike

[Lemataf]

Hello,

topic of interest to me too, f.f. naval forces being my preferred collection area for almost 3 decades, and having personally been in touch with 100+ veterans from f.f.navy or british liaison team members on f.f. ships.


Here are a few more information, extracted from "Historique des Forces Navales Francaises Libres" from admiral Emile Chaline & CV P. Santarelli reference books on f.f.navy + from my own archives (as I am the happy owner of a huge lot of original official f.f.navy personel services notes from Caserne Surcouf 1942/43, saved from the bin years ago).


Caserne Bir Hacheim: f.f.navy barracks at Emsworth-Havent, about 10 km from Portsmouth. These barracks were handed over on 13/8/42 by the british to f.f.navy. Before this, the f.f.ships based in Portsmouth area (Courbet, Arras, Ocean, Amiens, etc...) served as training / living etc... facilities, but were no longer capable to cope with the number of personel to host.
Below attached a pic from the barracks at f.f.navy time.


Caserne Surcouf: the later name of the "Compagnie des passages de Londres" (CPL). All french volunteers to join France Libre had to pass thru the british immigration screening process when entering UK territory, to check whether the applicants were real volunteers, or possible spies or other types of unwelcomed immigrants, and to gather intelligence too on germans.
For french volunteers, "Patriotic School" in London served for this screening process. Upon succesful screening, volunteers for f.f. navy (both for military units, or merchent navy) were sent to the CPL, then from there to their assignment units.
CPL occupied various places in time, in London area:
* from July 1940 - May 1941: Gordon Street, close to 3 London railway stations;
* from May 1941 - 1942: at Barnes, in London suburb, on an ex-race track;
* From at least Feb 1942 on wards (from the notes in my possession): at 40 South Side, Clapham Common, London SW4, in an ex convent.

Hope this sheds some more light on your research.

BTW:
1/- I would be interested too to have a look at the articles Mike shared via PM;
2/- I am always on the search for genuine ww2 memorabilia related to free french forces, and in particular f.f.navy (insignias, personal papers/paybook/amator pics etc...).
Should you have some to possibly let go, please feel free to drop me a PM.

All the best from France,

JD

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Lemataf

* From at least 1 Dec 1942 on wards (from the notes in my possession): at 40 South Side, Clapham Common, London SW4, in an ex convent.

1/- I would be interested too to have a look at the articles Mike shared via PM;

Hi JD ,

I quick search would suggest that the Clapham Common site was the NOTRE DAME CONVENT .

In 1851 the Thornton estate was bought by an order of Belgian Catholic nuns and was run as a convent school. In 1939 the sisters left and the estate remained derelict until after the war.

Although the quote states that it remained "derelict" , I assume it was a "classified" area as some sites say it was the French Naval Headquarters.

Will PM you links to the info I found , I guess you already have a copy of the original (400) badge list .

Cheers,

Mike Vee

[Lemataf]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the additional information.
To the convent: the chapter from Historique des FNFL from which I extracted this also mentioned that “this place was not very confortable”, I understand better now why.

To the copy of 400 original badges list you mention, I have no idea what this refers to & do not have it. Could you please also PM me the link to this?

Cheers,

JD

[mike_vee]

Hi JD ,

Sorry the links I sent you don't work , I am having the same problem but here are a couple of items (will send you details of how I got to them).

1.Emsworth Museum Newsletter.

2. Blazer as worn by Maxime Kleber Desgris of Caserne Bir Hakeim, Free French Army Camp, north Emsworth.

3 . Page 1 of list.

I will try and PM you how I found the various sites but at the moment I am going round in circles , whether due to bad links , "security" problems or maybe I found 'cached' pages but will see what I can do.

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[Lemataf]

Hi Mike,

Thanks again for the additional information.

No worry, take your time, I think I will probably not be long on internet this evening, as living very close from the spanish border, we are about to leave for a tapas dinner in Spain this evening, with a few friends, with probably a few cervezas to tackle the current 35 degrees Celsius in shadow. I have kept some british habits from my 4 years in England…

Cheers,

JD

[Postwarden]

The website

https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/no...ool-clapham-2/

has several photos of the Notre Dame Convent.

Jon

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Postwarden

The website

https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/no...ool-clapham-2/

has several photos of the Notre Dame Convent.

Jon

It looks like it was a great building set in wonderful grounds !

https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/se...esc=Notre+Dame

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