VILLE D'AMIENS

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aukepalmhof
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VILLE D'AMIENS

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Oct 15, 2020 7:06 pm

French Polynesia issued in 2020 one stamp for the 80th anniversary of the EFO joining to the free France.

After the news of the armistice is received in Tahiti, and the consternation vanished. The will arrived to continue the war alongside the English forces. The appeal of 18 June was not heard in French Oceania and General DE GAULLE is still unknown to the Tahitian populations.(The Appeal of 18 June (French: L'Appel du 18 juin) was the first speech made by Charles de Gaulle after his arrival in London in 1940 following the Fall of France)
The Martin family welcomes the first opponents against the French authority in Tahiti the representative of the Vichy government, Governor Fréderic Chastenet de Gćry. The Governor to face the "Mamao Group" promulgated on 13 August 1940, the law banning secret societies. The response of the "Mamao Group" is the creation of the Committee of Free France.
Under pressure from its founding members, the governor granted the organization a referendum on Tahiti and Moorea (including for the first time that of women). They nevertheless had to guarantee the neutrality of the army, acquired by Captain Félix Broche, commander of the colonial infantry company of Tahiti. The movement also found armed support with the leader Etienne Davio, and the crew members of the ship VILLE D’AMIENS at the dock in Papeete. They are nicknamed “les bleus” because of their blue overalls.
The results of the referendum were then without appeal: 5564 votes for General de Gaulle, 18 votes for Marshal Pétain. The governor bowed to popular pressure and a provisional government was created. On 02 September 1940, French Oceania after the New Hebrides rallied in turn to the Free France.
On 11 September a thousand Tahitians joined the ranks of the free France Force. The Tamari'i Volontaires, commanded by Félix Broche, will carry the flame of the French resistance in the ranks of the glorious Pacific Battalion.
The commitment of the crew members of the ship VILLE D’AMIENS was decisive in the rally.
The ship was then requisitioned by the English and sailed in the North Atlantic, crisscrossed in the convoy’s service.
Handed back in September 1944 to the French company and came again under French command. The VILLE D’AMIENS resumed its commercial line with New Caledonia until 1950, where after she carried only cargo, before being refitted in 1953 in a cargo vessel.

In these commemorations stamps of the “80th anniversary of the French Establishments of Oceania (EFO) joining the free France, it was appropriate to recall the commitment of the women and men who showed their determination and their bravery fighting for the liberation of the mother-country.
https://www.tahitiphilatelie.pf/details ... glangue=us

The stamp depict the VILLE D’AMIENS.
Built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard no 98 by the North of Ireland Ship Building Co. in Londonderry for the Cie Havraise Péninsulaire de Nav. a Vapeur in Le Havre.
09 April 1924 launched as the VILLE D’AMIENS, two sisters the VILLE D’VERDUN and the VILLE D’STRASBOURG.
Tonnage 7,142 gross, 9,300 dwt, displacement 13,800 ton, dim. 131 x 16.4m, length bpp 125.3m.
Powered by one Bauer Wach triple expansion steam turbine, coal fired, 4,400 hp, one shaft, speed 12.5 knots.
Passenger accommodation 32 first, 58 second and 478 tween-deck passengers.
November 1924 completed. Homeport Le Havre.

She was the last of the three liners ordered by the company. After completing she was chartered by the Messageries Maritimes.
1924 Her maiden voyage was from Marseilles via the Suez Canal to Colombo, Sydney and Noumea.
1928 Bought by Soc. des Services Contractudes Messager Maritimes, Le Havre. Accommodation changed to 40 first class and 50 second class passengers.
1934 Put in the service from Marseille via Panama Canal to New Caledonia.

02 September 1940 requisitioned by the British Government in Papeete, most of the crew joined the Free France Forces, only the Captain, Second mate and the Superintended remain in Papeete.
She joined the fleet of the MOWT and the VILLE D’AMIENS managed by the Clan Line. Crew British, homeport London.
10 February 1941 she left Freetown bound for Liverpool where she arrived on 08 March.
08 October 1942 she was in New York she joined convoy 211 sailed in this convoy across the Atlantic to Liverpool where she arrived on 24 October.
02 July 1943 was she in Durban and, arrived 28 July in Freetown and arrived in Liverpool on 19 August 1943.
23 February 1944 she sailed from Liverpool for Freetown where she arrived on 15 March.

September1944 was she handed back to her French owners, and a French crew joined her.
After her return under French flag she came again in the service from France to New Caledonia until 1950.
1948 Her owner is given as Cie des Messager Maritimes, Marseille
After a few voyages in the Indian Ocean was she refitted in a cargo vessel in October 1951.

27 February 1953 she arrived at La Seyne, France for scrapping.

http://www.messageries-maritimes.org/vdamiens. Mr. Jean-Louis Araignon, https://www.miramarshipindex.nz
French Polynesia 2020 190F sg?, scott?
Attachments
ville d'amiens.jpg
2020 Ville d'Amiens.jpg

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