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Janie and Me: A True Story of the Evolution and Impact of Dementia
Janie and Me: A True Story of the Evolution and Impact of Dementia
Janie and Me: A True Story of the Evolution and Impact of Dementia
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Janie and Me: A True Story of the Evolution and Impact of Dementia

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Currently, nearly 10 million people suffer from dementia in the US, 5 million from Alzheimer's disease alone. Worldwide, there are 55 million with this affliction.

In this true-life story, Janie and Me, you will learn firsthand what it is like to live with someone with this developing problem and learn how you might recognize its early man

LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 14, 2023
ISBN9798218181611
Janie and Me: A True Story of the Evolution and Impact of Dementia
Author

Patrick Falk

PATRICK FALK is an international management entrepreneur, consultant and inventor living in Connecticut. He is the author of numerous professional publications and technical presentations on pioneering Information Technology, Management Science and related software applications. He is also: co-founder of several professional groups and companies; an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), Airline Transport Pilot Certificate holder; and a former USAF TOTAL FORCE Transport and Mission Pilot. This is his first book.

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    Janie and Me - Patrick Falk

    Janie and Me

    Janie and Me

    A true story of the evolution and impact of dementia

    Patrick Falk

    Petrick Sales Agency

    Copyright © 2023 by Patrick Falk

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

    Published by Petrick Sales Agency

    JanieAndMe1@aol.com.

    ISBN (paperback): 979-8-218-18162-8

    ISBN (ebook): 979-8-218-18161-1

    Proprietary Notice

    The information contained in this document is confidential and proprietary to Patrick G. Falk and shall not be reproduced or disclosed in whole or in part to persons not explicitly authorized by him (C) 2021.

    Contents

    I. In the Beginning, an Uneasy Truce

    II. Switzerland and Second World War (World War II)

    1. Happy Toddlers, Somber Grownups

    2. Going on the Road and Exploring

    3. Extensive Planet Earth Damage

    4. Devastating Extent of Damage

    III. Awakening to a Daily Visitor of Import

    1. Getting Youth Short Course

    2. Slowly Discovering Aviation

    IV. Getting an Education, Career Issues, and Fears

    1. Further Tasting Sports—Rite of Passage

    2. Focusing on Judo, Ice Hockey

    A. Youth Ice Hockey Championships

    B. First Inter—County Youth Ice Hockey Championship

    V. Befriending Jean Goth (Gi), a True Inspiration

    1. Going Outdoors—The Great Outdoors

    2. Gi Giving Freely of Himself to Many

    3. Learning the Ropes with Gi; Yet More Fears

    4. Going: Sailing with Gi; then Onto America

    VI. Growing Up

    1. Discussing Career

    2. Meeting Real Life Head on—Move over Steve Jobs

    VII. Next Step: Plan A; and Plan B—Aviation

    1. Onto London

    2. Onto Club Med, Italy

    3. Arguing Some More; Landing in Arctic Canada

    4. From the Ground Up

    5. Building Flight Time, Making Friends

    6. Building More Time, Visiting Friends

    7. Now What?

    8. Exploring Employment Opportunities

    9. Building Yet More Time, Visiting the USA

    A. Flying South then West

    B. Flying Northwest then Back East

    10. Plan B: Becoming an Instructor

    VIII. Plan C: Going Back to School

    1 Johnny is not Well; Living in Germantown

    2. Janie in Trouble; Johnny Deteriorates

    3. Clo Meets JK—Dallas to Go

    4. Plan C: Going Back to School; Succeeding

    5. Johnny Passing Away; Plan C+: Graduate Education

    6. Beyond Johnny: Janie Grieving; Traveling; Socializing

    7. Finally Making it to MIT

    IX. Meeting Real Life Realities

    1. Grandmother Moun Passing Away

    2. Going Back to MIT; Rallying Behind Janie; #MeToo

    3. Pursuing the Aviation Dream

    A. Boeing

    B. P&G

    4. Janie’s Travel Horizon Expanding

    5. Colliding with Real Life

    X. Janie Getting a New Life

    1. Geneva—Same Old, Same Old

    2. Janie’s New Activities; Relationships

    3. Turn of Events; the Money Thing

    4. Health, Family and Relationship Challenges

    5. On the Road Again

    A. Partaking in the 1976 US Bicentennial Celebration

    B. Visiting the Northeast US; Losing the Car

    C. Making a Side Trip to Barbados

    D. Visiting the US Mid-Atlantic States

    XI. Janie Improving on All Fronts

    1. Health, Social Activities, Relationships

    2. Travel Quality

    3. Broadening Companionship

    4. Heartwarming Support; Some Setbacks

    XII. Janie Exploring North America, the Virgin Islands

    1. Canada, the US

    2. Northeast US Again

    3. Virgin Islands

    XIII. Staying in Touch with Gi

    1. Going Sailing Again

    2. Last Intimate Encounter... NO Goodbyes

    XIV. Janie Revisiting Old and New Issues

    1. Resuming Travel; Recurring Health Problems

    2. Dwindling Friendships

    3. Patrick’s Fortieth Birthday Celebration

    XV. Janie Encountering Unexpected Challenges

    1. Patrick Taken on a Boat Ride

    A. Swiss Precision

    B. Family Friend and Foe

    2. Swiss Precise Banking

    A. Portfolio Follow up; Janie No Show

    B. Beware Currency Fluctuations, Contract Protection

    C. We are NOT Equipped

    D. Stonewalling 101

    E. Stonewalling 102

    F. Swiss Precision—Again, Financial Needs

    G. Going to Court; Unbelievable Letter #1

    H. Exploring Alternative Portfolio Management Options

    3. PaineWebber Commercial Real Estate Partnership

    XVI. Janie Navigating Through Choppy Waters

    1. Activities in Steady State

    2. Relationships Challenged

    3. New and Old Health Issues Surface

    4. NSA Eat your Heart Out

    5. Finally Cornering ITT

    A. Unbelievable Letter #2

    B. Compromised Close Relationship

    XVII. Janie Navigating Through Rough Waters

    1. Activities Declining

    2. Family Relationships Tested

    A. Patrick on Legal Boat Ride

    B. The Six Figure Cup of Coffee

    C. PaineWebber Under the Weather

    3. Tested on the Family Home Front

    4. Health Issues Resurface; Startling Self Discovery

    5. New and Old Health Troubles Resurface

    6. Aviation Dream Still Alive

    A. Visiting Flari-duh

    B. Volunteering for the USAF

    XVIII. Janie Tested; Flirting with Downsizing; Deteriorating

    1. Activities Dwindling

    2. Relationships Relieved, Tested

    3. Further Tested on the Family Home Front

    A. Move over Fifty Shades of Grey

    B. Flirting with Downsizing

    C. Clo Diagnosed with Breast Cancer—Janie Blamed

    D. Janie Facilitates an In House Burglary

    E. PaineWebber in Limbo

    F. Patrick Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer

    XIX. Janie Downsizing; Further Deteriorating

    1. Motivation

    2. Downsizing #1

    3. Health Issues Resurface Again

    4. Swissair Flight 111

    5. Landing in a Hornet Nest—Black Friday

    6. Bonnie and Clyde hit the Villa

    7. Crisis Management

    XX. The Eye Before the Storm

    1. Getting a Handle on the Paperwork

    2. Divide and Conquer Propaganda

    A. The Money Thing Again

    B. Unbelievable Letter #1 Redo

    C. When all Fails, Try Something Else

    3. Preparing for Downsizing # 2

    A. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff—Yeah, Right…

    B. Sweat the Big Stuff Instead

    C. Assisted Living a Necessity

    D. The Big Money Thing

    E. The Move

    F. And Serious Problems Arise

    XXI. The Perfect Storm

    1. The Hand Behind the Pen

    2. Trustee Appointment and a Third Fall

    3. Support Team

    4. Seismic Change—24x7 Monitoring

    5. Seismic Aftereffects; Clo Passes Away

    6. Sixtieth Birthday Celebrations

    XXII. The Long Stretch Home

    1. Co Passes Away; Janie in Coma; EXIT

    2. New Set of Concerns—Safety and Security

    3. Escalating Costs

    4. EXIT—Moral Dilemma Continues

    5. Clo’s Succession

    6. The Gloved Hand Manifests Again

    7. Envelope Night

    8. Who is Working for Whom

    XXIII. Clo’s Interminable Succession Lawsuit

    1. How to Sell a Client down the River

    A. Week 0 – Personal Appearance of the Parties

    2. Janie, Grizzly, Pierre Pass Away

    3. How to Sell a Client down the River Cont’d

    A. Week 14 – 52: September 2007 – June 2008 Audiences, Witnesses

    4. Elusive Secret Journals

    A. Clo’s Intimate Journal (Word Count Statistics)

    B. Clo and JK’s Journal of Visits to Janie

    i. Mental Manifestations (Word Count Statistics)

    ii. Physical Manifestations

    iii. Other Manifestations

    iv. Underhanded Malfeasance

    v. Brain Washing and the Stockholm Syndrome

    vi. The Tribunal Judgment

    Epilogue and Hope

    1. Alzheimer’s Disease

    2. Parkinson’s Disease

    3. Anesthesia

    Notes

    Preface

    Janie, my mother, living alone in Geneva Switzerland and getting older, began to do things that were increasingly uncharacteristic. Over a period of three decades, manifestations, mishaps gradually increased in severity and consequences. It soon became clear that something else was going on behind the scene.

    There came a time in my life when I realized my mother had dementia. It happened in the summer of 1982. On a beautiful day, I was in my secret outdoor spot meditating in my walking clothing. It hit me all at once and the immensity of it all came to me explaining many dementia manifestations, mishaps I had thus far no explanation for, prompting my research thereafter…

    In time, Janie was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and ultimately passed away in 2007.

    After her estate was settled in 2009, I received a container full of her belongings here in Connecticut. At first, I couldn’t look at the content. But, soon I began to wonder when PD had first manifested in Janie’s life and what might have prompted it. So, I began reading 60 years of her tiny diaries, correspondence, type written travel logs, health records, and all kinds of lists that she kept about everything.

    What I found was nothing short of amazing but also depressing, in fact revolting. What I found led to the uncovering of secret family disputes, relationships and even abuse and manipulation that I didn’t know about.

    Unfortunately, my research project was interrupted along the way by a series of significant health setbacks. Nevertheless, I somehow managed to overcome those difficulties and complete my research and writing.

    Janie’s story exemplifies the extensive care and support that society needs to assume for growing patients numbers suffering from dementia. The significant costs and impact imposed on related others are all far reaching.

    Currently, nearly 10 million people suffer from dementia in the US, 5 million from Alzheimer’s disease alone. According to recent health industry projections, if we don’t soon find better ways of treating dementia including PD, by 2050, the entire US health care budget will be consumed by it. The pandemic tumult that we are currently experiencing worldwide will only make things worse.

    If you care to join me for the long, convoluted journey of Janie’s lifetime read on… you will learn about the early signs of possible dementia, the precautions you can take to anticipate and moderate its evolution, and should it manifest fully, mediate and alleviate its impact on others. Admittedly, the result of my work is lengthy, detailed and convoluted. But, so is dementia, evolving ever S-L-O-W-L-Y, in unexpected and convoluted ways.

    N. B. In this context, an inserted numbers at the end of some paragraphs refer to end notes, to place events in time, and attribute data sources.

    Acknowledgments

    In the twelve years that it took me to put this book together I didn’t get much encouragement, on the contrary. However, two Connecticut women, Catherine Crowley and Mary Kenyhercz of Milford, CT based Mystics by the Sea, never let go. They kept me on tract and encouraged me to pursue writing as I went along. If it weren’t for them I am not sure that I would have completed my work.

    During that time, Douglas (Doug) Hayden of Ridgefield, CT based CT PC TECH, provided the technical knowhow and ongoing support services to keep my PC in top shape, and help me complete my task.

    Later, Dr. Sarah Brown, my coach, provided clarity and direction in putting the finishing touch to my undertaking; Valerie Costa, dispensed heart full inspiration and unrepentant editing to my manuscript; Cristina Smith, instilled prescience, creativity and Christy Day, displayed everlasting patience and understanding to the book design.

    Finally, I am grateful for authors who provided imagery to illustrate Janie’s travel over the years. In alphabetical order, they include, but are not limited to: Sergey Ashmarin; Dennis Baltzis; Stefan Bauer; Jeremy Bender; Brice; Neil Burton; Diego Delso; Christopher Down; Mateusz Giełczyński; Kennedy Hickman; Michael Kagdis; Maurizio De Mattei; Ad Meskens; Dan Nerney; Jim Pietryga; MykReeve (Michael Reeve); Guillaume Rueda; Marc Ryckaert; Solundir; Freddy Alexander Bugueño Tolmo; other Wikimedia and Wikipedia contributors.

    I. In the Beginning, an Uneasy Truce

    On 6 June 1944 (known as World War II D-Day) the Western Allies invaded northern France.

    Figure 1: Clo, Janie and Me 1944 (Personal Files)

    Figure 1: Clo, Janie and Me 1944 (Personal Files)

    Twelve days later on 18 June 1944 at 03:40 local time, courtesy of my mother Janie and my father Johnny, I landed on devastated Planet Earth in Geneva, Switzerland. Geneva is known as the City of John Calvin, the father of Calvinism. I was joining Claudine (Clo), my sister, who had preceded me by a little over a year.

    Our family lived in Switzerland on a multi acre agricultural property owned by the Duvernay family. The property hosted draft horses, cows and other domestic animals. On it stood a stable, farm house, barn, winery, shed, and an adjoining villa with two apartments. Jean Duvernay occupied the ground level apartment in the villa, and my family occupied the one above it.

    There was a castle-like structure, which seemed a bit out of place (see below), on the property.

    On the other side of the property, across the tiny Drize River to the northwest, was the Rolex—"Dedicated to Perfection," watch—making factory.

    Figure 2: Castle, Carouge, Switzerland 46° 10’ 40.42 N; 6° 8’ 14.16 E ( Personal Files)

    Right across the street to the east, behind an imposingly high stone wall, stood one of the then Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio’s local offices, with the motto—"The Business of Innovation".

    Growing up in the great outdoors was a happy, healthy and perfect environment for a toddler like me.

    Janie and Johnny first met through common friends during the summer of 1938. It was love at first sight and they made plans to get married.

    Unfortunately, World War II intervened and Johnny had to serve in the Swiss Army between those years. During a military leave in the fall of 1942, Janie and Johnny finally got married at Hotel Richmond in Geneva, then the premier hotel in town. It was a sumptuous event during war time with several hundred family members and friends in attendance. After the war, they established themselves in Carouge, just outside Geneva, to nurture their young family in a quiet, suburban farmland.

    With a background in commerce, Johnny joined the U-E family business as a director of the Lausanne subsidiary of Union Romande and Amman where he remained until his health deteriorated in the late 1960s. During those years he commuted by car. He absolutely loved fast cars and golf.

    Unlike his towering father, Johnny had a medium built. He was always impeccably dressed and charming. He was a good, generous father who always went out of his way to provide what we needed. As we grew older he became our best friend and supporter, following our activities and encouraging our projects. But, in terms of family matters Janie was the ultimate decision maker. He was also a good husband and lover who settled in the bedroom what couldn’t be settled elsewhere at home.

    II: Switzerland and Second World War

    Edited from Swiss Review, here is a brief history of Switzerland during WWII.

    At dawn on 1 September 1939, the German Army invaded Poland. This started World War II. As a result, the following day, the Swiss Federal Council ordered the general mobilization of their Army. On the first day of mobilization, 430,000 soldiers and 200,000 auxiliaries signed up, Johnny was one of them. Because he saw no danger to the west of the country, General Guisan, who oversaw the Army then, decided to position the troops on a north facing front—roughly 280 km long (175 miles), passing through Lake Zurich at its northern-most point.

    But, the situation changed rapidly. In six weeks, between May and June of 1940, the German Army defeated France and occupied large parts of the country. Subsequently, Germany and France reached an armistice which resulted in Axis powers completely surrounding Switzerland. The front that the Swiss Army then had to defend was so long that German and Italian troops could have easily invaded the country at any point in time. Because Switzerland didn’t have enough tanks and airplanes to engage enemy troops in the Central Plateau, they decided to withdraw to the Alps and await a possible attack.

    The strategy was to make access to intact alpine passes—which already at the time provided vital Central Europe north-south passage for the movement of people and goods, as difficult as possible to put off any would be invader from ever attempting it. Accordingly, by the summer of 1941, General Guisan positioned the Army and mountain troops in the so-called réduit (stronghold), stretching from Sargans in the east to St Maurice in the west, with the Gotthard in the middle. The stronghold was replete with runways, bunkers, tank traps, etc., and the Gotthard and Simplon passes railroad beds and tunnels were mined for possible defensive destruction.

    The remaining war years were precarious, difficult, and anxiety-raising for the Swiss. The 1944 Allied Forces landing in Normandy and the South of France put an end to the Axis powers’ encirclement of Switzerland. Subsequently, the Swiss Army left the réduit to regain control over its borders with Austria, France, Italy, and Germany. On 8 May 1945, the German Army surrendered to the Allied Forces. Two months later, General Guisan demobilized the Swiss Army, and Johnny went home.

    The years preceding the war and those that followed made life difficult. Many things were in short supply and thereby rationed, particularly food and fuel. For example, as a family of four, we were limited to one quarter pound (125 g) of butter, and 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of meat a week. There was little or no fuel, nor cigarettes. So, people used bicycles, horse carriages, etc. for transportation. But, everyone somehow managed by trading food and other stamps among themselves. ¹

    1. Happy Toddlers, Janie, and Somber Grownups

    The WW II conflict had just ended. The toddlers were visibly happy as they usually are. In our presence, Janie and the grownups were relieved but guardedly optimistic about things in general. But all of them were somehow affected by the war one way or another, some more than others, showing an almost military discipline and stricture imparted on youngsters; sometimes not in the best ways. This ultimately prompted the later European-wide social revolution of the 1960s.

    As a neutral country, Switzerland had been spared the brunt of the war. Most of the adult men, who had served in the Army, typically in regions of the country geographically opposite to their county of residence, had returned home to their families. This in itself was an enormous relief...

    But, many didn’t have a job, work to do, or money to pay their bills. Furthermore, the devastation was everywhere one looked. One didn’t have to go far to see it—which created a somber mood in the nation’s citizens.

    First, there were the numbers of casualties, murmured in conversations that we overheard, and in the headlines of the newspapers that us children sort of read, but couldn’t quite grasp at our young, tender age. They were talking about millions of casualties, both civilian and military. Millions, what did that mean? Then there was talk about all the collateral damage war had inflicted on Planet Earth: domestic and wild life; land; property; buildings and infrastructure—public and private, etc. Being toddlers, we couldn’t wrap our tiny arms around the information.

    But, gradually, it would sink in as the anecdotes were rolling in from all directions, in all forms of communication: in writing by mail; by word of mouth; in newspaper articles; in radio broadcast; in many-times repeated stories, etc.

    Perhaps first to sink in, were the anecdotes related to others, all of them horrifying, of French friends, family members (including Janie’s—close or distant), who had died in the resistance never to return home. Some had been rounded up from their home and summarily executed. Some had been shot like rabbits in their hiding holes in the pre-alps and Alps; others had been literally torched alive by flamethrowers; etc.

    Then came anecdotes of substantial damage to private property, looting done by undisciplined soldiers, and later on by retreating German and advancing Allied troupes to Janie’s allied family-owned tannery and its machinery in Vétraz-Monthoux, which was located along the Arves River, in nearby France; and the family chalet, Treize Arbres (Thirteen Trees), was looted for food and water supplies, bedding, furniture, and all content. My grandfather and his friends had built it by themselves atop nearby Mt. Salève, where, on a clear day, the view on the Mt. Blanc massif of the French Alps was simply spectacular.

    Figure 3: Massif du Mt. Blanc, Alps, from Treize Arbres, Saleve, France, Aiguille Verte leftmost (Personal Files)

    Figure 3: Massif du Mt. Blanc, Alps, from Treize Arbres, Saleve, France, Aiguille Verte leftmost (Personal Files)

    At the conclusion of the conflict, access from Geneva and Switzerland into neighboring France was seriously restricted and strictly enforced. With a few rare exceptions—notably the military, police, firefighters, first aiders, selected government officials, etc., no one could go through the border. This was enacted for security reasons, because so many damaged civilian buildings and infrastructure, along with unexploded ordinance, etc., posed a serious risk of injury to civilians and military alike.

    But, as the years passed, and life gradually returned to normal, everyone finally got access to witness firsthand the calamities that war can, and did inflict on the continent. Some buildings were partly or completely demolished. Some neighborhoods were unrecognizable; houses altogether obliterated, set afire, roofless, riddled with bullets, etc. It would take years to rebuild...

    2. Going on the Road and Exploring

    At some point in time in the late 1940s, gasoline and cars reappeared on the marketplace. In the late 1940s and early 1950s respectively, Johnny bought an Italian-made Lancia and a British-made Armstrong Siddeley fixed head coupé, giving the family newfound mobility. We would take full advantage of it to broaden our horizons...

    So, from our new home in Geneva proper we went about on the road... first to see nearby family and friends in neighboring France and assess the extent of their well being. Albeit the looting of the family tannery and chalet, we were tentatively reassured that things, little by little, were slowly but surely returning to normal. Later, Johnny bought a black Oldsmobile 88 convertible (see below) which could easily handle a small party. So, we ventured further afield.

    Figure 4: Oldsmobile 88 circa 1950s (Personal Files)

    Figure 4: Oldsmobile 88 circa 1950s (Personal Files)

    In 1948, we took our first trip to the French Riviera and Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, St. Maxime where we rented villas or stayed with friends who had one, notably the Borel, D. and Uhlmann families. There we inhaled the delicious smell of the maritime pines, listened to the monotone songs of the cicadas, laid lazily on the warm sand of the Riviera, plunged into its lukewarm water, casually shopped, and restored ourselves to satiation in town.

    We took many more such trips to the coast including (east to west): Monaco—Oceanographic Museum; St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat; Nice—Matisse Museum; Antibes and Cap d’Antibes; Juan-les-Pins; Vallauris—Picasso Museum; Cannes; Mandelieu-La Napoule; La Croix-Valmer; Cavalaire-sur-Mer, and other places where we stayed in hotels or with friends. Whenever the opportunity occurred on the way from Geneva to the coast, or vice versa, we never failed to make stops in Montélimar, Grignan, Valréas, Vaison La Romaine, Carpentras, Avignon, and Grasse, to enjoy the towns under repair, have a good meal and visit the notable open attractions.

    Figure 5: Saint-Maxime, France, Current. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Maxime Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0 This page was last edited on 25 July 2022, at 09:01 (UTC)]

    3. Extensive Planet Earth Damage

    On one occasion, working our way along the coast line, we visited the Port of Toulon, located half way from St. Maxime to Marseille, where the French Navy had scuttled itself to avoid falling into enemy hands.

    It was a devastating sight, giving an overwhelming, gut-sinking feeling that would repeat itself throughout the trip... In November 1944, as the Germans retreated, they blew up whatever they thought would hinder Allied Forces in their pursuit: road bridges and draw bridges of all kinds; railroad tunnels and rolling stock; harbors; airports and related logistical facilities; electrical transformers; telephone lines and switching gear; etc. An unknown US Army Air Force observer would later write: It is so enormous that the mind cannot measure it! The only impression made is that this is the acme and ultimate of death, destruction and chaos.

    This was also the first time that Johnny would pick arguments, verbal and otherwise, with other automobile drivers, most of them inept to his taste and competitive driving ways. Neither Clo nor I understood what this was all about or what to do about it. We certainly dared not speak. Instead, we would hunker down in the backseats of the car waiting for the tempest to pass. More often than not, we both would end up crying while Janie was trying to appease Johnny. Later on, when Johnny was done, he and Janie would argue among themselves about the futility of picking fight with offending motorists. By then, Clo and I had hit the car floor. It was altogether embarrassing, unpleasant and unsettling. Over the passing years, and a glimpse into the future seemed to indicate that Johnny’s tantrums would get worse...

    SCUTTLING OF THE FRENCH FLEET AT TOULON

    The scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon was orchestrated by Vichy France on 27 November 1942 to prevent Nazi German forces from taking it over.[2] After the Allied invasion of North Africa the Germans invaded the territory administered by Vichy under the Armistice of 1940.[3] The Vichy Secretary of the Navy, Admiral François Darlan, defected to the Allies, who were gaining increasing support from servicemen and civilians.[4] His replacement, Admiral Gabriel Auphan,[5] guessed correctly that the Germans intended to seize the large fleet at Toulon (even though this was explicitly forbidden in the Franco-Italian armistice and the French-German armistice),[6][7][8] and ordered it scuttled.[9]

    The Germans began Operation Anton but the French naval crews used subterfuge to delay them until the scuttling was complete.[10] Anton was judged a failure,[11] with the capture of 39 small ships, while the French destroyed 77 vessels; several submarines escaped to French North Africa.[12] It marked the end of Vichy France as a credible naval power[13] and marked the destruction of the last political bargaining chip it had with Germany.[14][15]

    Figure 6: Toulon Scuttling, France.

    Figure 6: Toulon Scuttling, France. [Wikipedia—Scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon

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