France Ensign,FNFL Aconite WWII, Sank 2 German U-Boats on same day, 1943
This French ensign was formerly part of the collection of Wall Street financier, business man and promoter of Franco-American goodwill Calvin Bullock. His 1 Wall street offices in New York City contained world leading collections of memorabilia pertaining to Napoleon & Lord Nelson. In the 1930s he sought to collect Confederate Flags and during World War II he acquired a representative collection of US, British, French and other allied ensigns from his many international, military and naval acquaintances. After his death in 1944 his son, Hugh Bullock kept the flags on display as a memorial to his late father.
Bullock documentation states that this French Tricolor was from the WWII French corvette FNFL (Forces Navales Franaises Libres) named 'Aconit': "This brave little ship became famous by ramming two German submarines to death in a single afternoon a few months ago. The flag is the one which the Aconit flew during this brilliant exploit." The flag was presented to Calvin Bullock by Vice-Admiral R. Fenard, Chief of the French Naval Mission in the U.S., October 5, 1943.
In the Bullock Collection the flag was put on the "north wall" in "The Lecture Room..." and was the 14th flag "...Clockwise from S.W. door..."
The document reports that the flag was "on pole"; however, this reference was originally thought to relate to a piece of wood that was attached to the hoist to be part of the method of attachment. It has been suggested that this was an attachment added on-board ship, which enabled one to have better control of the flag especially in high winds; but, in reality, this actually is a pole that was used by Bullock to display the flag overhead.
Some flags in the Bullock still have his wooden display "pole" attached to them. This is one of them.
In the U-boat war of 1939-45; "The Free French corvette Aconit (ex-British Aconite, 925 tons) sank 2 U-boats on the same day. They were the U-444 and U-432, sunk on 11 March, 1943, within hours of each other in the North Atlantic."
In French contemporary history this flag is considered one of the most notable French flags from the WWII period. Due to France's early capitulation to Germany in 1940 it did not have many opportunities to distinguish itself against Germany in WWII. The sinking of two German submarines, remarkable in its own right, is an extraordinary achievement and is magnified because there were fewer opportunities to glorify French contribution to the war effort against fascism.
The exploit of the Aconit was one of those rare moments in WWII. In Paris, at the French national military museum, The Invalid, there is an exhibit of France's participation in WWII and this exploit of the Aconit that March day in 1943 receives a tremendous "billboard" exposure in the telling of the story of sinking by ramming two German submarines at the very height of the struggle against Germany in the North Atlantic. It was that month, March 1943, which the battle against the submarines reached its crescendo and the Aconit's struggle was symbolic of the struggle taking place in the North Atlantic.
It is interesting to note that the Aconite was a sister ship to the HMCS Wetaskiwin, another Flower Class corvette, whose ensign is also in the Zaricor Flag Collection, see ZFC0232.
ZFC Significant Flag
Publication History:
Bullock, Hugh, Sixty Years, Calvin Bullock, New York, 1954.P.32.
Provenance:
• Free-French corvette, FNFLAconite 11 March 1943
• Conveyed to French Vice Admiral Ramon Frenard, Chief of French Naval Mission to the U.S., 5 October 1943.
• Gifted to Calvin Bullock, New York, NY, until passing, 1944.
• By bequest to Hugh Bullock, until passing. 1966.
• By descent in Bullock family to daughter of Hugh Bullock, until 1997
• Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection via private treaty from estate Calvin Bullock of New York City, 1997.
Sources:
Mars 1943 : La corvette Aconit au combat, Corvette FNFL Aconit, Net-Marine, 16 November 2011, from:
http://www.netmarine.net/bat/divers/aconit/histoire/index.htm
Bullock, Hugh, Sixty Years, Calvin Bullock, New York, 1954.P.32.
HISTOIRE, la Marine Nationale française, 16 November 2011, from:
http://www.fregate-aconit.fr/?page_id=162
French corvette Aconit, Wikipedia, 16 November 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Aconit
Free French Forces, Wikipedia, 16 November 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_French_Forces
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
