Soldiers, Airmen, Spies, and Whisperers: The Gold Coast in World War II

by Nancy Ellen Lawler

Ohio University Press, 2002
eISBN: 978-0-8214-4107-7 | Cloth: 978-0-8214-1430-9
Library of Congress Classification D810.S7L325 2002
Dewey Decimal Classification 940.5486667

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

The fall of France in June 1940 left the Gold Coast surrounded by potentially hostile French colonies that had rejected de Gaulle's call to continue the fight, signaling instead their support for Marshall Pétain's pro-German Vichy regime.

In Soldiers, Airmen, Spies, and Whisperers, Nancy Lawler describes how the Gold Coast Regiment, denuded of battalions fighting in East Africa, was rapidly expanded at home to meet the threat of invasion. Professor Lawler also shows how the small airport at Takoradi was converted into a major Royal Air Force base and came to play a vital role in the supply of aircraft to the British Eighth Army in North Africa.

The importance of the Gold Coast to the Allied war effort necessitated the creation of elaborate propaganda and espionage networks, the activities of which ranged from rumor-mongering to smuggling and sabotage. The London-based Special Operations Executive moved into West Africa, where it worked closely with de Gaulle's Free French Intelligence. Lawler presents a vivid account of SOE's major triumph—masterminding the migration of a substantial part of the Gyaman people from Vichy Côte d'Ivoire to the Gold Coast.

As she looks at the plethora of military and civil organizations involved in the war, Lawler throws light on decision making in Brazzaville, London, and Washington. This is an account of World War II in one colony, but the story is firmly set within the wider context of a world at war.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Nancy Ellen Lawler is Professor Emeritus of Economics and History at Oakton Community College. She is the author of Soldiers of Misfortune: Ivoirien Tirailleurs of World War II, and, with John Hunwick, co-editor of A Cloth of Many Colored Silks. Dr. Lawler currently lives in Wales and continues to work on West African history.

REVIEWS

“In the author’s engaging style, Soldiers, Airmen, Spies, and Whisperers provides a clearer picture of the history and political relations of the Gold Coast during the Second World War. It tells the story of the Takoradi resupply mission and British espionage and intelligence misisions, bringing to life a quiet and covert war of propaganda, spying, and smuggling. It also conveys the flavor of life in the Gold Coast both for the colonial administrators and for the African populations under colonial rule.… A valuable addition to historical literature.”—James L. A. Webb, Jr., associate professor of history, Colby College

TABLE OF CONTENTS






Chapter One: The Fall of France and the British West African Colonies

    I    Introduction
    II   A Summer of Uncertainty
    III  The Lines Harden: Oran and Its Aftermath
    IV   The War Office Takes Over
    V    De Gaulle, the AEF, and the AOF: Win One, Lose One
    VI   Invasion Scares: Perceiving the Threat
    VII The Gold Coast Regiment before World War II
    VIII The Build-up to War

Chapter Two: The Takoradi Ferry and Defense on the Home Front

    I    Beginnings of the West African Reinforcement Route
    II   The West African Reinforcement Route: Fully Operational
    III  The West African Reinforcement Route: Enter the United States
    IV   New Blood: The Expansion of the Gold Coast Regiment
    V    The Home Guard
    VI   Invasion and Counter-invasion: Fears

Chapter Three: The Special Operations Executive in West Africa:
The Franck Mission

    I    Economic Warfare and the Special Operations Executive
    II   Eyes on West Africa





   III  The Franck Mission and WAGON
   IV   The Franck Mission: The Gold Coast Section
   V    The Free French

Chapter Four: With Friends Like These ... the SOE, the SIS, and the Army

   I    From the Franck Mission to Frawest
   II   Intelligence Gathering in the Gold Coast
   III  West Africa's Little War: Giffard and the SIS
         vs Governors' Conference and the SOE
    IV   Exit Wingate
    V    Enter Lumby

Chapter Five: The Special Operations Executive at Work in the Gold Coast

    I    A Window on Wenchi
    II   Free French Operations
    III  Smuggling
    IV   To Fraternize or not to Fraternize

Chapter Six: Propaganda: The Home Front and Beyond

    I    Spreading the Word: Wartime Broadcasting in the Gold Coast
    II   Information Bureaus and Cinema Vans
    III  Propaganda, the Free French, and the SOE
    IV   Whispering in the Dark
    V    Vichy Propaganda
    VI   The Spitfires Fund
    VII The Impact of the Propaganda Machine

Chapter Seven: The Crossing of the Gyaman: Triumph or Embarrassment?

    I    One People, Two Colonies: The Gyaman of C6te d'Ivoire and Gold Coast
    II   The Gyaman under Vichy
    III The Crossings of the Gyaman
    IV   Meanwhile, Back in the C6te d'Ivoire...
    V    The Return of the Gyaman

Chapter Eight: The Beginning of the End: The War Moves On

    I    Operation Torch: The AOF Deserts Vichy
    II   The Fate of Frawest
    III  The Fate of the Soldiers and Airmen




Chapter Nine: Possible Futures

    I    Fantasies of War
    II   A First What-If: The SOE Triumphant
    III  A Second What-If: The Takoradi Ferry Disrupted
    IV   A Third What-If: Boisson between Axis and Allies
    V    A Fourth What-If: Dakar Falls to Free France in September 1940

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