Testimonies at the end of 51 years of interrogations
Testimonials
A few testimonials from those involved in the history of La Minerve
General de Gaulle - President of the Republic in 1968
General de Gaulle was sincerely and deeply touched by the disappearance of La Minerve.
In June 2004, during a private audience with Pierre Messmer, the Minister of Defence in 1968, Hervé, son of Commandant FAUVE, and Christophe, son of LV AGNUS, were told how the General felt about the tragedy.
‘Pierre Messmer woke the General in the middle of the night to tell him that the submarine Minerve had disappeared. The news stunned him. That a military vessel could vanish without a trace seemed unimaginable to him. He kept himself personally informed of the progress of the search.
Very quickly, he decided to attend the national tribute ceremony in Toulon on 8 February in person. This was not a matter of course. Two years later, his successor, Georges Pompidou, did not attend the Eurydice ceremony.
Pierre Messmer adds that General de Gaulle was convinced that he was not being told the whole truthand that the military hierarchy was hiding something from him. He decided with the utmost discretion to conduct his investigation personally. This is one of the reasons that prompted him, to everyone's surprise, without the military hierarchy being informed beforehand, to dive aboard the Eurydice. This was to enable him to establish direct contact with the crewto form an opinion.
The General will return from his dive without knowing more as he will tell Pierre Messmer. The mystery remained entire, for him as for everyone.
In his memoirs Admiral Philippe de Gaulle recounts :
“ Every man has armor, but most don';t know how to wear it. No more than I have seen him except in a three-piece suit or in uniform as soon as he left his room, I have never seen him without this armor. Perhaps he only made one exception: when the submarine Minerve disappeared on January 27, 1968.
The comments he made to me on this subject testified to great emotion and contradicted the indifference that some journalists had falsely attributed to him. Remember that after attending the mass for the dead on the place d'armes in Toulon and meeting the submariners and their families, he wanted to go out to sea to dive aboard the Eurydice submarine of the same type. than the lost boat. »
Philippe de Gaulle further writes “ We also saw his sleeve adorned with this sign of mourning (a black armband on the left arm) for a month after the tragic disappearance of the MINERVE submariners."
Photo of General de Gaulle with the dedication he left to the sailors of the Eurydice on February 8, 1968.
The dedication is:
"To the submarine Eurydice in testimony and in memory of Minerva""
This photo is since 2010 in the office of the commander of the squadron of nuclear attack submarines.
Admiral Charles Henri du CHE - Maritime Prefect of Toulon during the discovery of the Minerve
Maritime Prefect during the discovery -Interview published in Cols Bleus produced on the occasion of his retirement
CB : What do you remember from your mandate which is coming to an end?
VA C. - HDC : On a human level, the event that marked me most at the end of my command was the successful search for the submarine Minerve which disappeared in 1968. The resumption of the search, decided by the Minister of the Armed Forces on the fiftieth anniversary of this tragedy, was entrusted to me and I am happy to have been able to locate what is now a maritime burial ground. The families I met on several occasions needed it to complete their mourning. I am really moved to have been able to contribute to this, just before leaving my command.
