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Was the Royal Navy’s Attack on the French Fleet a Senseless Tragedy?
Churchill’s order to strike at Mers-el-Kebir remains controversial to this day
July 3, 1940. The Sitzkrieg, or “phony war,” was long over. France had fallen, and one of World War Two’s lesser-known tragedies had begun. Operation Catapult sought to neutralize the French navy, considered the world’s fourth strongest. Under German control it could alter the balance of naval power in Europe, threatening Great Britain’s lifeline through the Suez Canal, and even vie for control of the Mediterranean.
The French supreme naval commander, Admiral Darlan, had vowed that his ships would never be allowed to fall into Axis hands, and the Franco-German Armistice promised the fleet would remain under French control. But Churchill and the war cabinet felt the risks were too great. The terms of the Armistice might be voided at any pretext of non-compliance.
On July 2, the British government proposed that French warships either join the Royal Navy in action against the Axis or sail to British or neutral ports where they would be demobilized, their crews repatriated.
The French weren’t eager to see their ships join the Allies because while neutral they could be used as an incentive to prevent the Germans from occupying…
