The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, part of Operation Catapult and also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir,
was a British naval bombardment of the French Navy at its base at Mers-el-Kébir on the
coast of what was then French Algeria on 3 July 1940. A Royal Navy task force attacked
the French fleet, after giving them a warning that they would do so. The French fleet was
at anchor and had not been expecting an assault from the United Kingdom. The attack resulted
in the deaths of 1,297 French servicemen, the sinking of a battleship and the damaging
of five other ships. France and the United Kingdom were not at war but France had signed
an armistice with Germany, and the UK feared the French fleet would end up as a part of
the German Navy, a fate that would greatly increase the Kriegsmarine's size and combat
ability. Although French Admiral François Darlan had assured Winston Churchill the fleet
would not fall into German possession, the British acted upon the assumption that Darlan's
promises were insufficient guarantees. In response to the British attack at Mers-el-Kébir
and another at Dakar, the French mounted air raids on Gibraltar. The Vichy government also
severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. The attack remains controversial.
It created much rancour between Vichy France and Britain, but it also demonstrated to the
world and to the United States in particular, Britain's commitment to continue the war with
Germany at all costs and without allies if need be.
Background In 1940, after the Fall of France and the
armistice between France and Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom became concerned about
the possibility that the Germans would acquire control of the French fleet, then under the
control of what became known as the Vichy government. The combined French and German
naval forces would mean that the balance of power at sea might tip in Germany's favour,
threatening Britain's ability to receive raw materials from across the Atlantic and its
communications with the rest of its Empire. The British government feared the possibility
despite the fact that the Armistice terms at Article 8 paragraph 2 stated that the German
government "solemnly and firmly declared that it had no intention of making demands regarding
the French fleet during the peace negotiations" and similar terms existed in the armistice
with Italy. Furthermore, on 24 June, Admiral Darlan had given assurances to Churchill against
such a possibility.. Winston Churchill ordered that a demand be made that the French Navy
should either join forces with the British Royal Navy or face neutralization in some
way, in order to forestall any possibility that the French ships might fall into German
or Italian hands. In a speech to Parliament, Churchill repeated
that the French armistice with Germany was a betrayal of the Allied agreement that forbade
each country from surrendering to the Germans without notifying its allies. This French
betrayal, added to by the German Nazi government's history of not respecting previous agreements,
led Churchill to declare to the House "What is the value of that? Ask half a dozen countries,
what is the value of such a solemn assurance? . . . Finally, the armistice could be voided
at any time on any pretext of non-observance . . .".
The British empire was faced with the situation of having the French Atlantic ports in German
hands at a time when enormous problems were looming in the Mediterranean, where the British
needed to keep the German Fleet out of that searestrict the Italian Fleet within those
waters and blockade the Vichy ports. Given the need to keep Britain's Atlantic approaches
open to convoy traffic, the Royal Navy simply did not have enough ships to provide a permanent
blockade of the Vichy naval bases in North Africa. The risk of having either the Germans
or the Italians seize the French capital ships was too great to contemplate.
The French fleet was widely dispersed. Some vessels were in port in France; others had
escaped from France to British-controlled ports, mainly in Britain and Alexandria, Egypt.
Operation Catapult was launched to take the French ships under British control or destroy
them. In the first stage, the French ships in the British ports of Plymouth and Portsmouth
were boarded without warning on the night of 3 July 1940. The only resistance came from
the crew of the French submarine Surcouf, then the largest submarine in the world. This
vessel had made its way to Portsmouth in June 1940 following the German invasion of France.
The crew resisted the boarding and three Royal Navy personnel, including two officers, were
killed. A French sailor also died. Other ships captured included the two obsolete battleships
Paris and Courbet, the destroyers Triomphant and Léopard, eight torpedo boats, five submarines
and a number of less important ships. Many, including the Surcouf, went on to be used
by the Free French forces. Some sailors joined the Free French while others were repatriated
to France. The attack on the French vessels at port sowed anger amongst the French towards
the British and increased tension between Churchill and the leader of the Free French
Forces, Charles de Gaulle. Prelude
Ultimatum The most powerful concentration of French
warships at the time was the squadron at the port of Mers-el-Kébir in French Algeria.
This consisted of the World War I era battleships Provence and Bretagne, the more modern battleships
Dunkerque and Strasbourg, the seaplane tender Commandant Teste and six destroyers under
the command of Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul. British Admiral James Somerville of Force
H, based in Gibraltar, was ordered to deliver an ultimatum to the French, stating:
It is impossible for us, your comrades up to now, to allow your fine ships to fall into
the power of the German enemy. We are determined to fight on until the end, and if we win,
as we think we shall, we shall never forget that France was our Ally, that our interests
are the same as hers, and that our common enemy is Germany. Should we conquer we solemnly
declare that we shall restore the greatness and territory of France. For this purpose
we must make sure that the best ships of the French Navy are not used against us by the
common foe. In these circumstances, His Majesty's Government have instructed me to demand that
the French Fleet now at Mers el Kebir and Oran shall act in accordance with one of the
following alternatives; (a) Sail with us and continue the fight until
victory against the Germans. (b) Sail with reduced crews under our control
to a British port. The reduced crews would be repatriated at the earliest moment.
If either of these courses is adopted by you we will restore your ships to France at the
conclusion of the war or pay full compensation if they are damaged meanwhile.
(c) Alternatively if you feel bound to stipulate that your ships should not be used against
the Germans lest they break the Armistice, then sail them with us with reduced crews
to some French port in the West Indies — Martinique for instance – where they can be demilitarised
to our satisfaction, or perhaps be entrusted to the United States and remain safe until
the end of the war, the crews being repatriated. If you refuse these fair offers, I must with
profound regret, require you to sink your ships within 6 hours.
Finally, failing the above, I have the orders from His Majesty's Government to use whatever
force may be necessary to prevent your ships from falling into German hands.
Somerville did not present the ultimatum personally. Instead, this duty fell to the French-speaking
Captain Cedric Holland, commanding officer of the carrier HMS Ark Royal. Admiral Gensoul,
affronted that negotiations were not being conducted by a senior officer, sent his lieutenant,
Bernard Dufay, which led to much delay and confusion.
As negotiations dragged on, it became clear that neither side was likely to give way.
French Navy Minister Admiral Darlan never received the full text of the British ultimatum
from Admiral Gensoul, most significantly with regard to the option of removing the fleet
to American waters, an option that formed part of the orders Darlan gave to Gensoul,
to be followed should a foreign power attempt to seize the ships under his command.
Attack
The British force consisted of the battlecruiser HMS Hood, battleships HMS Valiant and Resolution,
and the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, plus an escort of cruisers and destroyers. Despite
the approximate equivalence of force, the British had several decisive advantages. The
French fleet was anchored in a narrow harbour and despite the unequivocal terms of the ultimatum,
did not expect an attack and was not fully prepared for battle. The main armament of
Dunkerque and Strasbourg was grouped on their bows and could not immediately be brought
to bear. The British capital ships, with their 15-inch guns, also fired a heavier broadside
than the French ones. Before negotiations were formally terminated,
British Fairey Swordfish planes escorted by obsolete Blackburn Skuas were dispatched from
Ark Royal to drop magnetic mines in the path of the French ships' route to sea. This force
was intercepted by French Curtiss H-75 fighters. One of the Skuas was shot down by French fighters
and crashed into the sea, killing its two-man crew, the only British fatalities in the action.
A short while later, on Churchill's instructions, the British ships opened fire against the
French. The British opened fire at extreme range on 3 July 1940 at 17:54. The French
eventually replied but ineffectively. The third salvo from the British force and the
first to hit resulted in a magazine explosion aboard Bretagne, which sank with 977 of her
crew dead at 18:09. After some thirty salvos, the French ships stopped firing. Meanwhile,
the British force altered their course to avoid fire from the French coastal forts.
Provence, Dunkerque and the destroyer Mogador were damaged and run aground by their crews.
Strasbourg and four destroyers managed to avoid the mines and escape to the open sea.
As they did so they came under attack from a flight of bomb-armed Swordfish from Ark
Royal. The French ships responded with anti-aircraft fire and shot down two of them, and their
crews were rescued by the destroyer HMS Wrestler. The bombing attack had little effect and Somerville
ordered his forces to begin pursuing at 18:43. The light cruisers HMS Arethusa and Enterprise
reported engaging a French destroyer. At 20:20, Somerville called off the pursuit, feeling
that his ships were ill-deployed for a night engagement. After weathering another Swordfish
attack at 20:55 without damage, Strasbourg reached the French port of Toulon on 4 July.
Subsequently, on 4 July, the British submarine HMS Pandora sank the French aviso Rigault
de Genouilly, sailing from Oran. That night, French Air Force bombers carried out a retaliatory
raid against the British fleet at Gibraltar to minimal effect.
Since the British believed that damage to Dunkerque and Provence was not very serious,
British Fairey Swordfish aircraft from Ark Royal raided Mers-el-Kebir the morning of
6 July. One torpedo hit the patrol boat Terre-Neuve, which was moored alongside Dunkerque and was
carrying a supply of depth charges. Terre-Neuve quickly sank and her charges triggered a large
explosion, causing serious damage to Dunkerque. The last phase of Operation Catapult was an
attack on 8 July by aircraft from the carrier HMS Hermes against the French battleship
Richelieu, at Dakar. In response to the actions at Mers-el-Kébir
and Dakar, the French Air Force launched retaliatory bombing raids on Gibraltar, including a half-hearted
attack on 14 July, when many bombs landed in the sea, and heavier raids on 24 and 25
September. Aftermath
At Mers-el-Kébir, 1,297 French sailors were killed and about 350 were wounded. Two British
aircrew were also killed. Relations between Britain and France were severely strained
for some time and the Germans enjoyed a propaganda coup.
British Admiral Somerville was not enthusiastic about the action, saying that it was "...the
biggest political blunder of modern times and will rouse the whole world against us...we
all feel thoroughly ashamed..." Although it did rekindle anglophobic feelings in France,
the action demonstrated Britain's resolve to continue the war alone and rallied the
British Conservative Party around Churchill. Churchill later declared the action meant
that for "high government circles in the United States ... there was no more talk of Britain
giving in." Harold Nicolson reported the House of Commons to have been "fortified" by Churchill's
report of the action. The French ships in Alexandria under command
of Admiral René-Emile Godfroy, including the World War I era battleship Lorraine and
four cruisers, were blockaded by the British in port on 3 July and offered the same terms
as at Mers-el-Kébir. After delicate negotiations, conducted on the part of the British by Admiral
Cunningham, the French Admiral agreed on 7 July to disarm his fleet and stay in port
until the end of the war. They stayed there until they eventually joined the Allies in
1943. The ships Dunkerque, Provence and Mogador
were partially repaired and sailed back to Toulon.
In early June 1940, about 13,500 civilians had been evacuated from Gibraltar to Casablanca
in French Morocco. Following the capitulation of the French to the Germans, and the attack
on Mers-el-Kébir, the Vichy government found their presence an embarrassment. Later in
June, 15 British cargo vessels arrived in Casablanca under Commodore Crichton, repatriating
15,000 French servicemen who had been rescued from Dunkirk. Once their French servicemen
had disembarked, the ships were interned until they agreed to take away all the evacuees..
On 27 November 1942, the Germans attempted to capture the French fleet based at Toulon
as part of Case Anton, the military occupation of Vichy France by Germany. All ships of any
military value were scuttled by the French before the arrival of German troops, notably
Dunkerque and Strasbourg. For many in the French Navy this was a final proof that there
had never been a question of their ships ending up in German hands and that the British action
at Mers-el-Kébir had been an unnecessary betrayal. Within days Churchill received a
letter from Admiral Darlan, in which he wrote; "Prime Minister you said to me 'I hope you
will never surrender the fleet'. I replied, 'There is no question of doing so'. It seems
to me you did not believe my word. The destruction of the fleet at Toulon has just proved that
I was right." Casualties
French casualties in the action were distributed thus:
Two British servicemen were also killed. Orders of battle
See also Attack on Pearl Harbor
Battle of Casablanca References
Notes
Sources Auphan, Paul & Mordal, Jacques, The French
Navy in World War II Greenwood Press ISBN 0-8371-8660-9
Collier, Paul. The Second World War: The Mediterranean 1940–1945'. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-539-6.
Online version at Google Books Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro The
Naval War in the Mediterranean 1940–1943 Chatham Publishing, London ISBN 1-885119-61-5
Lasterle, Philippe. "Could Admiral Gensoul Have Averted the Tragedy of Mers el-Kebir?."
Journal of Military History 67#3 pp 835–844. online
O'Hara, Vincent P.. Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean
Theater, 1940–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-648-3.
Thomas, Martin. "After Mers-el-Kébir: The Armed Neutrality of the Vichy French Navy,
1940–43, English Historical Review 112#447 pp. 643–670 in JSTOR
External links A plan of the Mers-el-Kébir anchorage, hmshood.org.uk
Mers-El-Kebir a French made-for-TV movie Churchill's Sinking of the French Fleet, digitalsurvivors.com
Churchill's Deadly Decision, episode of Secrets of the Dead describing the attack and the
events leading up to it Kappes, Irwin J. Mers-el-Kebir: A Battle Between
Friends, Military History Online Transcript of The Battles of Britain, a BBC
radio programme in which Michael Portillo argues that the action at Mers el Kabir was
as important to British survival as the Battle of Britain