A Day in History: Mers-el-Kebir

[Martin Antonenko]

On July 3, 1940, a British fleet under Admiral James Somerville...



... attacks the French fleet at anchor in the port of Mers-el-Kebir (French Algeria) ...







... to prevent the government of defeated France from handing over the ships to the Germans and thereby significantly strengthening their naval power.

In the harbor are the two ultra-modern French battleships "Dunkerque" ...



... and "Strasbourg"...



... the two older battleships "Provence" ...



... and "Bretagne" ...



... as well as the seaplane carrier "Commandant Teste" ...



... and six destroyers.

Admiral Marcel Gensoul is in command ...:


Admiral Somerville on his flagship, the battle cruiser HMS "Hood" ...



... also has the two battleships HMS "Resolution" ...



... and HMS "Valiant" ...



... the airplane carrier HMS "Ark Royal" ...



... as well as the two light cruisers HMS "Arethusa"...



... HMS "Enterprise"...



... and 12 destroyers under his command.


**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

When the British appeared in front of the port near the city of Oran, the British admiral had an ultimatum given to the French commander:

Either voluntary handover of the ships to the British and a joint trip to England to continue the fight against Nazi Germany - or self-sinking. Otherwise total annihilation.

Somerville means well and has the ultimatum delivered by a perfectly French-speaking officer, Captain Cedric Holland ...:




The French admiral misunderstands this completely and feels snubbed because he expected at least one officer of the same rank to negotiate.

So Marcel Gensoul deliberately protracted the negotiations.

What he doesn't know:

The British government has set a deadline for Somerville to end negotiations - and as the French government's delayed tactics elude, Prime Minister Churchill personally orders the fire to open at 16:46

"Hood" opens fire at 16:56 ...



... to the completely surprised French and sank "Bretagne" within a few minutes, with 977 French sailors drowning ...:



Dive bombers launched by HMS "Ark Royal" also intervene in the attack ...:



The completely one-sided battle continues for a quarter of an hour - afterwards the battleships "Dunkerque" and "Provence" are out of action and were steered into the shallow water to prevent sinking ....:







The destroyer "Mogador" is severely damaged ...



... and is also set on the ground.

When the British admiral orders a ceasefire to enable the French to hand over an honorable handover, "Strasbourg" seizes this opportunity, escapes through the port exit with six destroyers and can flee to Toulon ...:



The only larger French ship that survives the bombardment with virtually no damage is the "Commandant Teste".

The commander coldly waits for the darkness to fall - and can also escape to Toulon with his ship.

With this action, called "Operation Catapult" by the British, most of the French fleet has been eliminated as a power factor.

At the same time, the "Operation Grasp" is running, in which all French ships in British waters are hijacked and confiscated.

Depending on the source, between 1,147 and 1,300 French sailors died in the attack in Mers-el-Kébir, 351 to 400 were wounded.

Six British planes were shot down by French anti-aircraft guns.

What is almost unknown:

The French bombed the British naval base Gibraltar in retaliation on September 24 and 25, 1940, but caused only minor damage ...:



When the German Wehrmacht occupisd the part of France that had not been occupied until after the armistice in November 1942, the French fleet sank itself in the port of Toulon.



Among them are the "Strasbourg" escaped in Mers-el-Kebir...



...and the "Commandant Teste"...:

 

[Nap]

Hi Martin

now that is something I had no idea about British ships sinking French one's !

Nap

 

[Martin64]

Hi Martin

now that is something I had no idea about British ships sinking French one's !

Nap

from the collection of the Imperial War Museum - poster of the Vichy-regime ("Remember Oran"):


Cheers, Martin

 

[Tecumsea]

I think you have just screwed up our Brexit Deal Martin..

Keith

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Thx to you, mates!

I was completely new to the fact that the French bombed Gibraltar several times in revenge ...

Anyway: The history has many interesting details for us ...

@Keith: Concerning the Brexit:May we then occupy the Channel Islands again ...?





Cheers

 

[MCPWilk]

It was so unnecessary, but the Royal nNvy had little alternative once the French had surrendered and the Vichy government was in being. The risk of the capital ships falling into Nazi hands was just too great. What is not commonly known is that prior to the fall of Fraance, Churchill proposed that France and the UK formally unite and fight on from the UK. This was dismissed out of hand by the French Government......................