Great Britain managed to destroy or capture some French ships that were not of combat value.
| Admiral James Somerville | Admiral Marseille-Bruno Jensul |
Prerequisites
According to Article 8 of the Franco-German Cessation of Hostilities Agreement concluded at the end of June 1940, the French fleet was to arrive at the points determined by the command of the Kriegsmarine, and there, under the control of German or Italian representatives, disarm the ships and demobilize the teams. Despite the fact that the Vichy government, headed by Marshal Petain and the commander of the fleet, Admiral Darlan, repeatedly stated that Germany would not get a single ship, the British government considered the possibility of them falling into the hands of the Germans. The ships of the fourth largest fleet in the world with German crews on board (or after the French crews went over to the German side) could no doubt pose a great threat to the English fleet.
The British command was especially concerned about the fate of the ships in the following ports:
- Mers el Kebir (2 new battlecruisers Dunkirk and Strasbourg, 2 old battleships, 6 destroyers, a seaplane carrier and several submarines)
- Casablanca (unfinished new battleship "Jean Bar")
- Martinique (aircraft carrier Bearn and two light cruisers)
As a result, the British government decided to take very risky measures.
Operation progress
Portsmouth and Plymouth
On the night of July 3, 1940, the British attempted to capture French ships in British ports. The attack was so unexpected that only the crew of the Surcouf submarine, which was in Portsmouth, managed to provide armed resistance to the British, and a French midshipman, two British officers and a sailor were killed. Other ships captured were the obsolete dreadnoughts Paris and Courbet, two destroyers, eight torpedo boats and five submarines.
The French crews of the ships were forcibly beached and interned "not without bloody incidents". Some of the crews of the captured ships were subsequently sent to France, while the rest were replenished with the teams of small and light ships operating as part of the Free French forces under the command of General de Gaulle. Some French refused to join the Free French Navy because of the pro-English nature of this "government-in-exile".
Alexandria
French Navy bases in Africa
In the port of Alexandria, the crews of the old battleship Lorian, four cruisers and several destroyers agreed not to leave their ships temporarily.
Oran and Mers el Kebir
In order to neutralize the squadron located in the unfinished naval base of Mers el-Kebir (near the Algerian port of Oran), the British government sent a squadron there from the battleships Hood, Valient and Resolution, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal ”, two cruisers and 11 destroyers under the command of Admiral Somerville.
On July 3, the commander of the French squadron, Vice Admiral Gensul, was presented with an ultimatum in which the British demanded that French ships either proceed to English ports for further action as part of the Free French forces, or, observing the requirements of the armistice agreement, which prohibited the participation of the French Navy in actions against Germany and Italy, moved to French ports in the West Indies, or were flooded. Otherwise, the British reserved the right to "use any means to prevent the seizure of ships by the German side."
On the same morning, Jensul received a German ultimatum related to the capture of French ships in English ports, which read:
Or the return of all ships from England or a complete revision of the terms of the truce
In addition, even before the end of the negotiations, the British Swordfish torpedo bombers, supported by Skue carrier-based fighters, set up a minefield so that French ships could not go to sea. At the same time, one of the cover fighters was shot down by Curtiss P-36 aircraft from French air transport, two crew members were killed. None of the torpedo bombers was lost.
The French commander rejected the ultimatum, considering its terms humiliating. He stated that since he had no right to surrender his ships without an order from the French Admiralty, and he could sink them according to the order of Admiral Darlan that remained in force only in case of danger of being captured by the Germans or Italians, all that remained was to fight: the French would respond to force with force. This was conveyed to Churchill, and at 18:25 (London time, or 17:25 local time), in anticipation of the expiration of the ultimatum, the Prime Minister's order was transmitted to Admiral Somerville: "French ships must either accept our terms, or sink themselves or be sunk by you before dark."
However, Somerville opened fire as early as 16:54, without waiting for orders or for the expiration of the ultimatum, in order to maintain surprise. The French did not expect such a development of events at all, as de Gaulle later wrote:
... The ships in Oran were not in a position to fight. They were at anchor, having no possibility of maneuver or dispersal ... Our ships gave the English ships the opportunity to fire the first volleys, which, as you know, at sea are of decisive importance at such a distance. The French ships were not destroyed in a fair fight.
Somerville's squadron in the wake formation was 14 km north-north-west of Mers El-Kebir, course - 70, speed - 20 knots. A minute and a half after the first English salvo, the French battleships at anchor returned fire. Admiral Jensul, not intending to fight at anchor, ordered them to line up in a wake column in the following order: Strasbourg, Dunkirk, Provence, Brittany. Destroyers and other ships had to break through on their own - according to their ability. The Strasbourg, whose stern mooring lines and anchor chain had been given up even before the first English salvo, began to move immediately. At 17:10, Captain 1st Rank Louis Collins brought his battleship to the main fairway and headed for the sea at a 15-knot course. All 6 destroyers left with him.
The Dunkirk was the first of the French ships to open fire. When the first salvo of the British covered the port pier, the mooring lines were already given up on the Dunkirk and the stern chain was poisoned. At 17:00, the battleship opened fire, at the same time she received the first hit of a 381-mm projectile from the battlecruiser Hood. The shell hit the stern and, passing through the hangar and non-commissioned officers' cabins, exited through the side plating 2.5 meters below the waterline. This projectile did not detonate because the thin plates it pierced were not enough to cock the fuse. However, in its movement through Dunkirk, it interrupted part of the port side electrical wiring, disabled the crane motors for lifting seaplanes and caused the flooding of the port side fuel tank. The return fire was quick and accurate, although distance determination was difficult due to the terrain and being between the Dunkirk and the British fort Santon.
The explosion of the battleship Brittany
At 17:03, the Provence received the first hit, which caused a fire and a large leak. To avoid flooding, the battleship had to stick her bow to the shore at a depth of nine meters. At 17:07 a fire engulfed the old battleship Brittany. Two minutes later, the ship began to capsize and suddenly exploded, killing 997 people.
The Dunkirk, entering the fairway with a 12-knot course, was hit by a volley of three 381-mm shells. The first one hit the roof of the second main battery turret above the port of the right outer gun, strongly pressing the armor. Most of the projectile ricocheted and fell to the ground about 2,000 meters from the ship. A piece of armor or part of a projectile hit the loading tray inside the right half-turret, igniting the powder cartridges being unloaded. All the servants of the half-tower died in smoke and flames, but the left half-tower continued to operate - the armored partition isolated the damage.
The second shell hit next to the two-gun 130-mm starboard turret, closer to the center of the ship from the edge of the 225-mm belt and pierced the 115-mm armored deck. The projectile severely damaged the reloading compartment of the tower, blocking the supply of ammunition. Continuing its movement towards the center of the ship, it broke through two anti-shatter bulkheads and exploded in the air conditioning and fan compartment. The compartment was completely destroyed, all its personnel were killed or seriously injured. In the meantime, several cartridge cases caught fire in the starboard reloading compartment and several 130-mm shells loaded into the elevator exploded. And here all the servants were killed. The explosion also occurred at the air duct to the forward engine room. Hot gases, flames and thick clouds of yellow smoke penetrated the compartment through the armor grille in the lower armored deck, where 20 people died and only ten managed to escape, and all the mechanisms failed. This hit turned out to be very serious, as it led to a power outage due to which the fire control system failed. The intact nose turret had to continue firing under local control.
The third shell fell into the water next to the starboard side a little further aft from the second one, dived under the 225-mm belt and pierced all the structures between the skin and the anti-torpedo bulkhead, upon impact with which it exploded. Its trajectory in the hull passed in the area of the second boiler room and the first engine room, where the outer shafts were located. The explosion destroyed the lower armored deck throughout these compartments, the armored bevel over the fuel tank, the anti-torpedo bulkhead and the starboard tunnel for cables and pipelines. The shell fragments caused a fire in the right boiler of the second boiler room, damaged several valves on the pipelines and broke the main steam pipeline between the boiler and the turbine unit. The escaping superheated steam with a temperature of 350 degrees caused fatal burns to the personnel of the boiler room, who were standing in open places.
At Dunkirk, after these hits, only the third boiler room and the second engine room continued to operate, serving the internal shafts, which gave a speed of no more than 20 knots. Damage to the starboard cables caused a brief interruption in the power supply to the stern until the port side network was turned on. I had to switch to manual steering. With the failure of one of the main substations, bow emergency diesel generators were turned on. The emergency lighting came on, the bow tower continued to drive quite frequent fire by Hood. In total, before receiving the ceasefire order at 17.10, Dunkirk fired 40 330-mm shells at the British flagship, the volleys of which fell very tightly.
Damaged destroyer "Mogador"
The destroyer Mogador, leaving the harbor, was hit by a 381-mm projectile in the stern. From this, the depth charges located there detonated and the stern of the destroyer was torn off almost along the bulkhead of the aft engine room. Nevertheless, he was able to run aground and, with the help of small ships approaching from Oran, began to extinguish the fire. The British, satisfied with the sinking of one and the damage of three ships, turned to the west and put up a smoke screen.
French destroyers attacked the English submarine Proteus, preventing her from attacking the Strasbourg. The Strasbourg itself opened heavy fire on the English destroyer Wrestler, which was guarding the exit from the harbor, forcing it to quickly retreat under the cover of a smoke screen. French ships began to develop full speed. At Cape Canastel they were joined by six more destroyers from Oran. The Strasbourg, which was breaking through, was attacked by torpedo bombers from the Ark Royal. Two Swordfish aircraft and one Skue were shot down, their crews were then picked up by the English destroyer Wrestler. At 18:43, the cruisers Arethusa and Enterprise, led by the battlecruiser Hood, began pursuing the French ships that had broken through, but at 20:20 the chase was stopped, since the British ships were not ready for a night battle, especially since they were reports of destroyers approaching from Oran. After withstanding another air raid at 20:55, and rounding the southern tip of Sardinia, Strasbourg arrived in Toulon on 4 July. During the transition, an accident occurred in one of the boiler rooms. As a result, five people died, and the ship was forced to reduce speed from 25 to 20 knots.
The Dunkirk, which remained at Mers-el-Kébir, entered the harbor of Saint-André, where Fort Santon and the countryside could provide some protection from British artillery fire. The ship was run aground, the evacuation of unnecessary personnel immediately began, and 400 people were left on board to carry out repairs. On July 4, Admiral Esteva, commander of naval forces in North Africa, issued a communiqué stating that
the damage to the Dunkirk is minor and will be repaired quickly.
This announcement prompted a swift response from the Royal Navy. Three days after the battle, on July 6, 1940, the Dunkirk, which was aground, was attacked by torpedo bombers from the Ark Royal, two torpedoes hit the guard stationed near the side and caused the detonation of the depth charges on it. The strongest explosion literally tore the starboard side of the ship in a 40-meter space. A temporary plaster was put on the hole, and on August 8 the Dunkirk was dragged into free water. Subsequently, on February 19, 1942, Dunkirk made the transition to Toulon.
Then the British battleships opened fire. The French ship was first damaged by 381-mm shells from the battleships Barkhem and Resolution, and then there was an explosion in the main battery turret. Satisfied with this result, the British withdrew.
Martinique
Operation results
After attacking the French ships in their bases, the Vichy government broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain. This operation complicated Anglo-French relations for many years.
The British failed to destroy the latest battleships "Strasbourg", "Dunkirk" and "Jean Bar", while the dreadnoughts of the First World War were no longer of combat value. After repairing the damage, Dunkirk moved from Mers el Kebir to Toulon. Until 1942, the German command made no attempts to take possession of the French ships. When within the
English battleships Hood (left) and Valiant under return fire from the French battleship Dunkirk or Provence off Mers-el-Kebir. Operation "Catapult" July 3, 1940, around 17.00.
Operation Catapult- the general name of a series of operations to capture and destroy French ships in the English and colonial ports of the KVMF and Great Britain during the Second World War. The operation was carried out after the surrender of France, to prevent ships from falling under German control. The main episode of the operation was the attack by the British Navy of the French squadron in the port of Mers-el-Kebir on July 3, 1940.
According to article 8 of the Franco-German agreement on the cessation of hostilities, concluded at the end of June 1940, the French fleet was to arrive at the points determined by the command of the Kriegsmarine, and there, under the control of German or Italian representatives, disarm the ships and demobilize the teams. Despite the fact that the Vichy government, headed by Marshal Petain and the commander of the fleet, Admiral Darlan, repeatedly stated that Germany would not get a single ship, the British government considered the possibility of them falling into the hands of the Germans. The ships of the fourth largest fleet in the world with German crews on board (or after the French crews went over to the German side) could no doubt pose a great threat to the English fleet.
The British command was especially worried about the fate of the ships located in the following ports: Mers-el-Kebir (2 new battlecruisers Dunkirk and Strasbourg, 2 old battleships, 6 destroyers, a hydro-aircraft carrier and several submarines), Algiers (6 light cruisers) , Casablanca (unfinished new battleship Jean Bar), Toulon (4 heavy cruisers), Dakar (new battleship Richelieu), Martinique (aircraft carrier Bearn and two light cruisers). As a result, the British government decided to take very risky measures.
Battleship "Strasbourg" under the fire of British artillery
With France out of the fight, the English fleet was able to cope with the combined naval forces of Germany and Italy. But the British, not without reason, feared that modern and powerful French ships could fall into the hands of the enemy and be used against them. After all, apart from Compound “X” neutralized in Alexandria and several cruisers, destroyers, the aircraft carrier “Bearn” and small ships scattered around the world, only two very old battleships “Paris” and “Courbet” found refuge in English ports. 2 super destroyers (leaders), 8 destroyers, 7 submarines and other trifles - no more than a tenth of the French fleet, judging by displacement, and complete insignificance, judging by their real strength. As early as June 17, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet, Admiral Dudley Pound, reported to Prime Minister W. Churchill that in Gibraltar, under the command of Vice Admiral James Somerville, Compound "H" was concentrated, led by the battle cruiser "Hood" and the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal", which was supposed to follow for the movements of the French fleet.
When the armistice became a fait accompli, Somerville was ordered to neutralize the French ships that posed the greatest potential threat in the ports of North Africa. The operation was called "Catapult".
Portsmouth and Plymouth
On the night of July 3, 1940, the British attempted to capture French ships in British ports. The attack was so unexpected that only the crew of the Surkuf submarine, which was in Portsmouth, managed to provide armed resistance to the British, and a French midshipman, two British officers and a sailor were killed. Other ships captured were the obsolete dreadnoughts Paris and Courbet, two destroyers, eight torpedo boats and five submarines. The French crews of the ships were forcibly beached and interned "not without bloody incidents". Some of the crews of the captured ships were later sent to France, while the rest were added to the teams of small and light ships operating as part of the Free French forces under the command of General de Gaulle. Many Frenchmen refused to join the Free French Navy because of the pro-British nature of this "government in exile".
Alexandria
In the port of Alexandria, the crews of the old battleship Lorian, four cruisers and several destroyers agreed not to leave their ships temporarily.
The explosion of the battleship Brittany
Oran and Mers el Kebir
In Sommerville's ultimatum. Written on behalf of "His Majesty's Government", after reminders of the joint military service, the perfidy of the Germans and the previous agreement of 18 June between the governments of Britain and France that, before capitulating on land, the French fleet would join the British or be scuttled, the French commander of naval forces in Mers el-Kebir and Oran were offered a choice of four options for action:
1) go to sea and join the British fleet to continue the fight until victory over Germany and Italy;
2) go to sea with reduced crews to go to British ports, after which the French sailors will be immediately repatriated, and the ships will be kept for France until the end of the war (full monetary compensation was offered for losses and damage);
3) in case of unwillingness to generally allow the possibility of using French ships against the Germans and Italians, so as not to violate the truce with them, go out under an English escort with reduced crews to French ports in the West Indies (for example, to Martinique) or to US ports, where ships will be disarmed and stored until the end of the war, and the crews will be repatriated;
4) in case of refusal of the first three options - to flood the ships within 6 hours.
The ultimatum ended with a phrase that should be quoted in full: “In the event of your refusal of the above, I have orders from His Majesty’s Government to use all necessary forces to prevent your ships from falling into the hands of the Germans or Italians. This, simply put, meant that the former allies would open fire to kill.
The heavy cruiser "Algerie" in the 30s was considered one of the best heavy cruisers in the world and by far the best in Europe
The first two options Zhensul rejected immediately - they directly violated the terms of the truce with the Germans. The third was also hardly considered, especially under the influence of the German ultimatum received that morning: "Either the return of all ships from England or a complete revision of the terms of the truce." At 9 o'clock, Dufay transmitted to Holland the answer of his admiral, in which he stated that, since he had no right to surrender his ships without an order from the French Admiralty, and he could sink them according to the order of Admiral Darlan that remained in force only in case of danger of capture by the Germans or Italians, it remains only to fight: the French will respond to force with force. Mobilization activities on the ships were stopped and preparations began for going to sea. It also included preparations for battle if necessary.
At 1050, the Foxhound raised the signal that if the terms of the ultimatum were not accepted, Admiral Somerville would not allow the French ships to leave the harbor. And in confirmation of this, at 12.30 British seaplanes dropped several magnetic mines on the main fairway. Naturally, this made negotiations even more difficult.
The ultimatum expired at 14:00. At 13.11, a new signal was raised on the Foxhound: “If you accept the proposals, raise a square flag on the mainmast; otherwise I open fire at 14.11. All hopes for a peaceful outcome collapsed. The complexity of the position of the French commander was also in the fact that on that day the French Admiralty was moving from Bordeaux to Vichy and there was no direct connection with Admiral Darlan. Admiral Jensoul tried to prolong the negotiations, raising in response a signal that he was waiting for the decision of his government, and a quarter of an hour later, a new signal that he was ready to receive the representative of Somerville for an honest conversation. At 1500 Captain Holland boarded the Dunkirk for talks with Admiral Jensul and his staff. The maximum that the French agreed to during a tense conversation was that they would reduce the crews, but they refused to withdraw the ships from the base. As time went on, Somerville's concern that the French would prepare for battle grew. At 4:15 p.m., while Holland and Jensoul were still trying to maintain friendly relations, a dispatch came from the British commander, ending all discussion: "If none of the proposals is accepted by 5:30 p.m. - I repeat, by 5:30 p.m. - I will be forced to sink your ships!" At 4:35 pm Holland left Dunkirk. The stage was set for the first clash between the French and the British since 1815, when the cannons of Waterloo were fired.
The hours that had passed since the appearance of the English destroyer in the harbor of Mers-el-Kebir were not in vain for the French. All ships parted pairs, the crews dispersed to combat posts. The coastal batteries that had begun to be disarmed were now ready to open fire. 42 fighters stood at the airfields, warming up the engines for the launch. All the ships in Oran were ready to go to sea, and 4 submarines were just waiting for the order to form a barrier between Capes Anguil and Falcon. Minesweepers have already cleared the fairway from English mines. An alarm was declared to all French forces in the Mediterranean, the 3rd squadron and Toulon of four heavy cruisers and 12 destroyers and six cruisers and Algeria were ordered to go to sea ready for battle and rush to connect with Admiral Jensul, about which he had to warn English.
The destroyer "Mogador" under the fire of the English squadron, leaving the harbor, was hit by an English 381-mm projectile in the stern.
And Somerville was already on a combat course. His squadron in the ranks of the wake was 14,000 meters north-north-west of Mers-el-Kebir, heading - 70, speed - 20 knots. At 16.54 (17.54 British time) the first volley was fired. Fifteen-inch shells from the Resolution fell close short of range into the pier behind which the French ships stood, covering them with a hail of stones and fragments. A minute and a half later, Provence was the first to respond, firing 340-mm shells right between the masts of the Dunkirk standing to its right - Admiral Zhensul was not at all going to fight at anchor, just a cramped harbor did not allow all ships to start moving at the same time (for this and the British counted!). The battleships were ordered to form a column in this order: Strasbourg, Dunkirk, Provence, Brittany. Super destroyers had to go to sea on their own - according to their ability. The Strasbourg, whose stern mooring lines and anchor chain had been given up even before the first shell hit the pier, began to move immediately. And as soon as he left the parking lot, a shell hit the pier, the fragments of which killed the halyards and signal yard on the ship and pierced the pipe. At 17.10 (18.10), Captain 1st Rank Louis Collins brought his battleship to the main fairway and headed for the sea with a 15-knot course. All 6 destroyers rushed behind him.
When a salvo of 381-mm shells hit the pier, the mooring lines were given up on the Dunkirk and the stern chain was poisoned. The tug, helping to weigh anchor, was forced to cut off the mooring lines when the second salvo also hit the pier. The Dunkirk commander ordered the tanks of aviation fuel to be emptied immediately, and at 1700 ordered to open fire with the main caliber. Soon 130-mm guns also came into play. Since Dunkirk was the closest ship to the British, Hood concentrated his fire on it - former partner on the hunt for German raiders. At that moment, when the French ship began to move away from its anchorage, the first shell from the "Hood" hit him in the stern and. passing through the hangar and non-commissioned officers' cabins, he went through the side plating 2.5 meters below the waterline. This projectile did not detonate because the thin plates it pierced were not enough to cock the fuse. However, in its passage through Dunkirk, it broke part of the port side electrical wiring, disabled the crane motors for lifting seaplanes and caused the port side fuel tank to flood.
The return fire was quick and accurate, although distance determination was difficult due to the terrain and being between the Dunkirk and the British fort Santon.
Around the same time, Brittany received a hit, and at 17.03 a 381-mm projectile hit Provence, which was waiting for Dunkirk to enter the fairway to follow it. A fire started in the stern of the Provence and a large leak opened. I had to stick the ship to the shore with its nose at a depth of 9 meters. By 17.07, the fire engulfed the Brittany from bow to stern, and two minutes later the old battleship began to capsize and suddenly exploded, taking the lives of 977 crew members. The rest began to be rescued from the Kommandant Test hydro-air transport, which miraculously avoided hits during the entire battle.
The Dunkirk, entering the fairway with a 12-knot course, was hit by a volley of three 381-mm shells.
After these hits, only KO No. 3 and MO No. 2 continued to operate on Dunkirk, serving the internal shafts, which gave a speed of no more than 20 knots. Damage to the starboard cables caused a brief interruption in the power supply to the stern until the port side was turned on. I had to switch to manual steering. With the failure of one of the main substations, bow emergency diesel generators were turned on. Emergency lighting came on, turret #1 continued to fire quite frequently at the Hood.
In total, before receiving the ceasefire order at 17.10 (18.10), Dunkirk fired 40 330-mm shells at the English flagship, the volleys of which fell very tightly. By this point, after 13 minutes of shooting almost motionless ships in the harbor, the situation no longer looked unpunished for the British. "Dunkirk" and coastal batteries fired intensely, which became more and more accurate, "Strasbourg" with destroyers almost went to sea. The only thing missing was the Motador, which, when leaving the harbor, slowed down to let the tugboat through, and a second later received a 381-mm projectile in the stern. From the explosion, 16 depth charges were detonated and the stern of the destroyer was torn off almost along the bulkhead of the stern MO. But he was able to stick his nose to the shore at a depth of about 6.5 meters and, with the help of small vessels approaching from Oran, began to extinguish the fire.
The French destroyer "Lion" (fr. "Lion") was scuttled on November 27, 1942 by order of the Admiralty of the Vichy regime in order to avoid the capture by Nazi Germany of the ships that were on the roadstead of the naval base of Toulon. In 1943, she was raised by the Italians, repaired and included in the Italian fleet under the name "FR-21". However, already on September 9, 1943, it was again flooded by the Italians in the port of La Spezia (La Spezia) after the capitulation of Italy
The British, satisfied with the sinking of one and the damage of three ships, turned to the west and put up a smoke screen. "Strasbourg" with five destroyers went on a breakthrough. "Lynx" and "Tiger" attacked the submarine "Proteus" with depth charges, preventing her from attacking the battleship. The Strasbourg itself opened heavy fire on the English destroyer Wrestler, which was guarding the exit from the harbor, forcing it to quickly retreat under the cover of a smoke screen. French ships began to develop full speed. At Cape Canastel they were joined by six more destroyers from Oran. To the northwest, within firing range, the English aircraft carrier Ark Royal was visible, practically defenseless against 330-mm and 130-mm shells. But the fight didn't happen. On the other hand, six Swordfish with 124-kg bombs, escorted from the deck of the Ark Royal, escorted by two Skues, attacked the Strasbourg at 17.44 (18.44). But they did not achieve hits, and with dense and accurate anti-aircraft fire, one Skue was shot down, and two Swordfish were so damaged that they fell into the sea on the way back.
Admiral Somerville decided to give chase on the flagship Hood, the only one that could catch up with the French ship. But by 19 (20) o'clock the distance between "Hood" and "Strasbourg" was 44 km and did not think to be reduced. In an attempt to reduce the speed of the French ship, Sommerville ordered the Ark Royal to attack the retreating enemy with torpedo bombers. After 40-50 minutes, the Swordfish carried out two attacks with a short interval, but all the torpedoes dropped outside the curtain of destroyers passed by. The destroyer "Pursyuvant" (from Oran) informed the battleship in advance about the sighted torpedoes and "Strasbourg" each time had time to shift the steering wheel in time. The chase had to be stopped. Moreover, the destroyers following the Hood were running out of fuel, the Valient and Resolution were in a dangerous area without an anti-submarine escort, and there were reports from everywhere that strong detachments of cruisers and destroyers were approaching from Algeria. This meant being drawn into a night battle with superior forces. Compound H returned to Gibraltar on 4 July.
"Strasbourg" continued to leave at a 25-knot course until an accident occurred in one of the boiler rooms. As a result, five people died, and the speed had to be reduced to 20 knots. After 45 minutes, the damage was repaired, and the ship again brought the speed to 25 knots. Rounding the southern tip of Sardinia to avoid new clashes with Formation "H", and on 20.10 July 4, Strasbourg, accompanied by the leaders of "Volta", "Tiger" and "Terrible" came to Toulon.
On July 4, Admiral Esteva, commander of naval forces in North Africa, issued a communiqué stating that "the damage to the Dunkirk is minor and will be quickly repaired." This ill-advised statement prompted a swift response from the Royal Navy. On the evening of July 5, Compound "H" again went to sea, leaving the low-speed "Resolution" in the base. Admiral Somerville decided, instead of conducting another artillery battle, to act quite modernly - to use aircraft from the Ark Royal aircraft carrier to attack Dunkirk, which had landed on the shore. At 05.20 on July 6, while 90 miles from Oran, Ark Royal lifted 12 Swordfish torpedo bombers, escorted by 12 Skue fighters, into the air. The torpedoes were set to a speed of 27 knots and a travel depth of about 4 meters. The air defense of Mers el Kebir was not ready to repel the attack at dawn, and only the second wave of aircraft met more intense anti-aircraft fire. And only then followed the intervention of French fighters.
Unfortunately, the commander of the Dunkirk evacuated the servants of anti-aircraft guns ashore, leaving only the personnel of the emergency parties on board. The patrol vessel "Ter Neuve" stood at the side, taking some of the crew members and the coffins with the dead on July 3. During this sad procedure, at 06.28 a raid of British aircraft began, which went on the attack in three waves. The two Swordfish of the first wave dropped their torpedoes prematurely and they exploded on impact without causing any harm. After 9 minutes, the second wave approached, but none of the three torpedoes dropped hit Dunkirk. But one torpedo hit Ter Neuve, which was just in a hurry to move away from the battleship. The explosion literally ripped the small ship in half, and the wreckage of its superstructure showered the Dunkirk. At 0650, another 6 Swordfish appeared with fighter cover. The link, which came from the starboard side, came under heavy anti-aircraft fire and was attacked by fighters. Dropped torpedoes again did not reach the target. The last group of three cars attacked from the port side, This time two torpedoes rushed to the Dunkirk. One hit the Estrel tug, which was about 70 meters from the battleship, and literally blew it off the surface of the water. The second, apparently with a faulty depth gauge, passed under the keel of the Dunkirk and, hitting the aft part of the wreckage of the Ter Neuve, caused the detonation of forty-two 100-kilogram depth charges, despite the absence of fuses in them. The consequences of the explosion were terrible. A hole about 40 meters long was formed in the starboard plating. Several belt armor plates were displaced, and water filled the side protection system. The steel plate above the armor belt was torn off by the force of the explosion and thrown onto the deck, burying several people under it. The anti-torpedo bulkhead was detached from its mount for 40 meters, other watertight bulkheads were torn or deformed. There was a strong roll to starboard and the ship settled with its nose so that the water rose above the armor belt. The compartments behind the damaged bulkhead were flooded with salt water and liquid fuel. As a result of this attack and the previous battle on the Dunkirk, 210 people were killed. There is no doubt that if the ship were in deep water, such an explosion would lead to its quick death.
A temporary plaster was put on the hole and on August 8 Dunkirk was dragged into free water. Repair work progressed very slowly. And where were the French in a hurry? Only on February 19, 1942, Dunkirk went to sea in complete secrecy. When the workers arrived in the morning, they saw their tools neatly stacked on the embankment and ... nothing more. At 23.00 the next day, the ship reached Toulon, carrying on board some of the scaffolding from Mers-el-Kebir.
English ships were not damaged in this operation. But they hardly fulfilled their task. All modern French ships survived and took refuge in their bases. That is, the danger that, from the point of view of the British Admiralty and the government, existed from the side of the former allied fleet, remained. In general, these fears seem somewhat far-fetched. Did the British consider themselves stupider than the Germans? After all, the Germans were able in 1919 to flood their fleet interned in the British base of Scapa Flow. But then, far from full crews remained on their disarmed ships, the war in Europe ended a year ago, and the British Royal Navy completely controlled the situation on the seas. Why, then, could it be expected that the Germans, who, moreover, did not have a strong fleet, would be able to prevent the French from sinking their ships in their own bases? Most likely, the reason that forced the British to treat their former ally so cruelly was something else ...
Burning and sunken French warships, photographed from an RAF aircraft the day after being sunk by their crews at the quay walls in Toulon
On November 8, 1942, the Allies landed in North Africa and a few days later the French garrisons ceased resistance. Surrendered to the allies and all the ships that were on the Atlantic coast of Africa. In retaliation, Hitler ordered the occupation of southern France, although this was in violation of the terms of the 1940 armistice. At dawn on November 27, Toulon entered german tanks.
In this French naval base at that time there were about 80 warships, and the most modern and powerful, collected from all over the Mediterranean - more than half of the tonnage of the fleet. The main striking force, the High Seas Fleet of Admiral de Laborde, consisted of the flagship battleship Strasbourg, the heavy cruisers Algiers, Dupleix and Colbert, the cruisers Marseillaise and Jean de Vienne, 10 leaders and 3 destroyers. The commander of the Toulon Naval District, Vice Admiral Marcus, had under his command the battleship Provence, the seaplane carrier Commandant Test, two destroyers, 4 destroyers and 10 submarines. The remaining ships (the damaged Dunkirk, the heavy cruiser Foch, the light La Galissoniere, 8 leaders, 6 destroyers and 10 submarines) were disarmed under the terms of the armistice and had only part of the crew on board.
But Toulon was crowded not only with sailors. Huge wave of refugees driven by by the German army, flooded the city, making it difficult to organize defenses and creating a mass of rumors that caused panic. The army regiments that came to the aid of the base garrison were strongly opposed to the Germans, but the naval command was more worried about the possibility of a repetition of Mers el-Kebir by the Allies, who brought powerful squadrons into the Mediterranean. In general, we decided to prepare for the defense of the base from everyone and flood the ships both in case of the threat of their capture by the Germans and the Allies.
At the same time, two German tank columns entered Toulon, one from the west, the other from the east. The first had the task of capturing the main shipyards and piers of the base, where the largest ships stood, the other was the command post of the district commandant and the Murillon shipyard.
Admiral de Laborde was on his flagship when word arrived at 0520 that the shipyard of Murillon had already been captured. Five minutes later, German tanks blew up the north gate of the base. Admiral de Laborde immediately radioed a general order for the fleet to sink immediately. The radio operators repeated it continuously, and the signalmen raised flags on the halyards: “Sink! Get drowned! Get drowned!
It was still dark and the German tanks got lost in the labyrinths of warehouses and docks of a huge base. Only at about 6 o'clock one of them appeared at the Milhod piers, where the Strasbourg and three cruisers were moored. The flagship had already moved away from the wall, the crew was preparing to leave the ship. Trying to do at least something, the tank commander ordered the cannon to be fired at the battleship (the Germans claimed that the shot happened by accident). A shell hit one of the 130 mm turrets, killing an officer and injuring several sailors who were setting demolition charges at the guns. Immediately, anti-aircraft guns returned fire, but the admiral ordered him to stop.
It was still dark. A German infantryman approached the edge of the pier and shouted at Strasbourg: "Admiral, my commander says you must surrender your ship intact."
De Laborde yelled back, "It's already sunk."
A discussion ensued on the shore. German and the voice came again:
"Admiral! My commander conveys his deepest respect to you!”
In the meantime, the ship's commander, having made sure that the kingstones in the engine rooms were open and there were no people left in the lower decks, gave a signal with a siren for execution. Immediately "Strasbourg" was surrounded by explosions - guns exploded one after another. Internal explosions caused the skin to swell, and the gaps and gaps formed between its sheets accelerated the flow of water into the huge hull. Soon the ship sat on the bottom of the harbor on an even keel, plunging 2 meters into the silt. The upper deck was 4 meters under water. Oil spilled from broken tanks.
Blown up by her crew and later partially dismantled French battleship Dunkirk (Dunkerque)On the heavy cruiser Algiers, the flagship of Vice Admiral Lacroix, the stern tower was blown up. The Algiers burned for two days, and the cruiser Marseillaise, which sat next to the bottom with a 30-degree list, burned for more than a week. The Colbert cruiser closest to Strasbourg began to explode when two crowds of Frenchmen who fled from it and Germans trying to get on board collided at its side. The whistle of fragments flying from everywhere, people rushed about in search of protection, illuminated by a bright flame, set on fire on the catapult of the aircraft.
On board the heavy cruiser "Duplay", moored in the Missiesi basin, the Germans managed to climb. But immediately explosions began and the ship sank with a large roll, and then was completely destroyed by the explosion of the cellars at 08.30. They were also unlucky with the battleship Provence, although it did not start flooding longer than the others, because it received a telephone message from the headquarters of the base commandant captured by the Germans: “An order has been received from Monsieur Laval (Prime Minister of the Vichy government) that the incident has been settled.” When they realized that this was a provocation, the crew did everything possible so that the enemy did not get the ship. The maximum that the Germans could do, who managed to climb the tilted deck leaving from under their feet, was to declare prisoners of war the Provence officers and headquarters officials, led by the commander of the division, Rear Admiral Marcel Jarry.
Standing in the dock and having almost no crew, the Dunkirk was more difficult to flood. On the ship, they opened everything that could only let water into the hull, and then opened the dock gates. But it was easier to drain the dock than to raise the ship lying at the bottom. Therefore, everything that could be of interest was destroyed at Dunkirk: guns, turbines, rangefinders, radio equipment and optical instruments, control posts and entire superstructures were blown up. This ship never sailed again.
On June 18, 1940, in Bordeaux, the commander of the French fleet, Admiral Darlan, his assistant, Admiral Ofan, and a number of other senior naval officers gave their word to the representatives of the British fleet that they would never allow the capture of French ships by the Germans. They fulfilled their promise by sinking 77 of the most modern and powerful ships in Toulon: 3 battleships (Strasbourg, Provence, Dunkirk2), 7 cruisers, 32 destroyers of all classes, 16 submarines, Commandant Test hydro-air transport, 18 patrol and smaller ships.
Dakar
On July 8, 1940, the British squadron attacked French ships in Dakar, including the battleship Richelieu, which had just entered service. A torpedo dropped by one of the Hermes aircraft carrier exploded under the bottom of the battleship and caused severe damage, the ship's keel was bent over 25 meters. Then the British battleships opened fire. The French ship was first damaged by 381-mm shells from the battleships Barkhem and Resolution, and then there was an explosion in the main battery turret. Satisfied with this result, the British withdrew.
The French battleship "Bretagne" ("Bretagne", entered service in 1915) was sunk in Mers-el-Kebir during the operation "Catapult" by the English fleet.
Operation results
After attacking the French ships in their bases, the Vichy government broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain. This operation complicated Anglo-French relations for many years. The British failed to destroy the latest battleships "Strasbourg", "Dunkirk" and "Jean Bar", while the dreadnoughts of the First World War were no longer of combat value. After repairing the damage, Dunkirk moved from Mers-el-Kebir to Toulon. Until 1942, the German command made no attempts to take possession of the French ships. When is November 26 German troops entered Toulon and tried to capture French ships, faithful French sailors, at the first threat of their fleet being captured by the Germans, sank their ships. In November 1940, US President Roosevelt approached the head of the French government, Marshal Pétain, with a proposal to sell the unfit battleships Jean Bar and Richelieu, which were in Africa, but was refused. Only after the "Toulon tragedy" did the French agree to give one battleship to the Allies.
Operation "Catapult" - the general name of a series of operations to capture and destroy the ships of the French fleet in the English and colonial ports of the Navy and Great Britain during the Second World War. The operation was carried out after the surrender of France, to prevent the ships of the fleet from falling under the control of Germany. The main episode of the operation was the attack by the British Navy of the French squadron in the port of Mers-el-Kebir near Oran (Algeria) on July 3, 1940.
Battleship "Strasbourg" under the fire of British artillery
Prerequisites
According to article 8 of the Franco-German agreement on the cessation of hostilities, concluded at the end of June 1940, the French fleet was to arrive at the points determined by the command of the Kriegsmarine, and there, under the control of German or Italian representatives, disarm the ships and demobilize the teams. Despite the fact that the Vichy government, headed by Marshal Petain and the commander of the fleet, Admiral Darlan, repeatedly stated that Germany would not get a single ship, the British government considered the possibility of them falling into the hands of the Germans. The ships of the fourth largest fleet in the world with German crews on board (or after the French crews went over to the German side) could no doubt pose a great threat to the English fleet.
The British command was especially concerned about the fate of the ships in the following ports:
Mers-el-Kebir (2 new battlecruisers Dunkirk and Strasbourg, 2 old battleships, 6 destroyers, a seaplane carrier and several submarines)
Algiers (6 light cruisers)
Casablanca (unfinished new battleship "Jean Bar")
Toulon (4 heavy cruisers)
Dakar (new battleship Richelieu)
Martinique (aircraft carrier Bearn and two light cruisers)
As a result, the British government decided to take very risky measures.
Operation progress
Portsmouth and Plymouth
On the night of July 3, 1940, the British attempted to capture French ships in British ports. The attack was so unexpected that only the crew of the Surkuf submarine, which was in Portsmouth, managed to provide armed resistance to the British, and a French midshipman, two British officers and a sailor were killed. Other ships captured were the obsolete dreadnoughts Paris and Courbet, two destroyers, eight torpedo boats and five submarines.
The French crews of the ships were forcibly beached and interned "not without bloody incidents". Some of the crews of the captured ships were later sent to France, while the rest were added to the teams of small and light ships operating as part of the Free French forces under the command of General de Gaulle. Many Frenchmen refused to join the Free French Navy because of the pro-British nature of this "government in exile".
Alexandria
French Navy bases in Africa
In the port of Alexandria, the crews of the old battleship Lorian, four cruisers and several destroyers agreed not to leave their ships temporarily.
Oran and Mers el Kebir
In order to neutralize the squadron located in the unfinished naval base of Mers el-Kebir (near the Algerian port of Oran), the British government sent a squadron there from the battleships Hood, Valient and Resolution, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal ”, two cruisers and 11 destroyers under the command of Admiral Somerville.
On July 3, the commander of the French squadron, Vice Admiral Gensul, was presented with an ultimatum in which the British demanded that the French ships either proceed to English ports for further action as part of the Free French forces, or, observing the requirements of the armistice agreement, which prohibited the participation of the French Navy in actions against Germany and Italy, moved to French ports in the West Indies, or were flooded. Otherwise, the British reserved the right to "use any means to prevent the seizure of ships by the German side."
On the same morning, Jensul received a German ultimatum related to the capture of French ships in English ports, which read:
Or the return of all ships from England or a complete revision of the terms of the truceIn addition, even before the end of the negotiations, the British Swordfish torpedo bombers, supported by Skue carrier-based fighters, set up a minefield so that French ships could not go to sea. At the same time, one of the cover fighters was shot down by Curtiss P-36 aircraft from French air transport, two crew members were killed. None of the torpedo bombers was lost.
second world war France and Great Britain started in the same camp. As with any ambitious state, there was a traditional set of economic and political contradictions between these two countries, but the common threat in the person of Germany once again rallied them. Who would have thought that just over a year after the start of the war, Britain would try to sink a significant part of the French fleet.
Defeated France: between the hammer and the anvil
On October 24, 1940, at the railway station of the town of Montoir, the hero of the First World War, the "Verdun winner", 84-year-old marshal and head of the French state Philippe Pétain met with the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. The leaders of the victorious and defeated countries sealed the results of their conversation with a handshake. Under the history of the Third Republic, which formally ceased to exist back in late June - early July 1940 (on June 22, an act of capitulation of France was signed, and on July 10, a new constitution was adopted by the country's parliament in the cabaret theater of the resort town of Vichy) this meeting was held fat line. France was turning into an authoritarian state closely linked to Nazi Germany.
A week later, on October 30, Marshal Pétain, trying to justify his act in the eyes of fellow citizens, in his address to the nation called for reconciliation and cooperation with Germany:
French people!
Last Thursday I met with the Reich Chancellor. Our meeting aroused hopes and gave rise to anxiety; I must give some clarification on this. […] I accepted the Fuhrer's invitation of my own free will. I was not subjected to any "dictatorship", any pressure from him. We have agreed on cooperation between our two countries. […] Ministers are responsible only to me. History will make its judgment on me alone. So far I have spoken to you as a father, today I speak to you as the head of the nation. Follow me! Keep your faith in eternal France!
Meeting of the head of the French state, Marshal Philippe Pétain (left) with Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler (in the foreground, right). To the right of Hitler in the background is German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
The only one of the great (both economically and militarily) powers anti-Hitler coalition, France experienced a complete defeat and occupation. At the same time, the government formed under such conditions was able not only to remain “at the helm” for more than 4 years, but also, having retained a significant part of the colonial empire, to negotiate the place of France in the new “German Europe”.
Critically evaluating the decisions of Philippe Pétain, one should not forget what events pushed France onto the dubious path of cooperation with a cruel and unprincipled aggressor. In the period from July 3 to 8, in the ports of England, Egypt, as well as several French overseas possessions, the Royal Navy of Great Britain carried out a series of operations, collectively known as the "Catapult", which greatly complicated Anglo-French relations for several years to come. . Immediately after it, the Vichy government of France broke off diplomatic relations with Britain, and a further roll foreign policy France towards Germany was predetermined.
Only Operation Catapult fighting armies of the allies against Vichy France, unfortunately, are far from being exhausted. Over the course of several years, a whole series of military clashes took place, even some of which, in terms of their scale, were drawn to a full-scale local war. Let's try to figure out what justified Britain's decision to escalate a direct conflict with France.
"Mistress of the Seas" is nervous
The Vichy government of France, except for the central and southern parts of the metropolis, from the middle of 1940, with certain reservations, controlled almost completely vast colonial possessions in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The reservations here mean that some possessions in Equatorial Africa and South Asia (Pondicherry and other cities of French India) quickly came under the control of the allies and de Gaulle's "Free France", and Indochina, remaining legally French, since the summer of 1940 year, in fact, turned into a Franco-Japanese co-ownership. Especially strong were the positions of the Vichy regime in Northern and West Africa.
The land army of France in the war was almost completely defeated. But the naval forces, a significant part of which were located outside the metropolis, as well as in the ports of the Mediterranean coast, not occupied by Germany, retained most of their combat potential. The fourth largest fleet in the world after the defeat of France in the war had rather unclear prospects. According to article 8 of the German-French agreement on the cessation of hostilities, his ships were required to report to their pre-war ports of registry. For example, the most modern French battleships would return to German-occupied Brest. Then, under the control of German and Italian representatives, the court was to be disarmed and the teams demobilized.
On June 29, the French were able to "push through" in negotiations with the Italians and Germans the condition according to which the disarmament and demobilization of the crews still had to be carried out in African ports and not occupied Toulon. Unfortunately, the British Admiralty, due to communication with the French naval forces, which was difficult for objective reasons, did not receive timely information about this small diplomatic victory of the Vichy government. Perhaps if this information had been received in time, the fatal Catapult would not have fired four days later.
If the agreement on the cessation of hostilities is interpreted literally, then it turned out that the French ships would not go to Germany. However, the British government reasonably believed that Germany could approach the interpretation of such an agreement quite "creatively". In any case, had Germany wished to "privatize" the French ships that had arrived for disarmament in France, the French would hardly have been able to prevent this.
According to some French historians, another source of Anglo-French complications was different meanings the words "control", which Germany was supposed to exercise over French ships under the armistice agreement, in French and English. In French, "control" has a meaning close to the Russian "observation", and in English this word means "management".
Great Britain, by the middle of 1940, almost single-handedly fighting against Germany and its allies, had several strong trump cards that allowed it to survive in this struggle. Insular position and significantly stronger than that of Germany, Navy guaranteed the relative calm of the metropolis. Extensive colonial possessions made it possible to supply the country's economy with the necessary resources, but sustainable supply was also possible only in the case of confident superiority at sea. If a good fleet of France fell into the hands of the Germans, then the fleets of the Axis countries in the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic (including Italian) would feel much more confident.
Relatively simply, the British resolved the issue with the French ships that were at the time of the defeat of France in the ports of England. On July 3, in Portsmouth, only the crew of the Surkuf submarine offered armed resistance when the ship was captured by the British Marines. Two obsolete battleships, two destroyers, five submarines and eight torpedo boats surrendered to the boarding parties without a fight. Also, the taking under English control and the disarmament of French ships (the old battleship Lorian, 4 cruisers and several destroyers) in Egyptian Alexandria.
But the ships that were in the ports controlled by the Vichy government were also of great concern to the British government.
In Algiers, the following vessels were located at three naval bases: in Mers-el-Kebir - 2 old battleships ("Provence" and "Brittany"), two new battlecruisers ("Dunkirk" and "Strasbourg"), the seaplane carrier "Commandant Test ", 6 leaders and a number of auxiliary ships; nearby, in Oran - 9 destroyers, 6 submarines, patrol ships and minesweepers; in the city of Algiers - 6 light cruisers and 4 leaders.
Also, from large ships in Africa, there were two more new French battleships of the same type - in Dakar (Senegal) - "Richelieu", and in the French part of Morocco, in Casablanca - the same type of unfinished "Jean Bar".
In Toulon, on the Mediterranean coast of France, 4 heavy cruisers were based. In America, on Guadeloupe, with two light cruisers (Emile Bertin and training Jeanne d'Arc), there was an aircraft carrier Bearn built from the hull of an unfinished Normandy-class battleship. In the initial period of World War II, this ship led the search formation "L" of the French and British fleets, which was looking for the pocket battleship Kriegsmarine Graf Spee, and after the surrender of France, went to the shores of French possessions in the New World.
Volley "Catapult"
To neutralize the threat of the transition of the French fleet in one form or another under the control of Germany, the British planned a synchronous (the effect of surprise was needed everywhere) operation in the space from Guadeloupe to Alexandria. The attack on French ships around the world began on July 3, and only belatedly in Dakar on the 8th. A series of operations received the general name "Catapult".
The events of July 3 in England and Egypt have been mentioned above. The situation in the French West Indies was resolved just as bloodlessly: thanks to the personal intervention of the then-neutral US President Franklin Roosevelt, the attack of the British fleet on French ships did not take place. Later, under an agreement dated May 1, 1942 between the Vichy government and the United States, these ships were disarmed.
In North Africa on July 3, 1940, events developed in a completely different scenario. As early as June 24, Sir Dudley North, head of the British naval station in Gibraltar, met on board the Dunkirk with the French Admiral Jansoul. Zhansul refused North's proposal to go over to the side of Great Britain and continue the war with Germany, saying that he would only obey the orders of the French (Vichy) government. At the same time, Admiral Zhansul assured the British that not a single French ship would fall into the hands of the Germans.
Before the surrender of France, the Western Mediterranean was the area of responsibility of the French fleet for the Allies, but now the British urgently formed a new “H” formation in Gibraltar to operate in this region. It was based on the battlecruiser Hood and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal. By June 30, the formation of a new formation, which included, in addition to Hood and Ark Royal, two old battleships, two light cruisers, eleven destroyers and two submarines, was completed. These forces took part in the attack on the French on 3 July.
The French forces in Mers-el-Kebir (a base in the western part of the Gulf of Orange), in addition to ships, included several coastal batteries with guns with a caliber of 75 to 240 millimeters. The base aviation of the French had, according to various sources, from 42 to 50 serviceable Hawk-75 and M.S.406 fighters.
Vice Admiral James Somerville, in command of Force H until the last moment, tried to dissuade the Admiralty from attacking the French ships. The Admiralty intended to offer Zhansul 4 options:
- continuation of the war on the side of the British;
- repatriation in a British port;
- disarmament under British supervision;
- sinking ships within 6 hours.
Somerville achieved that another option was added to this list, according to which the French were given the opportunity to withdraw to the French West Indies or to neutral US ports at that time, where the ships were to be demilitarized and transferred under American control (which happened in reality with ships in Guadeloupe).
For negotiations with Jeansoul Somerville chose the former naval attache in Paris, Captain Holland, who had many friendly ties among French officers and knew perfectly French. Despite the efforts of the captain, the morning negotiations on July 3 failed, including for the reason that on the eve of Admiral Zhansul received information about Germany's demand to withdraw all French ships from English ports to France under the threat of a truce. At 12:30 British Swordfish torpedo bombers from the Ark Royal dropped magnetic mines as they exited the net; the French fleet was locked up. The French battleships stood at the mooring wall astern to the sea, because of which the Dunkirk and Strasbourg were deprived of the opportunity to fire with their main caliber: both towers of each ship were located in the bow.
At 13:10 Somerville informed the French that if they refused to accept the ultimatum, he would open fire at 14:00. However, there was still a chance for a peaceful solution. Zhansul, in a response message, conveyed that he agreed not to take the ships to sea and would wait for the answer of the French government to the ultimatum put forward. At 14:00, the British did not open fire, limiting themselves to the fact that at half past two they dropped magnetic mines at the exit from the harbor of Oran.
At 15:00, Captain Holland again began negotiations with the French. Everything went to the fact that the French and the British would reach at least a temporary "gentlemen's agreement", which would consolidate the existing status quo: the French would not leave Mer-el-Kebir, and the British would no longer take hostile actions. But here chance intervened in the course of the negotiations.
The British Admiralty intercepted orders from the French Naval Ministry, according to which the cruiser squadrons in Algiers and Toulon were ordered to assemble in Oran and provide assistance to Jansul's blockaded ships. Given the fact that the use of aviation by France was prohibited by the armistice agreement with Germany, the German commission was warned about the need to use aircraft in North Africa. As expected, the Germans did not mind. Jansul received orders to respond force to force as early as 13:05, and when the Admiralty learned of this, it immediately radioed Somerville: “ Do the "deed" quickly or you'll have to deal with French reinforcements».
At 16:15, Somerville for the second time conveyed to Jansoul the threat to sink his ships. This time, time "X" was scheduled for 17:30.
Scheme of the initial phase of the battle in the harbor of Mers-el-Kebir on July 3, 1940
By this time, the French ships were already ready for battle and at 16:40 they received an order to leave the harbor. At 16:50, 3 French reconnaissance aircraft were lifted into the air, fighters were also ready to take off. At 16:54 the first British salvo was fired. The battle took place in extremely difficult conditions for the French. Immobile at the beginning, the French ships were a very convenient target for firing from 90 cable British gunners. The silhouettes of the French ships overlapped each other. On the one hand, this prevented them from firing on their own, on the other hand, the British "flights" often hit ships behind the intended target.
The ensuing approximately hour-long battle with the use of aviation ended with the sinking of one old French battleship Brittany, damage to the new Dunkirk and the second old battleship, as well as the successful breakthrough to Toulon of the practically intact Strasbourg. At the same time, the damage to Dunkirk turned out to be not critical, and early in the morning on July 6, the British launched an air raid in order to “finish off” it. As a result, the battleship received serious damage and was out of action until July 1941, when her partial repairs were completed at the limited capacity of Oran.
In tactical terms, the battle at Mers el Kebir was undoubtedly won by the British. Their cumulative losses amounted to only six aircraft, and most of the crews were saved. Only 2 crew members of the Skewey carrier-based aircraft were killed. The French in operations on July 3 and 6 lost, according to official figures, 1297 people. The battleship Brittany was lost forever, as were several smaller ships.
But on a strategic scale, the attack on Mers el-Kebir, as the bloodiest of the Catapult series of operations for the British, was a failure. The immediate task of destroying battleships was only partially completed. Diplomatic relations between Britain and Vichy France were immediately severed, and the French fleet, which was completely pro-English, began to consider the British adversaries.
The last episode of the Catapult was the attack by the British squadron on July 8, 1940 on the battleship Richelieu in Dakar. The French battleship was damaged by a torpedo dropped from an aircraft (the Hermes aircraft carrier was part of the attacking squadron), and after shelling the Resolution and Barchem battleships with 381-mm guns on the Richelieu, the main caliber turret exploded.
deplorable results
As a result, Germany turned out to be the direct beneficiary of Operation Catapult. Relations between Britain and France were so damaged that the latter's naval ministry gave orders to attack any British ships, wherever they were. French ships from North Africa were transferred to Europe, to Toulon, which was relatively close to the German occupation zone. According to the memoirs of General de Gaulle, the influx of volunteers in armed forces The "Free French" was drastically reduced immediately after the events in Mers-el-Kebir.
But even Pétain's collaborationist government eventually decided that France had enough problems in connection with the occupation of half the country by Germany, and already on July 5 (even before the Dunkirk re-attack), the country's naval ministry issued a new order, according to which British ships should attack only in a 20-mile zone off the French coast. The next attempt at de-escalation was a statement by the French government on July 12, 1940, in which it was said that they would switch exclusively to defensive actions without the help of former enemies. Under " former enemies» Germany and Italy were meant here.
However, Operation Catapult was not the last armed clash between the Allies and the Vichy regime. Ahead were fighting in Equatorial and West Africa, in Syria and Madagascar. Vichy France's attempts to remain neutral were doomed to failure - in the conditions of the world war, there were practically no chances for this.
In November 1942, the German army occupied southern France, which had previously been under the control of the Vichy regime. The Germans also tried to capture the French fleet at Toulon. But the French sailors kept the promise they made to the British in 1940 - when German tanks appeared on the embankment, 77 French ships went to the bottom. Among the flooded were the battleships Strasbourg, Dunkirk and Provence, as well as the seaplane carrier Commandant Test. 4 French submarines and the pilot ship "Leonor Fresnel" managed to leave the harbor and break through to Algiers, Oran and Barcelona. The Germans still managed to capture 3 destroyers and 4 submarines.
Poster of Vichy France "Let's not forget Oran!"
"Catapult" is one of the most controversial and controversial operations of the Second World War. Great Britain, finding itself in a difficult situation, took such radical measures that even within its military and political elites, a rather deep split occurred on this issue. Already 9 years after the end of the war, in 1954, a meeting was held specially dedicated to the events of July 3-8, 1940, at which the British admirals Somerville and North voiced a negative assessment of the orders of their government 14 years ago. Admiral Cunningham, who managed in those days to peacefully resolve the issue of disarming French ships in Alexandria, was in complete agreement with them. The admirals believed that with more time at Mers el Kebir a peaceful solution could be found.
According to a number of historians, the largest naval battle of the entire period of the Second World War took place on July 3, 1940 in the Mediterranean Sea, near the Algerian city of Oran.
On both sides, 7 battleships, two aircraft carriers, dozens of destroyers and submarines, as well as deck and airfield aviation, and long-range coastal artillery took part in it.
On the eve of World War II, France had the status of a great colonial empire. Its possessions were in Africa, Asia, America and Oceania... Particularly important, from a strategic point of view, were the territories controlled by France, which occupied the southern coast of the Mediterranean - Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco...
Here, France kept large contingents of its troops, had comfortable, well-equipped and protected bases for its navy.
As you know, the war with fascist Germany developed for the French, contrary to their hopes, catastrophically.
On May 10, 1940, Guderian's tanks delivered powerful blows around the "impregnable" Maginot Line, broke through the front and rushed to the rear.
A huge mass of French and British troops was simply dropped into the English Channel near Dunkirk. Already on June 14, the Germans entered Paris in a parade march.
Hitler, however, did not occupy the entire territory of the defeated country, limiting himself to its northern part, together with Paris and the coastal regions. The Fuhrer preferred to sign an armistice agreement with the so-called Vichy regime, headed by the aged Marshal Pétain, where the tone was set by collaborators who called for cooperation with the aggressor. Under the control of Peten remained the south and southeast of the country, as well as all colonial possessions.
Analyzing the situation, the British authorities came to the disappointing conclusion that France, as a viable ally, was finally knocked out of the game.
Toughie
Before the war, the French navy was considered the fourth largest in the world in terms of its power. Together, the British and French unconditionally dominated the combined maritime forces of Germany and Italy. But now the situation has changed dramatically.
The French colonial ports of Mers-el-Kebir (near Oran), Casablanca and Dakar, where the latest high-speed battleships Strasbourg, Dunkirk, Richelieu and Jean Bar were based, were of particular concern to the British.
All these ships were still served by French crews, subordinate to their naval minister, K. Darlan, one of the main ideologists of the Vichy regime, which sought to adapt the country to the Nazi new order.
There was a serious danger that the Germans, under any pretext, would disarm the French sailors, then equip the ships with their crews and introduce them into the Navy of the Third Reich. And then the British Admiralty developed a plan of operation. "Catapult", the purpose of which was to deliver: a massive blow to these and some other French colonial ports in order to prevent a possible threat.
The most serious link in the entire operation, which was authorized by the new Prime Minister Churchill, was the attack on the port of Mers-el-Kebir, where the most combat-ready formation of the ships of the French fleet was based: a battleship, including Dunkirk and Strasbourg, a seaplane carrier, destroyers , minesweepers, submarines and other vessels.
The harbor, covered from the sea by the terrain, was also under the protection of coastal batteries and aviation. It was a tough nut to crack, but the British relied on the element of surprise.
Rejected ultimatum
For a secret campaign in Gibraltar, the H Connection was formed, which included two battleships, one battleship and two light cruisers, 11 destroyers, as well as the Ark Royal aircraft carrier, on the deck of which torpedo bombers were located.
On the morning of July 3, 1940, this squadron, commanded by Vice Admiral J. Sommerville, approached the Algerian coast. The French were presented with an ultimatum, which included several options for resolving the situation. The French ships were still at anchor. Few of the sailors believed that the British, yesterday's allies, would really open fire on them.
Trying to drag out the negotiations in order to buy time, the French Admiral M. Zhansul, nevertheless, announced the alarm and called for reinforcements from the nearest bases. But the British did not intend to lose the initiative. As soon as the term of the ultimatum expired (it was already in the evening), they opened fire from all guns.
The attack was very effective. The old battleship Brittany, whose powder magazine was hit by a shell, exploded. Battleship "Provence", engulfed in flames, stuck to the shore to avoid capsizing. Finally, Admiral Jansul's flagship battleship Dunkirk received several holes, but did not leave the battlefield and inflicted serious damage to the English battlecruiser Hood with return fire.
Only the battleship Strasbourg with five destroyers managed to escape unscathed from the harbor into the open sea, heading for Toulon, the main base of the French Navy.
Already at sea, another six destroyers joined the Strasbourg, marching to the challenge of Admiral Zhansul from Oran. Soon the French saw ahead of them the lone British aircraft carrier Ark Royal, which did not participate in the battle and was returning to its base in Gibraltar.
The Strasbourg had a win-win chance to sink a defenseless aircraft carrier, but for some reason the French captain did not take advantage of this opportunity. But the commander of the aircraft carrier ordered to attack the French battleship that had broken through with six Sword Fish deck torpedo bombers, and then also with the second wave.
But dense twilight was already gathering, and the torpedoes did not hit the target. But anti-aircraft gunners from Strasbourg managed to shoot down two British aircraft.
Meanwhile, a dark southern night came on, and under its cover the fugitives managed to safely reach Toulon.
Torpedo attack
The day after the battle, the French colonial authorities of Algeria, either out of stupidity or out of bragging, announced that the Dunkirk had received minor damage and would soon be repaired. In London, this news was taken painfully. Admiral Sommerville went to finish the job.
In the early morning of July 6, his squadron reappeared at Mers-el-Kebir. Twelve torpedo bombers took off from the deck of the Ark Royal and carried out an attack on the damaged ship, which stood motionless in the depths of the raid. However, out of a dozen torpedoes dropped, five for some reason did not work, including the only one that hit the battleship's hull.
But one of those torpedoes that was clearly rushing past the target suddenly met an auxiliary ship with a load of depth charges on its way. A powerful explosion followed, and the nearby Dunkirk received numerous new holes.
Meanwhile, French fighters appeared in the sky. An air battle ensued, during which several British aircraft were shot down, but the French also suffered losses. Considering their task completed, the British ships, under the protection of a smoke screen, lay down on the return course.
Operation "Catapult", in principle, did not achieve its goals. None of the new French battleships were destroyed. Even the Dunkirk returned to service after repairs. It is much sadder that this adventure, in which 1,300 killed and 350 wounded sailors became victims on the French side alone, darkened relations between the recent allies for a long time.
In the post-war period, neither official Paris nor London liked to remember this story, although for different reasons. History, many details of which were classified for several decades.
Valery Nechiporenko
