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Saturday, May 5. 2018

Why did Churchill attack the French fleet in 1940?


He had good reasons.  The French should have gotten their fleets out of the Med - anywhere else.  Tough decision for Churchill to make, though. Perhaps the main point was to prove to FDR that Britain was determined to defend itself.



Posted by Bird Dog in History at 14:31 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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I think his decision was to convince Roosevelt that he would not quit.
#1 Mike K (Link) on 2018-05-05 14:33 (Reply)
The French fleet ranged from sloops up to battleships, a very dangerous threat to Britain once the Nazis occupied France and the Vichy government pretended neutrality. The Nazis eventually did try to seize the remaining fleet.
#2 sixtyville on 2018-05-05 14:52 (Reply)
Even as a high school student (I was bit of a history buff) it was clear why Churchill had to sink the French fleet. The French have a history of collaboration. Churchill understood this. Thus, he had to have that fleet sunk to prevent it from falling into German hands. I fail to see how this is controversial to anyone who knows history.
#3 Abelard Lindsey on 2018-05-05 16:17 (Reply)
Churchill had the French fleet sunk to protect the Royal Navy in the Med. Period. They already had to cope with the German and Italian navies; the risk of a German-controlled French fleet (or a French fleet wholly subsumed by the Germans) was too great a risk to the British war effort.

As for the French having a "history of collaboration", no, they do not (how soon we forget what that country went through in WWI battling the German invaders). The collaboration began after their defeat by the Germans and while under the Vichy regime. This hardly counts as a "history of collaboration", particularly since the French fleet was attacked barely more than a week after France had surrendered.
#3.1 JJM on 2018-05-05 23:24 (Reply)
@Abelard The end of your last sentence is the key my dear fellow " to anyone who knows history ".

It is decisions such as this that are reflected on by those who don't know history, they only learn of a event and then , out of context or knowledge, claim it is/was controversial or extraordinary...
#4 Uncle Max on 2018-05-05 16:39 (Reply)
He gave them every option. Bring the fleet to Canada. Sail to the Bahama's. The U.S. The U.K.

They declined and they paid for their haughty attitude.

Tough merde.
#5 Scullman on 2018-05-06 11:05 (Reply)
I wrote about this sad affair here:

https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/53322.html
#6 David Foster (Link) on 2018-05-06 11:12 (Reply)
"Gensoul was also personally offended that the British had sent a mere captain to negotiate with him, and Darlan was offended that Churchill did not trust his promise about keeping the French fleet out of German hands."

So, the French took it personally (what a shock) and paid for it with the lives of their own sailors.

Morons.
Had nothing to do with a "dark decision" on Churchill's part.
#7 scullman on 2018-05-06 17:41 (Reply)
scullman: "the French took it personally (what a shock) and paid for it with the lives of their own sailors"

Gensoul and Darlan took it personally. Most of the French sailors were eager to join the Allies, and expected that to happen until the last moment.
#8 David Foster (Link) on 2018-05-06 18:18 (Reply)
When sailors in the ranks start making decisions in their navies regarding ship dispositions during wartime, they would hold the blame also.

Obviously, by "The French took it personally", I meant the French Admirals and ship commanders on the scene.

The normal course of decision making in the French Navy did not include polling on board ship as to what the crew thought should be done, as far as I know. That's why some wear the gold braid and most don't.

They're arrogance fucked it up. Plain and simple. They were responsible. Not Churchill, nor anyone else.
#9 scullman on 2018-05-06 19:47 (Reply)
Churchill was a statesman, a leader, a military man. He was not always right and would have been a poor choice to lead the nation in peace and prosperity. But he was dogged to the extreme and the exact person that England needed at that time. But, had Hitler not made the foolish decision to fight Russia everything would have turned out differently. England and Western Europe just might be German today.
#10 GoneWithTheWind on 2018-05-06 23:07 (Reply)
There was also apparently the issue of radar, which the British had, but not the Germans. Somewhere along the line, the British had apparently shared radar with the French allies. Reference vague, but from a "fiction" writer whose historical accuracy I trust. The comment - as I remember - was very bitter that the Brits had ever shared radar with their French allies, as the Germans obtained a lot of info from the remnants of the French fleet.
#11 Frances on 2018-05-06 23:40 (Reply)

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