Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Sikboy on November 15, 2002, 03:04:29 PM
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Were the British Justified?
-Sikboy
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I would say yes. If you were the Brits, could you have staked your naval supremacy in the Med (and therefore your national surival), on the willingness of citizens of a defeated, demoralized and occupied country to resist all the pressure the Nazis could bring and keep their fleet neutral? De Gaulle (and those French naval officers who subsequently DID join the Allies, despite Mers El Kebir) were the exception, rather than the rule.
An interesting sidelight of the whole tragic incident was the effect on world opinion regarding Britain's will to survive. According to "The Duel", a book about the struggle between Churchill and Hitler during the period between the fall of France and the start of the Battle of Britain, the British action at Mers El Kebir went a long way to convincing the Roosevelt Administration that the British really meant to fight and were therefore worth assisting.
Altogether, a VERY sad event, which I gather still exercises some influence on Franco-British relations.
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You mean when the brits sank the french fleet so it wouldnt be captured?
I think it was not a question of whether it was justified or not, it was a neccessity. Britain's only true strength over the germans was the Royal Navy, the Kriegsmarine in comparison was outmatched, even when the germans had 2 superBB's (which they really couldnt sail out because theyd get sunk..and they did get sunk).
The French fleet wouldve boosted the Kriegsmarine significantly, which made it a great threat to the brits. Plus ports to sail outside the british "choke points" that they had saturated with patrolling cruisers and battleships.
What really amazes me was why the french, even when surrendering, didnt send whatever they could OUT of france to help liberate the nation.
Anyone know why they didnt send those ships and troops to britain?
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Adolf said please.