Operation Catapult - When the Royal Navy Decimated the French Navy
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- Опубликовано: 11 мар 2022
- Check out Simon's newest channel, Warographics: / @warographics643 Got a beard? Good. I've got something for you: beardblaze.com Simon's Social Media: Twitter: / simonwhistler Instagram: / simonwhistler Love content? Check out Simon's other RUclips Channels: Biographics: / @biographics Geographics: / @geographicstravel MegaProjects: / @megaprojects9649 Casual Criminalist: / @thecasualcriminalist TopTenz: / toptenznet Today I Found Out: / todayifoundout Highlight History: / @highlighthistory XPLRD: / @xplrd Business Blaze: / @brainblaze6526
There is one thing I'd like you to make a video about (on one of your channels), the importance of merchant fleets in WW2. Norway had the 3rd largest merchant fleet IIRC at the start of WW2, and its role via the king managing to escape with the norwegian gold reserves, meant a HUGE amount for the war effort until the US started chucking out freedom ships. And with all losses across all nations' merchant fleets, its been kept rather down low. It deserves to be remembered just how many civilians died at sea for the war effort (from all nations). They got extremely few monuments, and extremely little pay and honor for their work.
Excellent suggestion!
Yes, a story not really told.
🙏 OGBB so mote it be ⚡️
A story untold, would love to have some time paid to their story. Great suggestion.
Imagine sailing out in a ship slapped together in a week as part of a strategy of building more ships than the Kriegsmarine can sink
Warographics. In the first 20 seconds, Simon completed my day.
We're all celebrating the fact that Simon's got a new channel. Soon RUclips will be wall to wall Whistler.
It's a great channel, top notch videos :)
@@andyyang3029 Thanks :)
To add insult to injury, one the British light cruisers involved at Mers-el-Kébir was HMS Arethusa named after a French frigate captured and pressed into British service during the Seven Years War. Another British ship named after the Arethusa was famous for her actions against the French during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
Suggestion, the Red River Floodway, second largest earth moving project besides the Panama Canal at the time of construction to stop devastating floods of a city in the heart of Canada
He had already did it.. i think on megaproject
Simon I just wanted to say really enjoy your videos, I only came across your channels in the last month and have found out so much and really interesting in the topics you do, I have so far watched all mega projects and just finished all side projects, but give me chance to catch up on your other channels before creating another please. Keep up the great work
The Valiant wasn't a battlecruiser. It was a full battleship.
Yes and no. The problem is that the Royal Navy designated any capital ship with a top speed of greater than 25 knots as a "battlecruiser" regardless of actual design.
@@JK50with10 25 knots was the speed expected of the Queen Elizabeth class, and for them it was invented a new classification fast battleships, not battlecruisers.
Really interesting video Simon. I can't believe you have another new channel!
Content is always good but the switching to calling the Fleet English from time to time instead of just sticking with British really gets my goat
Great content 👍🏻
This really highlights how desperate the war was at this point in time.
Nah m8. We'd take any excuse to bomb the French.
At the 8-minute mark there is a hilarious and very distracting shot of someone's hand on a camping map of Southern California. Thanks for the laugh!
The French navy thought that they could hide in the Joshua Tree National Park but the British still managed to track them down.
@@joycejames8461 I was wondering what that scene was doing there.
Would you consider a video on the planning of Operation Overlord with particular focus on General Morgan who was the key architect of its success - and how he was so unfairly sidelined (and is now largely forgotten) thanks to the grandstanding of Montgomery? It's a fascinating story, and one that needs to be more widely appreciated..... thank you for all your vids which are very interesting and enjoyable.
OMG Another channel? Where do you find the time! LOL I'm gonna sub :D
Channel suggestion: ship-graphics, nautical-graphics, or something like that, where you cover famous ships stories like the infamous Titanic, Costa Concordia, SS Atlantic etc from from why they were made, how they ended, and how they changed the nautical world
I had completely forgotten about this episode of ww2 I remember/knew of the British attack on the Italian Fleet but not this one
"When the Royal Navy Decimated the French Navy" thankfully you where more specific, so many examples to choose from
Incrível está parte da história! Soube dela através do livro que estou lendo do Churchill.
HI SIMON!!!!
Something else I never learned about in my junior high and highschool history classes. Back then it was just, Hitler and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Round two was at Toulon in 1942 when Dolfy came a callin.
Thanks FactBoi!
Could you do an a-4 Skyhawk video?
Blackburn Buccaneer would be good too
Simon and team; would you consider a video on Cat Island, Mississippi? Specifically around WWII the story really gets weird; something your team could really have some fun with. Thank you for the smarts and for the hours of killed time 🙏
Ive always wondered how to read scharnhorst(?) abd gnessau(?), nice
You pronounce the G In Gneisenau.
In German, you pronounce all vowels as well.
Grose is gross-ah.
Another possibility video topic is the atlas missle and the test sites for it
Simmon, I'm all for making money on making more channels, it's why I sub to all channels, I think it's brilliant! I'm just waiting for the time you have to start combining things to make a new channel
"Non war mega geographical construction of super secret war animals"
Hey Simon, will you do a video on the Fustibalus?
Look around on youtube.Several excellent vids on the staff sling and its design.
Made several for throwing tennis balls for the kids.
Pen knife,stick,string,cloth scrap......good excercise.
Keeps the doggie happy.
I jus follow Simon on the internet 🖖😁
Could you do a video about the French navy?
Knew of this, but this is the first proper telling of the story I've heard. Thanks, again, Simon!
ruclips.net/video/1aoi33VAAO4/видео.html
First time i heard that french warplanes had bombed Gibraltar.
I bet many British sailors shed tears that day because they knew most of the French sailors hated what their 'leaders' had got them into.
Xplrd dies, Warographics lives 😂
What's that tinkling sound in the background? Is that a new feature from Simon?
Side project idea: the dymaxion concept car. “The car of the future” that never happened.
No Link 😂 I'm not surprised
A lesser known incident in WW2, like with the Mark Felton videos.
What about an episode on SNAKE ISLAND??
War-o-graphics..I’m in. Also your exponential channel madness is reminiscent of Vladimir
Have you done any segments about the Battle of Trafalgar on any of your 452046247623508 channels? No really, I love learning about it and would like to see your video(s) on it.
The French defended North Africa against American and British forces in operation Torch in November 1942 killing lots of allied soldiers. It is odd behaviour when you consider their ultimate aim was to liberate France from Nazi Germany.
It has always been a matter of immense pride, that in the middle of an existential fight for survival with Nazi Germany, the Royal Navy still found time and opportunity to sink a French fleet.
Technically it turned into the German fleet as soon as cowardly France surrendered
Underrated comment
an unprepared one...........and I guess the vichy french took pride in every brit they killed in africa........goes both ways.
😂😂😂😂
Wild that growing up in the 70s and 80s with all the war films that we have definitely a more innate anti French feeling in the UK.
I was at a party with a bunch of students one if them is French and a lad started to Bray about it, knowing the innate working class feelings about the Johnny I tried to hush him but to no avail and the room went quiet... we left 5 minutes later and in the taxi the French lad and I turned on the loudmouth about nearly getting us in a fight. It was pretty funny.😂😂
I thought Joshua Tree was in Southern California, not the Atlantic. 8:01.
"the biggest political blunder of modern times and will rouse the whole world against us... we all feel thoroughly ashamed..." -- Somerville
During the medieval period it seems like two favorite hobbies for English aristocrats were fighting Scotland and France.
Well, to be honest the Normands invaded them succesfully a number of times, in fact there was periods when the official language of the English court was French, so, well, everyone was a kind of a jerk invading neighboors at the slightiest chance.
Indeed. Younger sons of monarchs tended to be put on a horse, and sent off to France to die, supposedly heroically, in battle. Sadly, the practice has rather dropped out of favour in recent times. A waste of a good horse, I suppose.
@@cesaravegah3787 once they invaded
@q Last time I checked Normandy is kind of a huge part of France
@@cesaravegah3787 The point there is the court, not the public they didn't give a shit about the French language, it always would have been old English, and look where the language is now? the most spoken language in the world.
Another channel?
What were the names of ALL the French ships sunk ?
Out of interest, Sir James Somerville, we in NZ are a direct relative of James. So proud of him. Would have loved to meet him however.........
In his biography and letters it really upset him in this action. He did not want to do what was ordered he described to his wife how he felt
dirty and upset......
The one thing that irks me is calling the Vichy French Navy "the French navy" throughout the video. Vichy France was the German puppet state and while the officers and sailors were of the Former French Navy they chose to go along with the terms of the surrender. They could have chosen, as the Germans in Scarpa Flow did at the end of WWI, to scuttle their ships but they chose to fight.
lol. The french did scuttle their ships like the Germans in Scapa Flow as soon as the Germans wanted to take possession of the french ships. The Germans wouldn't have scuttled their ships if Germany could have kept them after ww1.
first fact boy!
Always wondered why the 7 years war is not counted as the real ww1 as it was a worldwide war and fits everything that would make it one
The background music was a little too loud.
The French response: "non". Ha!
If only the French didn't have that irrational chip on their shoulder about us those thousand French sailors wouldn't have lost their lives that day.
I understand the British position, they simply could NOT take the chance of Nazi Germany somehow gaining control of the French Mediterranean squadrons. They gave the French every option and opportunity to avoid this action. Admiral James Somerville absolutely HATED giving the order to open fire, but he was without options at that point.
For the first time I begin to understand the French reaction. For them the war was already lost, they were trying to keep the damage to their country to a minimum. For all they knew it would not be long before Britain would fall. We have the benefit of hindsight, and we know how everything went. But from May1940 to July 1940 the Germans seem be unstoppable.
They were a sovereign state with guns. For a soldier or sailor there isnt really another option to foreigners demanding you surrender but to kill or die.
@@thevictoryoverhimself7298 At that moment in history France was not a sovereign state, it was split between occupation by a conquering army and a puppet regime of that occupying force. Britain wasn't just "foreigners" we were France's ally and still fighting our shared enemy. There was a third option; co-operate with your ally, if that was done the surrender or die scenario would have never occurred and as I stated those French sailors wouldn't have lost their lives.
@@MebXVII Puppet regimes are sovereign states. That's the whole point of a puppet regime. Otherwise nations would go full Europa Universals and just occupy countries from globe to globe.
Do you think if you sat a vichy french soldier down and asked him if he was loyal to hitler he would say "yes"? Some of them are still alive you can prove me wrong and i would accept it.
Great Britain
"... who was an
Anglophobe."
One man's fear.
What happens when we fixate on what we do not want to happen.
Don't do it• 🙏
Simon.
The primary reason the French navy were obeying the armistice as ordered is that there WOULD have been reprisals against their FAMILIES.
Non-compliance often resulted with a firing squad in any occupied country.
A more interesting story might be the German withdrawal from the French southern pyrenees,
as they rounded up ANY means of transport they could find including bicycles.Some tried to get to Berlin on foot.
The resistance ambushed loads of them en route,naturally.
The southern French take a seriously DIM VIEW of germany,naturally.
And are also very distrustful of PARISIAN businessmen who put pressure on the govt.to accept the armistice at all.
Even if putin "wins" geographically,
and crushes each neighbouring country
he will only end up radicalising.....the folk in every other nation.......and every russian who loses a ukranian RELATIVE too.
No, there wouldn't have been. You think the Germans would have rounded up the families of all the sailors? Jesus, that would have taken three times the number of heer than Germany had in total, let alone in occupied France. It was purely and simply arrogance and stupidity. Did the Polish sailors turn their ships into the Germans or did they sail to the UK?
@@DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis Look up how the Germans dealt with the southern French,better still VISIT southern France and ask the elderly who were children there at the time HOW the germans behaved in occupied territory.
It is not for nothing that the french resistance brutally publicly executed collaborators after ambushing the germans as they withdrew to berlin.
I am fortunate that my grandparents and my mother survived the occupation.
My grandfather hated killing anything,but was forced to by the fascist uprisings that lead to 2 world wars.
I am glad he passed on before seeing putin attempting to provoke a final war.He was presented with war medals for his 'activities'by the french president,as he was instrumental in destroying trainloads of weapons,supplies.
Had he been captured,or even identified at the time ...the germans would have gone to his home village.....and decimated the population.
Killing a whole village was STANDARD PRACTICE.
OPEN A GOD DAMNED HISTORY BOOK YOU ARSE.
Even De Gaulle admitted that the operation was inevitable, the British had few other options.
I think the accuracy on this one is a bit off....
The British.
Wars make crazy shit seem normal.
The Royal Navy did this to Denmark twice. Nelson played a major role in destroying the significant Danish fleet to stop Napoleon taking the ships. Nelson Was signalled to stop the attack but he could not read the flags using his telescope with his missing eye.
Yeah it seems like any time napoleon done anything the British didn't like they just attacked Denmark for some reason.
@@ads2686 Oh give over you fool.
"Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves. Britons never ever will be slaves."
that's the only thing they can rule
Admiral Gensoul was an idiot... He felt slighted by only being sent a captain rather than an Admiral, an Admiral who couldn't speak French and a captain who could… he couldn't get out of his own way to interpret his orders in a way that would help save his men and his fleet.
He's responsible for what happened.
Yes, the Brithish offered him very generous terms and he refused out of pride, he betrayed his own men who were shocked when the Royal Navy started shooting.
Not just a captain who could speak French, but one who had been British Naval Attache in Paris, and who knew most of the French Naval High Command (though not Gensoul) personally.
at some point it's courtesy. The admiral could have come with his captain if he really needed him.
@@delfinenteddyson9865 This would have left Somerville out of contact with the Admiralty at a time of fast moving events, and there was also the unspoken concern that he might have been 'detained.'
@@delfinenteddyson9865 Adm. Gensoul felt slighted by some petty bs about perceived class and got his men killed.
Never expected this site to so egregiously misuse the word "decimate".
There’s one more element to this story you didn’t cover: the attempted German seizure of the recalled French fleet at Toulon as part of Case Anton.
When the Nazis invaded Vichy France, the regime managed to scuttle or evacuate the entirety of their forces at Toulon. Only a handful of small boats of no military value were ultimately captured by the Germans. It calls into question the necessity of Operation Catapult in terms of neutralizing the French fleet, since given the choice, they chose death before dishonor as well.
Wasn’t the concern that the fleet in North Africa were commanded by men fiercely loyal to the Vichy government, who seemed likely to capitulate to German demands, and thus an order to hand over the ships from Germany would have been obeyed first by the government and then by the fleet itself? Whereas the Toulon commander(s) had decided that whilst they wouldn’t directly disobey their government by sailing for the UK to continue to fight, they also wouldn’t allow their ships to fall into Nazi hands.
Calls into question the fact that the French had pledged in their alliance with Britain not to seek separate peace terms with the Germans which, oh. They did. So, you've just had your ally say "it's cool, we won't do that thing we just did," and then they did, so when they said they wouldn't let the Germans get the ships, what do you think the reaction was? Especially when given the option to go to a neutral port which was refused? What would you have done in that scenario? Applied hindsight or?
Would they have scuttled at Toulon if Catapult didn't already happen?
Whilst you're correct, they did scuttle their ships in Toulon in 1942, that was a very different situation to Mers-el-Kebir. In 1940, the French had just surrendered and the Vichy French government were far more likely to bow to Germany's wishes. In 1940, the Regia Marina was easily the most powerful force in the Med theatre and the British would've had to send ships away from the Atlantic and Asia to help combat an Italian x French fleet.
Not to mention it's pure hindsight, Gensoul was a very different man to the commanders at Toulon and Britain didn't really have a choice. They gave them plenty of time and were willing to negotiate terms for the powerful French fleet. After negotiations failed they opened fire, and didn't completely destroy the fleet. It was a travesty and really shouldn't have happened, but you can't really blame the British, who at that point in the war were completely on their own with a Navy that couldn't match a combined Axis & French navy in the Mediterranean.
I would also argue those sailors and French marines scuttled the ships with the hope that they wouldn't be killed by a British task force, which at that point in 1942 was completely free of Italian ships and the Kreigsmarine was more or less decimated by that point. Large capital ships aren't really useful against U-Boats.
So fair point, but I'm afraid Operation Catapult should be seen as avoidable, but necessary action
I remember seeing a classically clumsy German propaganda poster on this event.
Dude you have to stop with the new channels. You're killing me
“England” stood alone?
It wasn't until July 10, 1985 that the French Government re-asserted it's Naval honour by sinking the "Rainbow Warior", a civilian ship manned by hippy pacifists.
At least the french finally did something useful.
*Royal Navy destroys French ships*
France; hey, da fuck?!
Britain; sorry...old habits are hard to get over...
Music is very distracting
Excellent video which covered all the key issues of this controversial incident, thank you.
I wonder how many of today's western leaders would be as ruthless as Churchill if faced with the same dilemmas - I think none.
Had he not done what he did, when he did it, the eventual cost in allied (and German, and civilian) lives later in the war would have been much much greater.
You mean sacrificing 1,300 innocent Allie’s to convince that anti French pos of FDR? In that, you are right, he totally succeeded. But give us a f***** break with you extrapolating of the number of lives saved had this episode not happened. Being enemies or rivals for centuries is one thing, but turning against you Allies and kill them when they did not attack you? Right, the stain was not on the French flag that day…
I don't blame the British in the least. The moment the French gave up they basically said, "Welcome German overlords, how may we serve you?".
I don't doubt for a second that the French fleet would of fought for the Germans, more than likely with their French crews.
Just like when they caught my father trying to seek over to Spain from the Netherlands, they instantly handed him over to the and ultimately Buchenwald.
after the attack on the french fleet I wonder why?
that's why the french sailors at toulon saborded their own ships and the rest of the french navy joined the allied ? The brits didn't even let the french admirals the chance to join the allies , and decided to destroy the french fleet during an armistice. But i guess it's not surprising since the brits are well known for their lack of honor
@@danemon8423 What does honour truly get you in the real world?
@@danemon8423 Read all the facts again you misinformed clown, The British gave plenty of options to that idiot Admiral Gensoul, it was that guys fault 100%
There is a lot of armchair Admirals in this comments column. My own contribution will be simple: the 1'300 dead French sailors at Mers El Kébir represent over 50% of the 2'400 dead American sailors at Pearl Harbor.
Mers El Kébir: two days that will live forever in infamy. __ .
Bollocks. The Japanese attacked unprovoked and out of the blue. The French had been given a set of reasonable choices. Sadly, their commander was not a reasonable man and so chose...poorly.
What a waist! however i noticed that at about the 8 minute mark, the map is of the south west of the United Stares
There are two further things making this an even bigger tragedy. Number one is Darlan's incompetence. Rather than signally all the options presented by the Royal Navy, including sitting out the war in the French Carribean, or the then neutral US, he simply signalled they had told him wither join us, or sink yourselves, or we will sink you. He then refused to negotiate and lost several hours over trivial things, such as the officer that was sent to negotiate not being a fleet admiral. It's very likely that it could have been avoided if not for his near enough criminal incompetence.
Second is the fact that the french navy made good on there promise not to let their fleet fall into german hands. As a result of losing control of french colonies in north africa to the allies and free french, the germans invaded vichy france, no longer having a need for it and attempted to sieze the french fleet stationed there. French marines proceeded to set up roadblocks, and a defensive perimiter around the naval base. They held of the german attackers long enough for the french sailors to set scuttling charges. As a result, nearly the entire french fleet was sunk in port to prevent the germans getting their hands on them.
You forgot to mention the option to steam their ships to French Martinique. None were acceptable to the British hating Vichey government, the cowardly group of duplicitous, arrogant, incompetent individuals whose primary concern was their self preservation and maintaining a veneer of power as puppets to the Nazi regime. Churchill's decision was right, albeit that he, the Admiralty and the men of the Royal Navy loathed taking it. Perhaps the better question to consider is why Darlan didn't accept one the very honourable options available. To think, for a second, that the not that trustworthy Germans or Italians wouldn't have taken this fleet for themselves and by force if necessary, is ludicrous. Finally, many people & historians refer to Vichey France perhaps in some feeble way to disassociate their Country's disgraceful capitulation to the Germans. Well it's not Vichey France, it is just FRANCE ! There is no official, published account of France in WW2 for good reason, because it would lay bare the pathetic governmental, military leadership, and domestic actions that not only lead up to WW2, its fall in weeks, but also it's subsequent very cosy accomodation of the Nazi regime. There were some very brave french souls who continued to resist throughout, but pitifully few. And lest we forget, the first troops the Americans engaged in anger in Europe weren't German or Italian, they were French ! 👍💂🇬🇧
First...
DAMN IT, you really are. darn you internet loading times!!!!
Never underestimate the French when it comes to choosing the worst possible outcome to any situation
The Russians had a similar ability when fighting the Japanese in the early C20th
The Russians didn't get other options till the nuke came along though. Before then it was just lose vast amounts of personal.
Also Churchill wanted to send a message to America that it would do anything to win the war. If it meant Killing some French sailors then so be it.
America where happy to make money off the backs of dead Europeans as long as they could. Lucky the Japanese forced there hand.
never underestimate the brits when it comes to have no honor
That's how the British treats its wartime allies! Fighting side by side a few days ago, then suddenly the Brits are your worst enemies! I can imagine how the French curses the British!
Britain attempted not to be Frances worst enemy , the French were given options , they didn't have to die , they didn't even have to surrender , by refusing all requests the French made themselves Britains worst enemy
@@kawasakikev8905 tbh in understand why the french surrendered. They saved many lives doing that, imagine how many people would have died if they kept fighting, civilians, monuments etc. It's easy for britain not to surrender when it's located on an island
I wish people would use the word decimate correctly. 1 in 10 killed by the other 9.
Ignorant Americans trying to impose their ignorance on language.
The old use of the word ' decimation ' has evolved over the years to mean ' large loss '. It stopped being used in the roman terms over 2 thousand years ago.
So yea I with people would use it correctly also. You know, like Simon did.
Drachifel made a better video on this topic
The french needed the humbling. This was not the ww1.
Why are the French always like this?
cause we don't like the english, and nowi understand why
@@danemon8423 And we English don't like you either.
they're cowards
dips any moment they feel threatened
1:30 - Chapter 1 - Background
4:00 - Chapter 2 - Negotiations
6:20 - Chapter 3 - The day of
10:55 - Chapter 4 - Aftermath
PS: As a frenchman, i always LOVE when a big brASS (Marcel Gensoul) gets some nasty karma !!!
first
I think your theory that Churchill's show of force against Vichy France was an enticement towards American intervention is Anglo - centric. Remember France's naval history as an American ally against Britain from 1781-1812. Not to mention their deeply shared republican sentiment. If anything, the RN's preemptive attack, only incited further Yankee neutrality; if not anti "Redcoat" imperialism.
Admiral Darlan was largely to blame for this tragic episode. 1940 was a dreadful year. Britain stood alone, USA and Soviet Union yet to join the fight, Darlan, later murdered by a pro Royalist hothead, had the option to move his ships. He did not.
Anyway, Winston show of ruthlessness impressed the Americans, different times. I am happy to be writing in English and not German.
A few days before this took place the French and give the germans a few smaller ships after saiding they would not
I did not know that the French ships were presented with the option of going to America.
I think that soundly puts the nail in the coffin that the French were totally stupid here.
But it is not just the completely unnecessary loss of life here, also the incident made the Vichy French more determined to resist the Allies.
Also had those ships gone to America they could have potentially been used against the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Habor.
Marcel Gensoul was said to be an 'Anglophobe'... well, good too see he has his priorities in order considering the British had ruthlessly invaded and taken over most of France.... ummm, or was it Britain? Who was it that invaded France in 1940?? I am confused, and my name is Marcel Gensoul.
Read books, only then open your mouth. Dirty angloid
Dude, with that title, you could've picked just about any year prior to the French getting nukes. It was pretty much a British pass time.
By not siding with the Allies, they sided with the Axis. Bon voyage
no they sided with protecting there country to the best of there ability
@@camm8642 Joining the Allies was protecting their country to the best of their ability. Harboring the fleet and holding it for Germany was the wrong choice.
Maybe they should have just thrown some tissues overboard to clean up the french seamen................... :P
It’s strange the French didn’t scuttle their ships to stop the Germans getting them and stop the loss of French life 🤷♂️
Apparently it was considered, but rejected for many reasons, not least of which is the tendency of scuttling in failing to reliably prevent a vessel from being raised and recommissioned by the enemy, especially if done in a harbour. Even successfully scuttled ships would provide a resource, and propaganda tool for Germany.
Britain. Annoying France for a thousand years. Keep up the good work Britain.
Can't wait for you to do one on my Ukraine escapades, no bio labs on my doorstep on my watch.
Stupid question why didn’t the french navy just sail to England
The fleet at Alexandria did agree to that… this Admiral was trying to play politics with the Vichi government and thought he was more important than he was. It cost 1500 sailors their lives. Admiral Gensoul was an idiot.
Gallic Pride
He was also giving another option. Take his fleet to the west indies and be guarded by American navy.
Attacking a neutral country unprovoked just a little bit of a war crime. And come to think of it not the first or second time they'd done so or were willing to. (Had the germans not invaded norway, britain would have, and iceland was occupied against its will. All neutral countries)
No, not a war crime at all. Did you even watch the video ?.
@@MrBounce66I wouldn’t bother tryna talk sense in to this bozo, just look at his weeb pfp.
Admiral Darlan said on may 28th 1940 " I 'll never let my Fleet grasped by the Germarns". Churchill didn't trust him. Toulon scuttling in 1942 seems to prove that Churchill was wrong.