![]() ![]() Churchill told the House of Commons on July 4th, "after all preparations had been made we took the greater part of the French Fleet under our control or else called upon them with adequate force to comply with our requirements."įirst, those ships were secured which had come into harbour at Portsmouth, Plymouth and Sheerness, two battleships, two light cruisers, some submarines, eight destroyers and some 200 smaller, but none the less extremely useful, mine-sweeping and anti-submarine craft. Churchill described as being more grim and sombre than any in his experience, they unitedly took the decision "with aching hearts but with clear vision." Britain’s own salvation demanded the strongest action, and after deliberating a question which Mr. Churchill and his Government and the Admiralty chiefs decided otherwise. By such a concentration of naval might Britain’s sea power might well have been challenged with some possibility, even probability, of success.īut Mr. ![]() Hitler’s vows are made to be broken, and we may be sure that the French ships would not, have been allowed to rot and rust in the French harbours, but in the Fuhrer’s good time work have been added to Mussolini’s fleet and what was left of his own. But few outside Petain’s Government and perhaps few inside it, save the senile pessimist who was its head, can have put any trust in the written word. ![]() To prevent its falling into enemy hands was imperative, but it was only, alas, by a display of the most resolute British force that this was achieved.įacing Keitel and his semicircle of grim faced Nazis in the railway coach at Compiegne, Admiral Leluc signed away the French Navy to Germany True, Article 8 of the Franco-German armistice contained the words "demobilisation" and "disarmament," and also Germany's "solemn declaration" that she would not use the French Fleet during the war or claim it on the Conclusion of peace. 46, -33, July 19, 1940.įollowing Marshal Petain’s appeal to the Nazis for an armistice, the fate of the French Fleet became a matter of the gravest interest to Britain, now left as the only bulwark of Western civilization. How France's Warships Were Saved From Hitler ![]()
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