Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
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The attack on Mers-el-Kébir on 3 July 1940, during the Second World War, was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the naval base at Mers El Kébir, near Oran, on the coast of French Algeria.
The battleship Strasbourg under fire
Modern view of the harbour at Mers El Kébir in Algeria
French photograph of the bombardment
Bretagne on fire, still under bombardment
François Darlan
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Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French admiral and political figure. Born in Nérac, Darlan graduated from the École navale in 1902 and quickly advanced through the ranks following his service
Attack on Mers-el-Kébir
…second largest force of capital ships in Europe after the Royal Navy. The British War Cabinet feared that the ships would fall into Axis hands. Admiral François Darlan, commander of the French Navy, assured the British, even after the French armistices with Germany and Italy that the fleet would remain under French…
Darlan c. 1940
Darlan, Pétain and Göring in France, 1941