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Context being everything, the French Navy was at that stage under the control of the Vichy government of France, essentially a German puppet government and had
by celticninja 9y ago
Context being everything, the French Navy was at that stage under the control of the Vichy government of France, essentially a German puppet government and had Churchill not attacked the fleet it was likely it would have been used against the British Forces.
- gsnedders 9y agoI think "likely" is overstating it, given ultimately the Vichy government scuttled almost their entire fleet two years later when the German's tried to take control of it. (The German's in the end captured a small number of small vessels, all the technologically modern ones the German's were interested in—the much large destroyers and cruisers—were scuttled.) That said, it may well have seemed likely at the time, and it's only from hindsight that this is clear.
- toomanybeersies 9y agoIt was likely that the French would've tried to scuttle the fleet had the Germans tried to requisition it, as happened 2 years later in Toulon [1]. But obviously, hindsight is 20/20, there was no way for the British to guarantee that this was going to happen. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_French_fleet_in_Toulon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_French_fleet_...