#operation catapult

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French battleship Provence is shown under fire in the foreground, while the modern battleship Strasbourg escapes toward the open sea at right, and another old battleship, Bretagne, burns furiously in the background during the Royal Navy attack on the French fleet at Mers el Kebir.

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The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, part of Operation Catapult and also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir, was a British Navy bombardment of the French Navy at its base at Mers-el-Kébir on the coast of what was then French Algeria on 3 July 1940. A British naval task force attacked the French fleet, which was at anchor and not expecting an assault from the United Kingdom, France's former ally. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,297 French servicemen, the sinking of a battleship and the damaging of five other ships.

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15” shell exit hole on a French battleship Dunkerque at Mers El Kébir after the RN Attack on July 3, 1940.

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Battleship Provence aground after the attack on Mers el Kebir.

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340mm guns salvaged from Bretagne at Mers el Kebir post-war.

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Battleship Provence

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#postcard Operation Catapult: The Royal Navy attacks it’s French... http://dlvr.it/QF8Jtn

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Operation Catapult - Attack on Mers-el-Kébir: British vs French

Operation Catapult – Attack on Mers-el-Kébir: British vs French

Operation Catapult was the code name given to the naval military action by Britain to ensure the French fleet did not fall into German hands following the signing of the armistice.

“Provided, but only provided, that the French fleet will sail forth-with for British harbors pending negotiations, his Majesties government give their full consent to an inquiry by the French government to ascertain…

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