Evening Post FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1940. BRITAIN AND THE FRENCH FLEET

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 5, 5 July 1940, Page 6

Evening Post FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1940. BRITAIN AND THE FRENCH FLEET

News of the French fleet, for which the world has been waiting since the publication on June 24 of the terms of the armistice between Germany and France, was given to the House of Commons yesterday by Mr. Churchill, the British Prime Minister. "Yesterday morning," he said, in one of the most moving statements ever made to Parliament, "after all preparations had been made, we took the greater part of the French fleet under our control, or else called on them, with adequate force, to comply with our requirements." There can be few who do not understand why this was done. Under the terms of the armistice signed by the emissaries of the Petain Government —in breach of the pledges given by M. Reynaud, head of the former Government, to Britain —the French fleet was to be "collected in specified ports and demobilised and disarmed under German and Italian control." It is true that this clause of the armistice went on to add: The German Government solemnly declares that it has no intention, of using for its own purposes during the war the French fleet stationed at ports under German control except those units that are necessary for coast surveillance and mine-sweeping. But what such "solemn declarations" by Germany and Italy are worth Britain —and the victims of Nazi aggression—know only too well from bitter experience. They are worth just nothing, when their immediate purpose has been served. But the possession of a powerful French fleet by the enemy was a threat to the command of the sea by which Britain lives. The French fleet" has not been allowed to fall into enemy hands. A large proportion of it has passed under British control. Unfortunately, the transfer was not in all cases peaceful and without resistance. On one of the many French war vessels in the British home waters —the large submarine Surcouf —in Mr. Churchill's words, "a scuffle arose through a misunderstanding" and one man on each side was killed and several injured. But, added Mr. Churchill, "for the rest, the French sailors in the main cheerfully accepted the end of a period of uncertainty, and 800 or 900 have expressed an ardent desire to continue the war. Some have asked for British nationality, and this we are prepared to grant, without prejudice to other Frenchmen numbering some thousands who prefer to fight on as Frenchmen." •

After explaining that the rest of the crews would be repatriated to French ports, "if the French Government are able to make arrangements for their reception by agreement with their German rulers," Mr. Churchill came to a sad and tragic episode in his dramatic story, the events at Oran, the French naval base in Algeria. Here were two of the finest vessels of the French fleet—the Dunkerque and the Strasbourg—two great battle-cruisers of high speed and heavy armament, together with two older battleships and other vessels. The French admiral in command declined to parley with the representative of the British Admiralty, who left a document, declaring it impossible "for'us, your comrades until now, to allow your fine ships to fall into the power of the German and Italian enemy," and demanding that the French fleet should act in accordance with one of the following alternatives : First, sail with us and continue the fight to victory against Germany and ItalySecond, sail with reduced crews under our control to a British port; Third, if the French do not wish their forces to be used against Germany and Italy, sail to ports in the West Indies, and remain there till the end of the war. If these fair offers were refused, said Mr. Churchill, the French forces would have to be sunk within six hours. In the last resort, force was to be used to prevent the ships falling into enemy hands. A British squadron came on the scene, after an interval, under the command of ViceAdmiral Sommerville, who had brought off more than 100,000 Frenchmen from Dunkirk. The French admiral refused to comply with the terms, and Admiral Sommerville was ordered to complete his mission. Then ensued what must be the most tragic action in naval history, the destruction of part of a fleet which little more than a fortnight before had sailed side by side with the British Navy against a common foe and had borne an honour-

able part in nearly ten months of warfare at sea. Only one French ship, the Dunkerque, it is believed, escaped, and that after being struck by a torpedo launched from the air by one of the aeroplanes of the Ark Royal. The French casualties must have been heavy, Mr. Churchill said, with deep emotion, which affected his hearers in the House of Commons. His feelings may be understood after his long career in this war and the last alongside the French as comrades in arms. Such a conflict as the Battle of Oran seems little less than fratricidal in the light of the past, but what was the alternative, if not to provide the means for the enemy to inflict, perhaps, a mortal blow on

Britain

Mr. Churchill gave one other example of what the Bordeaux Government had done, and that was the release of over 400 German air pilots, prisoners of war in France, many brought down by the Royal Air Force. M. Reynaud had promised that they should be taken to England. And now they will be used to bomb England. Such wrongful deeds, said Mr. Churchill, could not be condoned by history, but he firmly believed that a generation of Frenchmen would arise to retrieve their national honour. Through "all the tragic events of the past few months Britain and her leaders have emerged with a clear conscience. There is nothing of which they need feel ashamed before the whole world. Britons, wherever they be, are with Mr. Churchill, heart and soul, in his concluding words:

I leave the judgment of our action in confidence to Parliament; I leave it to the nation; I leave it to the United States; I leave it to the world and history.