Reborn as a police officer in South Africa

The French fleet stationed at Mers-el-Kebir is powerful, with four battleships, one aircraft carrier, and six destroyers.

Among the four battleships, the two "Breton" class battleships were built before the last world war. They were modernized and refitted in 1932 and 1935 respectively, and their combat effectiveness was improved.

The two "Dunkirk" class battleships were built in 1931 and 1934 respectively. On the premise that France has not yet completed the "Richelieu" class, these two "Dunkirk" class battleships are the most powerful in France.

Big battleship.

The "Lieutenant Commander Teste" is a seaplane carrier. In 1925, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Teste, the advocate of French naval aviation, chief instructor of naval aviation, and commander of the Navy Training Air Force, was test-flying the then-new Alfa

The MiO-122 long-range bomber unfortunately crashed and died from severe burns. France then decided to name the ship after him.

The "Lieutenant Commander Test" has a full load displacement of 11,750 tons, a total length of 167 meters, and a maximum carrying capacity of 26 aircraft.

The British Fleet H has the battlecruiser HMS Hood, two battleships HMS Resolution and HMS Valiant, the newly commissioned aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers

.

In the early morning of July 3, Admiral James Somerville led Force H to Mers al-Kebir.

At this time, Darlan had not decided to join the Vichy government, but James Somerville could not wait any longer. The intelligence obtained by the British showed that if the Royal Navy launched an attack on the French Navy, the French Navy stationed in other areas, as well as the Italian Navy

will provide support to the French navy in Mers-el-Kebir.

At 7:50 in the morning, James Somerville issued an ultimatum to Jean Suir, the commander of the French fleet.

James Somerville asked the French navy to join the British army and continue the war against Germany.

Or use a small number of sailors to sail the French warships to British ports and demobilize other French sailors.

Or they could be "escorted" by the British army and use a small number of sailors to sail the warships to French East Indies or southern Africa, and then disarm.

If Jean Sur does not want to accept the above conditions, then Jean Sur can choose to scuttle all the warships.

Jean Sur did not want to accept these conditions.

So Jean Sule rejected James Somerville's request.

However, Jean-Sur also underestimated the insidiousness of the British. He did not realize that the British were determined to take action.

After rejecting James Somerville's ultimatum, the French fleet did not even get into battle formation, but remained at its berth as in peacetime.

At twelve o'clock in the morning, British fighter planes took off from the "Ark Royal" and deployed mines at the exit of the military port.

At this time, Jean Sur finally realized the seriousness of the situation. He replied to James Somerville and said that he had received an order to disarm and the French fleet was about to go to the French East Indies port to disarm.

James Somerville believed it,

Ordered to temporarily stop minelaying.

But soon, James Somerville received a telegram from London stating that battle alarms had been sounded in other French military ports, and French warships were igniting and weighing anchor, preparing to leave the harbor for combat.

The French battleships in the naval port also left their berths and entered combat mode.

Fighting broke out immediately.

At 4:30 p.m., the "Hood" was the first to set off and enter the combat position, followed closely by the battleships "Resolution" and "Valiant", as well as the light cruiser "Aretossa" and the "Enterprise" light cruiser.

Enter combat status.

At 4:54, the "Brave" opened fire first, followed by the "Hood", and the attack targets of both battleships were the "Dunkirk".

At this time, the exit of the naval port was blocked by British mines, and the French warships lacked sufficient movement space. The "Dunkirk" could only sail at a speed of 12 knots.

At 4:59, just five minutes after the battle began, the No. 2 turret of the "Dunkirk" was hit, and the No. 5 to No. 8 guns lost their combat capability. Only the No. 1 to No. 4 guns were left to continue fighting.

At this time, Jean-Sur must have hated the French warship designers. The quadruple turrets looked very visually impressive, but they did not perform well in actual combat.

At 5 o'clock, three more artillery shells hit the "Dunkirk" at the same time. One of them penetrated the deck, damaged the "Dunkirk" boiler, and detonated at least two 130-mm artillery shells.

The power of "Dunkirk" was seriously affected. The thick smoke generated after the shell exploded and the thick smoke generated by the damaged boiler were mixed together. The sailors working nearby suffered heavy casualties, and only a few sailors were able to escape.

Another shell hit the tail engine room, the "Dunkirk" carrier-based aircraft was destroyed, and aviation fuel leaked. Fortunately, it did not ignite, so it did not cause greater losses.

At this point, the "Dunkirk" lost its combat effectiveness and could only run aground on a nearby beach and withdraw from the battle.

Just as unlucky as "Dunkirk" was the "Provence".

The "Provence" has been firing at the "Hood" since the war began.

However, there seemed to be a problem with the gunnery skills of the sailors of the "Provence". During the entire battle, not a single shell hit the "Hood".

At 5:03, after the "Dunkirk" ran aground, the "Hood" and the "Brave" shifted their attack targets to the "Provence".

The "Provence" was quickly hit, the No. 4 turret caught fire, the No. 3 turret lost its steering ability, and the hull began to flood. Soon, the "Provence" was also forced to run aground.

Even more unlucky was the "Brittany".

Soon after the battle began, the ammunition depot was hit, and the violent explosion caused the "Brittany" to roll over.

The British still refused to let go of the "Bretagne" and completely destroyed the "Bretagne". At 5:09, the captain of the "Bretagne" ordered to abandon the ship, and only 145 people were rescued.

Compared with the unlucky "Dunkirk", "Provence", and "Brittany", the "Dunkirk" class sub-ship "Strasbourg" is like a miracle.

When the battle broke out, the "Strasbourg" had not even weighed anchor.

At five o'clock sharp, the "Strasbourg" did not leave its berth until the "Dunkirk" ran aground.

"Strasbourg" did not join the battle, but sailed directly to the port.

At this time, the port had been blocked by British mines. The "Hood" and the "Resolution" were busy dealing with the "Provence", and no one could care about the "Strasbourg".

"Strasbourg" used the severely damaged destroyer "Mogardo" as a cover, turned on the mine detection device on the warship, and miraculously managed to escape from the port smoothly.

At this time, the British warship finally noticed "Strasbourg".

"Strasbourg" was unwilling to fight and continued to escape after releasing smoke. The destroyer "Mogardo" also desperately attacked other British warships to cover "Strasbourg"'s escape.

"Ark Royal" discovered that "Strasbourg" had escaped and sent carrier-based aircraft to attack "Strasbourg".

However, the carrier-based aircraft of the "Ark Royal" carried all bombs at this time, not torpedoes.

"Strasbourg" escaped smoothly, not only unscathed, but the anti-aircraft weapons on the ship also shot down two British carrier-based aircraft.

At seven o'clock in the evening, it was getting dark, and the pilots of the "Ark Royal" thought they had hit "Strasbourg" at least twice.

It later turned out that the pilot was bragging.

For the British, the ballista operation was very successful. Only the French warship "Strasbourg" escaped, the other warships were either sunk or stranded. Only the "Lieutenant Commander Test" escaped with slight damage.

During Operation Ballista, 1,302 French navy officers and soldiers were killed, and only two British soldiers were injured.

All downed pilots were also rescued.

When the news reached the British mainland, the British cheered as if they had defeated the Germans.

The French are in a bad mood.

After "Operation Ballista", the French Navy issued a statement stating that the "Dunkirk" was only slightly damaged and would be able to return to the battlefield soon after repairs.

This news made the British very unhappy, so they sent out bombers and bombed "Dunkirk" again.

Now the French are no longer harsh.

The French don't say anything, but their hatred of the British has reached its extreme level.

After "Operation Ballista", the French navy did not dock in the UK, did not carry out repairs and modifications in the UK, and did not cooperate with the British army in operations. Even the Free France led by de Gaulle had a serious gap with the British army.

The British were emboldened and probably believed that De Gaulle could only recover his country by relying on Britain, so they ignored the feelings of the French and attacked the French navy.

Although de Gaulle was young, he was not the type to let the British bully him.

After "Operation Ballista", De Gaulle took the initiative to go to the Southern African Embassy in the UK, hoping to get help from Southern Africa.

Although the French mainland has fallen, unlike the Poles, De Gaulle still has resources in his hands.

France now has huge colonies in North Africa and East Asia.

Before the fall of Paris, the French transported the gold from Paris overnight and scattered it in French East Indies and French North African colonies.

This batch of gold was de Gaulle's confidence.

The French North African colonies had already announced that they would accept the leadership of the Free France. De Gaulle hoped that the federal government of Southern Africa could provide the Free France with the weapons and equipment it needed and send experienced instructors to train the Free French troops.

That's right.

Not to mention the Southern African Defense Force.

The troops that Free France had just recruited in the French North African colonies, even if they were trained to the level of the Southern African Union troops, could still compete with the Germans.

De Gaulle made a mistake. He did not have a clear understanding of the strength of the Southern African Union troops, and thought they were at the level of French servants.

Patton didn't talk nonsense and invited de Gaulle to go to southern Africa for an on-the-spot investigation.

De Gaulle readily accepted the invitation. Through the Dunkirk evacuation and Operation Ballista, De Gaulle had come to understand the nature of the British and that this ally was unreliable.