Before France surrendered to Germany, the British asked the French government to order its fleet to travel to the ports to which Britain belonged, as a condition for Britain to agree to a unilateral arbitrage in France. On the other hand, the Navy Minister Pound was giving Canning the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet.
An's order was: After France and Germany signed a peace treaty, the French fleet should be under our command as much as possible, otherwise they would be sunk.
On the same day, Churchill also approved the Navy to send battlecruisers "Hood", battleships "Determination" and aircraft carriers of the Royal Ark to Gibraltar to strengthen the Mediterranean fleet and use them to monitor the French fleet's operations.
On the day of France's surrender, the British unexpectedly launched a military operation against the French ships fled to the two military ports of Portsmouth and Plymouth, forcibly disarming more than 600 French warships anchored here, and dispatching armed forces
Personnel control it.
The entire disarmament operation went smoothly. Except for the Argo submarine, the rest of the French ships fell into the hands of the British. However, the Argo submarine was unwilling to surrender to Britain, they believed that
The British were taking advantage of the situation to rob. After killing two British sailors, the crew on the ship also launched torpedoes to the surrendered French ship next to them and began to dive, and successfully avoided the British encirclement and escaped.
Portsmouth Military Port.
On June 30, 1940, the fleeing French submarine arrived in the waters near the port of Oran, French Algeria. Due to the exhaustion of fuel, the submarine was forced to float. It was surrounded by two Italian destroyers patrolling the area. After negotiations,
The French finally agreed to surrender to the Italian Navy.
The Germans also received information that the British navy was trying to seize the French fleet, but they were powerless to do so. Their hands were not yet able to reach the French colonies far away in North Africa. The German navy immediately informed their Italian allies of the situation.
And hope that the Italians will use their sea and air forces to "protect" the French fleet hiding in North African ports.
"Ribbintrov arrived in Rome, and the Prime Minister agreed to Hitler's request and ordered us to rescue the French fleet that was threatened by the British. The exact information obtained from a captured French submarine confirmed that the British were fighting these
The idea of the warship.” Admiral Kafliani informed Fang Minghao of the latest situation. After all, the Chinese who had fought for three years had much more naval combat experience than the Italian Navy.
"This may not be a bad thing for the Italian Navy, and there is a chance in the middle." Fang Minghao thought for a while and said calmly, "A chance to seize the French fleet."
"You mean...we will follow the British?" The general quickly understood Fang Minghao's intention, but he still said with some concern, "If the French surrender to the British, wouldn't we be
Some danger?"
"This requires our joint efforts to put pressure on the French side and warn the French not to surrender to the British. On the other hand, the French Navy is unlikely to surrender to the British for the sake of face." Fang Minghao
"Our fleet set out after the British, and after they fought, they rushed to reinforce and could occupy the entire Oran in one fell swoop. In this case, there is a saying in China that is called: Mantis stalks the cicada, or the oriole is
back."
"Well, very vivid!" said Admiral Kafriyani, "I will report to Marshal Kamponi!"
Vichy, a small town in southern central France, is the location of the French provisional government. With the signing of the German-French armistice agreement, Marshal Betton, the hero of the First World War, once again became the leader of the French. The marshal bravely took on the defeat of France.
The guns and cannons on the land of France stopped, but the richest northern region of the country became occupied by the Germans. Not only that, the Germans also seized more than 1.5 million French officers and soldiers captured during the war
This made the Betten government, which retreated to southern France, think twice before thinking about foreign policy.
"The Germans remind us to pay attention to the British's plans? I'm afraid they are making some ideas." At the cabinet meeting of the Vichy government, Admiral Dallang did not believe that the Germans would have any kind intentions. The Germans just passed
The Armistice Commission conveyed an informal official note to France: According to information obtained by German intelligence, the British were preparing to seize or destroy the French fleet by force, especially those ships staying in the ports of African colonies. In response, the Germans also proposed that
A simple and direct suggestion was made: withdraw all the main ships of the French Navy to the French mainland port!
"But we must ensure that the entire fleet will not be controlled by the British, who have seized all French ships in Britain, and for the sake of the whole France, we have to endure it." Marshal Betan sat in the prime minister's position,
Weary, "The Germans seized our handle. If there were any accidents in the fleet in the overseas colonies, it was hard to imagine that Hitler would not retaliate against us."
"I will give orders to the fleet and will never let the British get these warships!" said Admiral Dallang, "but my opinion is that the fleet continues to stay where it is, to ensure our interests in Africa!"
"It's good, at least we still maintain a certain strength." Marshal Betan reminded the admiral cautiously, "It's important that we can't give the Germans the excuse to undermine the armistice agreement!"
"Well, I will order the ports to raise their vigilance to guard against the British attack!" said Admiral Dallang. In fact, he had the opportunity to leave France and go to any French colony. The French navy he created would absolutely obey.
His orders. But for the fate of the whole of France, the admiral did not choose to do so. In his opinion, the war would soon end.
He underestimated the British's determination to resist.
At the same time, the British Cabinet approved a report "The Significance of Actions against Certain French Ships" submitted by the Chief of Staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force, which proposed that the French fleets should be controlled or destroyed as soon as possible before returning to their homeland, because
Sooner or later, the Germans and Italians will use these warships to deal with Britain.
The British cabinet made a decision at 7 o'clock that night: "The actions against the French fleet concentrated in Port Orland should be implemented on July 3."
The code name given by the British Navy for this military operation to seize the French fleet by force was "Operation Dysfunction". The British Navy issued an order to this operation: All French fleets that Britain could approach would seize, control, or
Effectively make it useless or destroyed.
In the early morning of July 3, 1940, the Italian submarine "Marconi" which was conducting strict monitoring of British naval operations in the waters east of the Strait of Gibraltar suddenly discovered a large fleet of ships not far away. "Marconi
The ” immediately reported the latest information to the Italian Navy Command.
The Italian submarine then launched a less successful attack on the British. Because the British fleet was too fast, the two torpedoes it fired deviated from its target. The British fleet did not notice the attack.
The fleet quickly disappeared into the darkness of the night...