HISTORY LESSONS: Winston Churchill’s most difficult decision

When you consider how many gut-wrenching decisions British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had to make during World War II — many of which involved sending young men to their deaths — the decision he called “the most difficult I had to make” must have been a doozy. And it was, but he made it this week (July 3) in 1940 without hesitation. He considered this decision crucial to the survival of the British Navy, which was crucial to the survival of Great Britain.

At the time, Britain’s ally France had just signed a surrender agreement with Nazi Germany that put Germany, whose army had overrun France a month earlier, in control of the country. Germany had permitted France to establish an “independent” government in the French town of Vichy under Henri Petain, but should push come to shove, Churchill doubted Petain or any member of the Vichy government would defy the Germans on any significant matter, which left Churchill with a problem. What was to become of France’s still-powerful navy, which had been unaffected by Germany’s defeat of France?

Churchill tried to persuade Vichy leaders to either order the French fleet to sit out the war in a neutral port, or deliberately scuttle the ships, or disarm them. His nightmare was that Germany would seize the French navy and use it against the British in the upcoming Battle of Britain.

For their part, Vichy leaders assured Churchill that they would never let Germany use their ships against Britain, but Churchill wasn’t convinced. “Do I trust my former allies and longtime friends, the French, to keep their word?” he must have wondered. “Or does the fact that they so readily capitulated to Nazi Germany and are now German puppets make them no longer trustworthy?”

Churchill decided he couldn’t take the risk. He ordered British Admiral James Somerville to sail to the Algerian port of Mers-el-Kebir, where a large French fleet was stationed, and give the French six hours to either scuttle the fleet or capitulate, or the British Navy would destroy the fleet. When the deadline passed with no resolution, Britain’s navy opened fire, destroying the French fleet and killing some 1,500 French sailors.

In the aftermath, Churchill was roundly criticized in Britain and angrily denounced in France, but by his decision he had served notice to the world that here was a tough-minded leader who planned to save his country whatever the cost. And as it happened, one of those most impressed by Churchill’s decision was America’s president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had previously wondered whether Britain possessed the fortitude to stay the course against Germany.

Maybe, FDR mused, giving aid to Britain would not be a waste of time and money after all.