The Royal Navy fires on the French fleet
1940 · Event
Rather than risk France's warships passing to Hitler, Churchill orders Force H to present the fleet at Mers-el-Kébir with an ultimatum — and, when it expires, to open fire on yesterday's ally. 1,297 French sailors die in minutes. The world, especially Washington, concludes Britain will stop at nothing.
On these timelines: 1940: Britain's Darkest Hour, World War II, Master, France, England
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Around 1940
- Berlin Airlift (1948)
- Battle of Stalingrad (1942)
- Apartheid (1948)
- Indian independence and Partition (1947)
- Manhattan Project (1942)
- Korean War (1950)
- Spanish Civil War (1936)
- Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany (1933)
- Chinese Civil War (resumed) (1945)
- World War II (1939)