Editing Free France (section)

==Mers El Kébir and the fate of the French Navy==
{{see also|Free_French_Naval_Forces|l1=Free French Naval Forces}}

After the fall of France, British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] feared that, in German or Italian hands, the ships of the French Navy would pose a grave threat to the Allies. He therefore insisted that French warships either join the Allies or else adopt neutrality in a British, French, or neutral port. Churchill was determined that French warships would not be in a position to support a German invasion of Britain, though he feared that a direct attack on the French Navy might cause the Vichy regime to actively ally itself with the Nazis.<ref name="Hastings, Max, p.80" />

[[File:Strasbourg-2.jpg|thumb|right|A very modern {{sclass|Dunkerque|battleship}} commissioned in 1937, {{ship|French battleship|Strasbourg||2}} was potentially a quite substantial threat to British control of the sealanes were she to fall into Axis hands.]]
[[File:Rubis.jpg|thumb|right|Submarine {{ship|French submarine|Rubis|1931|2}}. With 22 ships sunk (12 of them German men-of-war) on 22 operational patrols, she achieved the highest kill number of the [[FNFL]].]]
On 3 July 1940, Admiral [[Marcel-Bruno Gensoul]] was provided an ultimatum by the British: 
{{blockquote|It is impossible for us, your comrades up to now, to allow your fine ships to fall into the power of the German enemy. We are determined to fight on until the end, and if we win, as we think we shall, we shall never forget that France was our Ally, that our interests are the same as hers, and that our common enemy is Germany. Should we conquer we solemnly declare that we shall restore the greatness and territory of France. For this purpose we must make sure that the best ships of the French Navy are not used against us by the common foe. In these circumstances, His Majesty's Government have instructed me to demand that the French Fleet now at Mers el Kebir and [[Oran]] shall act in accordance with one of the following alternatives;

(a) Sail with us and continue the fight until victory against the Germans.

(b) Sail with reduced crews under our control to a British port. The reduced crews would be repatriated at the earliest moment.

If either of these courses is adopted by you we will restore your ships to France at the conclusion of the war or pay full compensation if they are damaged meanwhile.

(c) Alternatively if you feel bound to stipulate that your ships should not be used against the Germans lest they break the Armistice, then sail them with us with reduced crews to some French port in the [[West Indies]]—[[Martinique]] for instance—where they can be demilitarised to our satisfaction, or perhaps be entrusted to the United States and remain safe until the end of the war, the crews being repatriated.

If you refuse these fair offers, I must with profound regret, require you to sink your ships within 6 hours.

Finally, failing the above, I have the orders from His Majesty's Government to use whatever force may be necessary to prevent your ships from falling into German hands.<ref>Jordan, John and Robert Dumas (2009), ''French Battleships 1922–1956'', p 77.</ref>}}

Gensoul's orders allowed him to accept internment in the West Indies,<ref>Kappes, Irwin J. (2003) [http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/merselkebir.aspx Mers-el-Kebir: A Battle Between Friends] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312123451/http://militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/merselkebir.aspx |date=12 March 2016 }}, Military History Online</ref> but after a discussion lasting ten hours, he rejected all offers, and British warships commanded by Admiral [[James Somerville]] attacked French ships during the [[attack on Mers-el-Kébir]] in Algeria, sinking or crippling three battleships.<ref name="Hastings, Max, p.80" /> Because the Vichy government only said that there had been no alternatives offered, the attack caused great bitterness in France, particularly in the Navy (over 1,000 French sailors were killed), and helped to reinforce the ancient stereotype of ''[[Perfidious Albion|perfide Albion]]''. Such actions discouraged many French soldiers from joining the Free French forces.<ref name="Hastings, Max, p.126"/>

Despite this, some French warships and sailors did remain on the Allied side or join the FNFL later, such as the mine-laying submarine {{ship|French submarine|Rubis|1931|2}}, whose crew voted almost unanimously to fight alongside Britain,<ref>Hastings, Max, p.125</ref> the destroyer {{ship|French destroyer|Le Triomphant||2}}, and the then-largest submarine in the world, {{ship|French submarine|Surcouf||2}}. The first loss of the FNFL occurred on 7 November 1940, when the patrol boat ''Poulmic'' struck a mine in the English Channel.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/1015.html Paul Vibert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112171950/http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/1015.html |date=12 January 2014 }} on ordredelaliberation.fr</ref>
[[File:General Charles de Gaulle on board the FFS ROSELYS at Greenock, Scotland, during his visit to units of the Free French Navy to present medals, 24 December 1942. A13587.jpg|thumb|Charles de Gaulle on board the French corvette ''[[French corvette Roselys|Roselys]]'' at Greenock, Scotland, 24 December 1942]]
Most ships that had remained on the Vichy side and were not [[scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon|scuttled with the main French fleet in Toulon]], mostly those in the colonies that had remained loyal to Vichy until the end of the regime through the [[Case Anton]] Axis invasion and occupation of the ''zone libre'' and Tunisia, changed sides then.

In November 1940, around 1,700 officers and men of the French Navy took advantage of the British offer of repatriation to France, and were transported home on a hospital ship travelling under the [[International Red Cross]]. This did not stop the Germans from torpedoing the ship, and 400 men were drowned.<ref>Hastings, Max, p. 125-126</ref>

The FNFL, commanded first by [[Admiral]] Emile Muselier and then by [[Philippe Auboyneau]] and Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu, played a role in the liberation of French colonies throughout the world including [[Operation Torch]] in French north Africa, escorting [[convoys]] during the [[Battle of the Atlantic]], in supporting the [[French Resistance]] in non-Free French territories, in [[Operation Neptune]] in Normandy and [[Operation Dragoon]] in Provence for the liberation of mainland France, and in the [[Pacific War]].

In total{{citation needed|date=June 2014}} during the war, around 50 major ships and a few dozen minor and auxiliary ships were part of the Free French navy. It also included half a dozen [[battalion]]s of naval infantry and commandos, as well as [[Free French Naval Air Service|naval aviation squadrons]], one aboard {{HMS|Indomitable|92|6}} and one [[squadron (aviation)|squadron]] of anti-submarine [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|Catalina]]s. The French merchant marine siding with the Allies counted over 170 ships.