An Insightful Study on the Complexity, Tragedy of Mers El-Kebir
In Ryan K. Noppen's new study, 'Mers El-Kebir 1940: Operation Catapult,' he breaks down the geopolitical and geostrategic complexities that resulted in the British feeling compelled to attack the French fleet in the Mediterranean. Perhaps this attack is known to many readers, but what may not be known is why the attack was deemed completely necessary by the British, but completely unnecessary by the French, and how the attack understandably led to heightened French bitterness toward the British, but also how the attack resulted in increased support from the Americans—a move that arguably saved the British Isles from capitulation.
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Readers may already have a preconceived notion about the Mers El-Kebir attack, siding with either the British or the French. Noppen, however, presents both sides: those of the political leaders and the military brass, but also those troops on the ground (or more accurately, sailors at sea) who were caught in the middle of this unfortunate event.
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