Why Did Churchill Use Operation Catapult?

If Churchill wanted to impress Roosevelt by attacking the French Fleet, then he would not have put so much effort into getting the fleet from France. He would have also disregarded the Franco-German Armistice and Article VIII of the agreement. Nevertheless, Churchill did not follow this course of action, which makes it clear that his main priority from the beginning was to keep the French Fleet away from Germany. This is not to say that Churchill did not want to impress Roosevelt and did not use Operation Catapult as an opportunity to do it. He did. Churchill had attempted to persuade the U.S. to enter the war as early as May of 1940.52 Both U.S. assistance and stopping Germany from potentially seizing the fleet were vital to Britain remaining
in WWII. Yet, receiving aid from the United States was secondary to ensuring Germany did not seize the French Fleet. Aside from the debate over the reason for Churchill’s decision, the question over whether Churchill made a mistake by ordering the attack is important. Churchill ordered the Royal Navy to attack the French Fleet based on a supposed threat, but his assumption that the French Fleet was going to end up in Germany’s possession may have been inaccurate. The historian, Alistair Horne, stated that the idea of taking the fleet at Mers-el-Kébir was not an objective for the Germans.53 In fact, he claims no plan existed for a couple of reasons. Germany supposedly lacked an adequate amount of sailors necessary for the seizure of the French Fleet.54 Furthermore, Hitler pondered over keeping the British Empire intact, including the Royal Navy. Horne states that Hitler preferred for the French Fleet to be sunk; however, he was not opposed to neutralizing the fleet.55 Hitler may not have tried to take the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, but he did attempt to seize the ships located at Toulon. Hitler’s unsuccessful attempt demonstrated that Churchill was mistaken to not believe France would shield the fleet from Germany. Nevertheless, France showed that they would have at the naval
10 base at Toulon on November 27, 1942.56