‘Operation Catapult’: A discussion of a new book by Bill Whiteside about the sinking of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940

The author will be in conversation with Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre.

The Associated Press called the Royal Navy’s July 1940 attack on the French fleet “the strangest of all naval actions in the world’s history,” and said Winston Churchill’s ensuing speech to the House of Commons was “like no other ever heard in its ancient halls.”

This little-remembered incident from Churchill’s second month as Britain’s Prime Minister briefly shocked the world. During a one-sided bombardment at Mers-el-Kébir in Algeria, the Royal Navy killed 1,257 French seamen.

In the view of Churchill biographer Andrew Roberts, “This well-researched, well-written and truly fascinating book pours fresh light onto Winston Churchill’s thoughts and actions as he had to make one of the toughest judgement calls of his career, one on which the fate of his country might rest.”

Operation Catapult: Winston Churchill and the British Attack on the French Navy at Mers-el-Kébir is published by the U.S. Naval Institute Press.

Bill Whiteside, a member of the International Churchill Society, is a writer and researcher focused on Winston Churchill and the Royal Navy. After a thirty-year career in sales and marketing, he shifted his interest to history, with a particular focus on a little-known naval clash during Churchill’s second month as Britain’s Prime Minister. This infatuation led to his book and numerous articles on the subject. Whiteside holds a BS in management from the University of Notre Dame and lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.