ABSTRACT
It was therefore essential that the French fleet should be brought under British control or sunk and, with this object, a force was being concentrated at Gibraltar for action at Oran:
The War Cabinet Minutes for 27 June, the day that Churchill had talked of a ‘Copenhagen-style’ operation, had not recorded the telling point about the French retaining their ships under the armistice terms but the ministers had decided on offering ‘non-violent options’ before,
and shortly afterwards, Somerville had been briefed for his command by Pound himself.8
