Operation Catapult: A Most Disagreeable Task

Mers-el-Kebir Harbour

It was midnight on 25 June 1940 when the armistice, signed three days earlier by French and German representatives at Compiègne, came into force and ended the Battle of France. In a mere six weeks the Germans had conquered much of western Europe, including France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. These unfortunate countries would remain under German occupation for years, until their eventual liberation following the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. France, ho...