The Deadly Stroke

by Warren Tute and Warren Tute; Introduction John Colville

Book Overview

After the defeat of the French by the Germans, Churchill was determined that the French fleet would not fall into German hands so he ordered every French ship to be seized or surrender.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 069810501X
• ISBN13: 9780698105010
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
• Length: 221 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Britain sinks a French battle group during WWII.

Tute examines one of the overlooked actions of World War Two when the British sink a French battle group before it could fall into the hands of the Germans or Italians. Not much has been written about this action, since it was the British who were the aggressor in this action. The main characters in this episode were the British negotiator Holland and the French admiral of the four battleships based in Oran, Algeria. Tute follows the negotiations through to the deadly conclusion where 1300 French sailors died and three French battleships sank.I liked the way Tute described how the situation came to be with the collaspe of France in 1940. Some more material about when the British submarine sank the French cruiser would have also helped.