Operation Menace: The Dakar Expedition and the Dudley North Affair

By Arthur J Marder and Arthur J. Marder

Book Overview

Continuing on from Arthur Marder's previous book, From the Dardanelles to Oran: Studies of the Royal Navy in Peace 1915-1940 this next volume investigates the Allied expedition of September that year, with De Gaulle present, which unsuccessfully attempted to break the French at Dakar away from the Vichy Government. A pet operation of Prime Minister Churchill, the operation was undertaken against all advice, and it turned out to be a fiasco. In the author's words, "Menace exemplified, in its genesis, planning, and execution, all that can go wrong in warfare; an operation fouled up by unforeseen contingencies, the accidents of war, and human error, and against a background of undue political interference, inadequate planning, and half-baked co-operation between Allies." Using Admiralty and Cabinet papers, as well as private sources of information, Marder weaves a skilled course through all the complex material to produce a masterly case-study of how an operation is mounted and how it can go disastrously wrong. It is a classic, tragicomic illustration of the fog of war.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591147255
• ISBN13: 9781591147251
• Release Date: July 2016
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"