Battle of Dakar
Battle of Dakar | |||||||
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Part of World War II | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Pierre Boisson | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
2 battleships damaged 2 cruisers damaged 6 torpedo planes lost |
1 destroyer grounded 2 submarines sunk 1 battleship damaged Danish freighter MS Tacoma sunk[2] 100 dead 182 wounded[3] 84 civilians dead 197 civilians wounded[4][5][6] |
The Battle of Dakar, also known as Operation Menace, was an unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the
Background
At the beginning of World War II, the French fleet in the Mediterranean was to have countered the Italian Navy, thereby leaving the British Royal Navy free to concentrate on the German warships in the North Sea and Atlantic.
After the
De Gaulle believed that he could persuade the French forces in Dakar to join the Allied cause. Much would be gained by this. Another Vichy French colony changing sides would have great political impact; the gold reserves of the
Thus the Allies decided to send a task force to Dakar: an aircraft carrier (HMS Ark Royal), two battleships (HMS Resolution and HMS Barham), five cruisers, ten destroyers, and several transports carrying 8,000 troops (the 101st Brigade of the Royal Marines and the 13th demi-brigade of the French Foreign Legion). Their orders were to negotiate with the French governor for a peaceful occupation, but if this was unsuccessful, to take the city by force.
The Vichy forces present at Dakar included the unfinished battleship Richelieu, one of the most advanced warships in the French fleet, then about 95% complete. She had left Brest, France on 18 June, just before the Germans reached the port. Before the establishment of the Vichy government, HMS Hermes, a British aircraft carrier, had been operating with the French forces in Dakar. Once the Vichy regime was in power, however, Hermes left port but remained on watch, and was joined by the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia. Aircraft from Hermes attacked Richelieu and had struck her once with a torpedo. The French ship was immobilized but was still able to function as a floating gun battery.
A force of three cruisers, comprising Gloire, Georges Leygues, and Montcalm, and three destroyers had left Toulon in southern France for Dakar just a few days earlier. Gloire was slowed by mechanical troubles and was intercepted by Australia, which ordered the French cruiser to sail for Casablanca. The other two cruisers and the destroyers outran the pursuing Allied cruisers and reached Dakar safely. Three Vichy submarines and several lighter ships were also at Dakar.
Battle
On 23 September, the
Also in the afternoon, an attempt was made to set Free French troops ashore on a beach at Rufisque, to the south-east of Dakar. However, Vichy reconnaissance aircraft spotted the attempted landing[8] and the attack failed due to fog and heavy fire from strongpoints defending the beach.[10] General de Gaulle declared he did not want to "shed the blood of Frenchmen for Frenchmen" and called off the assault.
During the next two days, the Allied fleet continued to attack the coastal defences and the Vichy forces continued to defend them. At first light on 24 September, six Blackburn Skuas set out to bomb Richelieu, but little damage was done.[11] Six Swordfish also attacked the coastal guns, but their attack also caused limited damage.[11] Another 6 Swordfish set out to bomb Richelieu, but one was hit by anti-aircraft fire and went down in flames.[11] The remaining aircraft then came under attack from three or four Curtiss Hawks and a dogfight ensued, in which two or three Swordfish were shot down.[12] In total, 4 of the 9 Swordfish aircrew were killed on the attack on the Richelieu.[12] Later in the afternoon 9 Swordfish and 3 Skuas set out on another attack on the Vichy ships, with two more Swordfish being lost to anti-aircraft fire.[12] Richelieu's gunners claimed to have shot down three of the British aircraft lost.[13] Throughout the day, Curtiss Hawks would attack British aircraft every time they attempted to carry out reconnaissance or attack French positions.[12]
Eventually, Richelieu was hit by two 15-inch shells from Barham. On the second day of action, guns 7 and 8 (in turret number 2) of Richelieu failed on the first round. The following day, the crews were switched and main turret number 1 was used. Propellant charges reconditioned from charges left by the battleship Strasbourg in Dakar, in winter 1939, were used but these gave a significant reduction in range and caused problems of fire control. Over the two days Richelieu used her 380mm main guns fired a total of 24 rounds, among them there seemed to be one near miss on Barham, based on Richelieu's operation journal and British maintenance archive.[14][15]
During these engagements, two Vichy submarines (Persée and Ajax) were sunk, and the destroyer L'Audacieux damaged.
The Allied fleet also suffered damage: Resolution was torpedoed by the submarine Bévéziers, and Barham was hit by two shells from the coastal defence batteries which had been manned by crew from the No 1 main turret of Richelieu.[16] Barham also took blast damage on the starboard lower bulge from a 380mm round fired by Richelieu that fell short. The structure was forced inwards for 7 feet, causing minor flooding.[14][15] The cruisers Australia and Cumberland were also damaged. On the final day of action several more dogfights occurred over the skies of Dakar, with the French Curtiss Hawks generally outgunning the British Swordfish and Skuas.[16]
Aftermath
Overall, the Battle of Dakar did not go well for the Allies. The Vichy forces did not back down. Resolution was so heavily damaged she had to be towed to Cape Town. In most of this conflict, bombers of the Vichy French Air Force (Armée de l'Air de Vichy), based in North Africa, bombed the British base at Gibraltar. On 24 September about 50 aircraft dropped 150 bombs while on 25 September about 100 aircraft dropped 300 bombs on the harbour and dockyards. Most of the bombs missed. Some damage was caused, and a few civilians were killed. The raid on 25 September also caused the sinking of the British armed trawler HMT Stella Sirius.[16][17] Finally, the Allies withdrew, leaving Dakar and French West Africa in Vichy hands.
The effects of the Allied failure were mostly political. De Gaulle had believed that he would be able to persuade the Vichy French at Dakar to change sides, but this turned out not to be the case, a result that damaged his standing among the Allies. Even his success in the
English novelist
Order of battle
Allies
- Aircraft carrier: Ark Royal
- Battleships: Barham, Resolution
- Heavy cruisers: Australia, Cumberland, Devonshire
- Light cruisers: Dragon, Delhi
- Destroyers: Echo, Eclipse, Escapade, Faulknor, Foresight, Forester, Fortune, Fury, Griffin, Greyhound, Inglefield
- Escorts/patrol boats: Bridgewater, Commandant Dominé, Commandant Duboc, Président Houduce, Milford, Savorgnan de Brazza
- Merchant ships: four Free French and one British
- Transports: (Polish ocean liner) and three more
- 101 Royal Marine Brigade
Vichy French
- Battleship: Richelieu
- Light cruisers: Georges Leygues, Montcalm
- Destroyers: L'Audacieux, Le Fantasque, Le Malin, Le Hardi
- Escorts/patrol boats: Calais, Commandant Rivière, D'Entrecasteaux, D'Iberville, Gazelle, Surprise
- Merchant ships: Porthos, Tacoma,[2][3] Sally Maersk (Danish freighter)
- Submarines: Ajax, Bévéziers, Persée
See also
- Military history of Gibraltar during World War II
- Syria-Lebanon Campaign
- Battle of Madagascar
References
- ISBN 978-0-7538-2705-5.
- ^ a b Marcussen, Jørgen (4 December 2010). "Handels- og Søfartsmuseets Årbogsindeks". Maritim og historisk information (in Danish). Retrieved 20 January 2011.
- ^ a b Lindbæk, Lise (1969). Norway's new saga of the sea: the story of her merchant marine in World War II. Exposition Press, p. 204. ISBN
- ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-034-5.
- ^ Williams, 152-154
- ^ Lippman, David H., "Debacle at Dakar", WWII History, July 2011, pp. 48–55.
- ^ a b c Sutherland and Canwell, p. 27
- ISBN 9780711004450.
- ^ Churchill, Winston Spencer (1949). The Second World War: the Finest Hour. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. pp. 489.
- ^ a b c Sutherland and Canwell, p. 28
- ^ a b c d Sutherland and Canwell, p. 29
- ISBN 978-0-434-86630-4.
- ^ a b "H.M. Ships Damaged or Sunk by Enemy Action". Retrieved 5 May 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781591144168.
- ^ a b c Sutherland and Canwell, p. 30
- ^ Naval-History.net
Further reading
- Churchill, Winston. The Second World War, Vol 2 Book II Chapter xxiv `Dakar`.
- Smith, Colin (2010). England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-1942. London: Phoenix. ISBN 978-0-7538-2705-5.
- Sutherland, Jon; Canwell, Diane, Vichy Air Force at War: The French Airforce that Fought the Allies in World War II (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2011), ISBN 978-1-84884-336-3
- Thomas, Martin. "The Anglo‐French divorce over West Africa and the limitations of strategic planning, June‐December 1940." Diplomacy and Statecraft 6.1 (1995): 252–278.
- Williams, John, The Guns of Dakar: September, 1940 (Heinemann Educational Books, 1976).
- Zolandez, Thomas (2006). "Question 35/01: Free French Capture of Camaroons and Gabon". Warship International. XLIII (3): 252–257. ISSN 0043-0374.