Mers & Copenhagen.

This is coolbert:

Thanks to the tips from Ralph Raico through Lew Rockwell and "Secrets of the Dead".

1. Mers el Kebir - - 1940.

The British Royal Navy [RN] with no real provocation attacking and destroying in port a goodly portion of the French navy, then under command and control the Vichy. An episode from the Second World War [WW2] CONTROVERSIAL a threat on paper as perceived necessitating action even at the time regretted by the English participants.

"The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir . . . was a British Navy bombardment of the French Navy at Mers-el-Kébir on the coast of what was then French Algeria on 3 July 1940. A British naval task force attacked the French fleet, which was at anchor and not expecting an assault from Britain, France's presumed ally. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,297 French servicemen, the sinking of a battleship and the damaging of five other ships. France and the United Kingdom were not at war but France had signed an armistice with Germany, and Britain feared the French fleet would end up as a part of the German Navy"

France the "presumed ally" NOW neutral and NOT at war with Great Britain! An ultimatum having been issued, the French not responding with sufficient and urgent alacrity, warships moored at harbor attacked and sunk.

EVEN THE REMOTEST POSSIBILITY THOSE WARSHIPS MIGHT BE USED AGAINST THE RN [SEIZED BY THE GERMAN AND INCORPORATED INTO THE GERMAN NAVY] NECESSITATING RAPID, DRAMATIC AND CATASTROPHIC [FOR THE FRENCH] ACTION!!

There of course BEING PRECEDENT FOR MERS! From a much earlier period, the concerns of the British most similar!

2. The Battle of Copenhagen [1807]. NOT to be confused with the Battle of Copenhagen [1801]. 1801 made famous by the destruction and capture of the Danish fleet by Nelson. Nelson of the Bath, Nelson of the Nile, Nelson of Trafalgar, Nelson of COPENHAGEN!

"The Second Battle of Copenhagen . . . (1807) was a British terror bombing of Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet"


"In 1807, units of the British navy entered Copenhagen harbor, bombarded the city, and seized the Danish fleet. At the time, Britain was at peace with Denmark, which was a neutral in the Napoleonic wars. The British claimed that Napoleon was about to invade Denmark and seize the fleet himself. As they explained in a manifesto to the people of Copenhagen, Britain was acting not only for its own survival but for the freedom of all peoples."

The English reacting to a perceived threat based upon "intelligence" and reports, the mere threat even if unfounded again necessitating drastic action, perhaps even ill-conceived.

Naval bombardment of Copenhagen resulting in substantial damage to civilian property, that Danish fleet destroyed in the process, the use of same denied to Napoleon, a neutral nation [Denmark] presented with an ultimatum and subsequent ill-treatment by an erstwhile ally!!

As it was for the French in 1940, so it was for the Dane in 1807!!

C'est le vie and c'est le guerre!!

coolbert.