There were no crowds to greet him, when just before 6pm on the evening of Friday, May 10, 1940, Winston Churchill took the short car journey from his offices at Admiralty House along the Mall to Buckingham Palace. The British parliament, press and public were as yet unaware that Neville Chamberlain had resigned as their Prime Minister and that Churchill was about to replace him.

Churchill had not chosen to become Prime Minister - though it was a role he was never going to refuse. Nor was he elected to the office. His ascendancy was the result of a unique political and military crisis which left him with no option but to form a national government.

Crucially, Churchill also became, with the King's approval, the country's first Minster of Defence. This was his first real decision as war leader and it was one that set the tone for his war premiership - Churchill had deliberately placed himself at the heart of the British war machine. He was the engine driving the whole vehicle.

This was a pivotal move. The result was a much closer contact between Churchill and his most senior commanders, whom as Minister of Defence, he could and would summon independently.

"Once in power, Churchill's basic character did not change," says Packwood. "His bulldog determination to take the fight to the enemy, his forceful nature and his sheer bloody mindedness feature prominently in the accounts of those working most closely with or for him."

Barely two months after becoming Prime Minister, and following hard on the heels of what Churchill called the 'colossal military disaster' at Dunkirk, he was faced with an early and deadly test of that resolve and fighting spirit - as the collapse of France led to an enormous change in strategy for the British war effort.

Battleship Strasbourg under fire. Battleship Strasbourg under fire.

In the six weeks from 10 May 1940, German forces defeated Allied forces and conquered France, Belgium Luxembourg and the Netherlands, bringing land operations on the Western Front to an end until June 6 (D-Day) in 1944.

As the ability of France and her allies to withstand the relentless German assault became increasingly hopeless, an enormous problem began to present itself to Churchill, his war leaders and the Allied war effort.

At the fall of France, it possessed the fourth largest navy in the world, and some of the newest and most powerful battleships ever built. If the French fleet were combined with the German and Italian fleet, Britain would lose control of the Mediterranean, her sea routes to the Empire would be threatened and and her ability to enforce a blockade of Europe and resist invasion would be gravely threatened.

The initial hope that the French fleet would fight on under a French administration in North Africa, move to British ports or scuttle itself. Despite making representations on all of the above, on June 22, the French and Germans met to conclude their armistice talk and the British were shut out of all consultations with their former ally.

Alarmed, Churchill's war cabinet met to consider the various locations of the French fleet - with powerful ships moored in Alexandria, Casablanca, Dakar and Oran.

Churchill was particularly concerned about the modern battleships Richelieu and Jean Bart, which he felt had the power to 'alter the whole course of the war' and stated that 'in no circumstances whatsoever should these ships be allowed to escape'.

"Rather than that we should have to fight and sink them." Winston Churchill

Thereafter his view did not waver. The British impounded those French ships in France, hemmed in the force at Alexandria and monitored movements elsewhere.

The war cabinet met to discuss the issue three times on June 24 and identified the fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, just outside Oran, with the battlecruisers Dunkerque and Strasbourg, two other capital ships and a large force of destroyers and submarines as the most important units to be eliminated.

The decision to act was taken on June 27, with the date for action set as July 3, the earliest date a large British naval force could be within striking distance.

The French ships in British waters would be seized, those in foreign waters would be given the option of sailing with the British, sailing to British or overseas ports, putting themselves beyond use, or being sunk.

The operation was called Catapult, and the French government were not forewarned so as to preserve the crucial element of surprise.

The French destroyer Mogador running aground, after having been hit by a 15-inch shell. Credit: Imperial War Museum. The French destroyer Mogador running aground, after having been hit by a 15-inch shell. Credit: Imperial War Museum.

"Churchill watched the events unfold from London, sitting up late into the night with the Chiefs of Staff and the First Sea Lord as reports came in," says Packwood. "Although the escape of some French ships, including Strasbourg, meant that the operation was not a complete military success, one battleship was sunk, two more were damaged, as well as four destroyers being put out of commission."

The 'success' came with a heavy loss of life, however. As the British guns fell silent, 1,297 French sailors and servcemen has been killed and a further 350 wounded.

Churchill, a former First Sea Lord, was visibly affected according to Jock Colville, Churchill's Assistant Private Secretary and one of his closest confidantes. He overheard the Prime Minister say 'This is heartbreaking for me'.

Blackburn Skuas, torpedo bombers used to attack the French fleet, take off from HMS Ark Royal. Credit: Imperial War Museum. Blackburn Skuas, torpedo bombers used to attack the French fleet, take off from HMS Ark Royal. Credit: Imperial War Museum.

"How does Churchill emerge from the fall of France and the sinking of the French fleet, his first crisis?" asks Packwood. "There were clearly times when the pressure got to him. There were angry outbursts about the French and their fall to Germany."

The only known letter to survive from Clementine Churchill to her husband in 1940 is her famous missive of June 27, 1940, which reveals something of the pressure Churchill found himself under.

"One of the men in your entourage (a devoted friend) has been to me & told me that there is a danger of your generally being disliked by your colleagues and subordinates because of your rough sarcastic and overbearing manner...



"I must confess that I have noticed a deterioration in your manner & you are not as kind as you used to be." Clementine Churchill

"Few leaders in modern history can have been faced with such a baptism of fire," says Packwood. "Churchill could not have won the Battle of France, but he could have been led into negotiations with the enemy or succumbed to rash military promises that would have lost the Battle of Britain.

"That he avoided these pitfalls is testament not just to his resolve, but also his skills of political management and timing.

"But what of victory? In July 1940, it must have seemed a distant prospect. Especially as the bombs started to fall on Britain."