EC0195

Poem is about when in WW2 Winston Churchill made the decision to destroy any French ships that refused to coe to England. This was the first battle, during 1940 at Mers-el Kebir. Written in blue ink, very faded in the first three stanzas.

Wikipedia - "The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, part of Operation Catapult and also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir, was a British naval bombardment of the French Navy at its base at Mers-el-Kébir on the coast of what was then French Algeria on 3 July 1940. A Royal Navy task force attacked the French fleet, after giving them a warning that they would do so. The French fleet was at anchor and had not been expecting an assault from the United Kingdom. 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 the UK feared the French fleet would end up as a part of the German Navy, a fate that would greatly increase the Kriegsmarine's size and combat ability. Although French Admiral François Darlan had assured Winston Churchill[2] the fleet would not fall into German possession, the British acted upon the assumption that Darlan's promises were insufficient guarantees.[3]
In response to the British attack at Mers-el-Kébir and another at Dakar, the French mounted air raids on Gibraltar. The Vichy government also severed diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. The attack remains controversial. It created much rancour between Vichy France and Britain, but it also demonstrated to the world and to the United States in particular, Britain's commitment to continue the war with Germany at all costs and without allies if need be.[4]"