Atlantic Warfare Today : 435 



Oran in North Africa, It was anticipated that the French officers were 

 sympathetic with the British and with the resistance forces headed 

 by General Charles de Gaulle, then in London. When surrender was 

 refused the British sank three ships and captured the remainder of 

 the French fleet. 



The fate of the British Navy at this juncture was determined not by 

 its own activity but by that of the Royal Air Force. Here was another 

 example of a situation where one type of warfare had to be solved 

 before another type could swing into action. While the English and 

 German fighter planes and bombers were flashing back and forth 

 across the Channel in almost continuous raids, no self-respecting 

 naval vessel of either side wanted to be caught in these waters. 



The Battle of Britain which was fought day and night in the air 

 lasted until the end of October. Estimates vary but in general it appears 

 that somewhere around 2,400 German planes were destroyed, which 

 this time contrasted with the loss of 800 British planes. The loss of 

 life and of property in Britain had been very severe but the victory 

 in the air was decisive. It was clearly demonstrated that Germany was 

 not going to establish aerial control over the Channel and that 

 without that control she could not hope to succeed in an invasion. 



Occasionally small naval engagements turned up in various widely 

 scattered parts of the world to illustrate the widespread character of 

 modern warfare. A familiar name turned up in the news in Decem- 

 ber 1939. Many who were alive during World War I remembered the 

 gallant fight to the death of Admiral Spec when he was cornered in 

 the Falkland Islands. In his memory a large German warship had 

 been christened the Graf Spee and assigned to operations in the South 

 Atlantic. After receiving some severe damage in an engagement with 

 British cruisers she made for the port of Montevideo. Finding no 

 refuge here her commander preferred to blow her up rather than to 

 surrender her. 



An individual German battleship surprised the world again in the 

 spring of 1941. The British believed that they had the major elements 

 of the German fleet surrounded, cut off from the open Atlantic and 

 under almost continuous observation. However, on May 24, one of 

 the largest and newest of German battleships, the BismarcJ{, eluded 

 the blockade and made her presence felt by sinking the British dread- 

 naught Hood. The Bismarc\ escaped from the action and for a time 

 it appeared that the British forces had completely lost contact with 

 her. However, she was relocated and sunk by a combined naval and 

 air attack on May 27. 



