<Li> Franco - Thai War (Ko Chang) </Li> <Li> Syria--Lebanon </Li> <P> The Attack on Mers - el - Kébir (3 July 1940) also known as the Battle of Mers - el - Kébir, was part of Operation Catapult . The operation was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the base at Mers El Kébir on the coast of French Algeria . The bombardment killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed . </P> <P> The combined air - and - sea attack was conducted by the Royal Navy after France had signed armistices with Germany and Italy that came into effect on 25 June . Of particular significance to the British were the seven battleships of the Bretagne, Dunkerque and Richelieu classes, the second largest force of capital ships in Europe after the Royal Navy . The British War Cabinet feared already that France would hand the ships to the Kriegsmarine, giving the Axis assistance in the Battle of the Atlantic . Admiral François Darlan, commander of the French Navy, promised the British that the fleet would remain under French control but Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet judged that the fleet was too powerful to risk an Axis take - over . </P>

Where was the french fleet sunk in ww2