Dakar 1940
Operation Menace and the Allied Disaster in West Africa
Dakar 1940
Operation Menace and the Allied Disaster in West Africa
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Description
A detailed analysis of the Allied failure in Dakar against Vichy France in September 1940.
With continuing bombing from the Germans, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was desperate to take the fight to the enemy and so he set his eyes on the French West African port of Dakar. Emboldened by the recent defection of some of the Vichy colonies to the Free French movement, Churchill asked Charles de Gaulle if he could rally Dakar and its naval forces to their cause. It was readily agreed and British and French troops were sent to Dakar to bring it back into the Allied sphere.
Operation Menace began on 23 September 1940, but the campaign unfolded almost completely contrary to Churchill and de Gaulle's expectations. The Vichy troops were a determined and effective resistance – and the damaged Allied vessels were withdrawn after three days, without landing a single troop on Dakar's shores.
With detailed maps, period images and colourful artwork, historian Ryan K. Noppen analyses the trying circumstances from which Operation Menace was born, including how the impulsive and overly optimistic attitudes of Churchill and de Gaulle overlooked clear warning signs, and examines how this failure would help prepare the Allies for success later in the war. This book also explores the naval and air battles around Dakar as well as Vichy France's retaliatory attacks on Gibraltar in the wake of Operation Menace.
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Table of Contents
Chronology
Opposing Commanders
Opposing Forces and Orders of Battle
Opposing Plans
The Campaign
Aftermath
The Battlefield Today
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | 21 Jan 2027 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 96 |
| ISBN | 9781472867971 |
| Imprint | Osprey Publishing |
| Illustrations | Colour illustrations throughout, including battlescene artworks, maps, 3D diagrams and photographs. |
| Series | Campaign |
| Short code | CAM 440 |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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