Biography admiral gensoul

General Marcel-Bruno Gensoul

Biography[]

Early life and World War I[]

Gensoul was born in 1880 in Southern France. He joined the French Navy in 1889 and quickly rose up in the ranks. During WW1 , Gensoul had already much naval experienced with many warships.

Interwar Period[]

He rose up quickly during this period and in 1932 he gained the rank of contre-admiral.

World War II[]

During World War II, Gensoul commanded the Force de Raid until the French surrender in 1940. He was then exported to the naval base of Mers-el-Kebir.

Mers-el-Kebir and Retirement []

Gensoul was part of the unsuccessful negation attempts with British Officer James Somerville. This escalated into the Battle of Mers-el-Kebir, Gensoul never commented. In 1942 he retired and he died in 1973.

References[]

1:https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=116

2:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel-Bruno_Gensoul

This article is about the WWII British naval raid. For other uses, see Battle of Mers El-Kebir (disambiguation).

1940 British attack on the French Navy

The attack on Mers-el-Kébir (Battle of Mers-el-Kébir) on 3 July 1940, during the Second World War, was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the naval base at Mers El Kébir, near Oran, on the coast of French Algeria. The attack was the main part of Operation Catapult, a British plan to neutralise or destroy French ships to prevent them from falling into German hands after the Allied defeat in the Battle of France. The British bombardment of the base killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five other ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed. The attack by air and sea was conducted by the Royal Navy, after France had signed armistices with Germany and Italy, coming into effect on 25 June.

Of particular significance to the British were the five battleships of the Bretagne and Richelieu classes and the two fast battleships of the Dunkerque class, the second largest force of capital ships in Europe after the Royal Navy. The British War Cabinet feared that the ships would fall into Axis hands. Admiral François Darlan, commander of the French Navy, assured the British, even after the French armistices with Germany and Italy that the fleet would remain under French control. Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet judged that the risk was too great. Darlan repeatedly refused British requests to place the fleet in British custody or move it to the French West Indies, out of German reach.

The British attack was condemned in France as an attack on a neutral nation and resentment festered for years over what was considered betrayal by a former ally. The French thought that their assurances were honourable and should have been sufficient. Marshal Philippe Pétain, who was appointed the Prime Minister of France

Marcel-Bruno Gensoul

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseMarcel-Bruno Gensoul was born in the city of Montpelier in southern France in 1880. He joined the French Navy in 1898 and was promoted to the rank of ensign in 1903. By the time WW1 began, he had experience serving aboard various warships in Asia, Mediterranean Sea, and Syria. During the inter-war years, he rose in rank steadily, reaching contre-amiral rank in Oct 1932 and full admiral rank in 1940. He was in command of the large Vichy-French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, French Algeria when British Admiral James Somerville's Force H arrived on Jul 1940, demanding submission. Refusing to concede, the British opened fire, killing 1,297 French sailors. Gensoul would lead several surviving warships to Toulon, France. He retired from active service in Oct 1942.

Marcel-Bruno Gensoul Interactive Map

Marcel-Bruno Gensoul Timeline