Noppen, Ryan K./Tooby, Adam (Illustr.) Dakar 1940

Operation Menace and the Allied Disaster in West Africa

Faced with the ongoing German bombing raids, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was desperate to take the fight to the enemy and therefore set his sights on the French West African port of Dakar. Emboldened by the recent defection of some Vichy colonies to the Free French movement, Churchill asked Charles de Gaulle if he could win Dakar and its naval forces to their cause. Agreement was immediate, and British and French troops were dispatched to Dakar to bring the city back under Allied control. Operation Menace began on September 23, 1940, but the campaign unfolded almost entirely differently than Churchill and de Gaulle had anticipated. The Vichy forces put up determined and effective resistanceand the damaged Allied ships were withdrawn after three days without a single soldier having landed on Dakar's shore. Using detailed maps, historical photographs, and color illustrations, historian Ryan K. Noppen analyzes the difficult circumstances that led to the creation of Operation Menace. He illuminates how Churchill and de Gaulle, due to their impulsive and overly optimistic attitude, overlooked clear warning signs and examines how this failure later paved the way for the Allies' success in the war. The book also covers the naval and air battles around Dakar and Vichy France's retaliatory attacks on Gibraltar after the failure of Operation Menace.