CHURCHILL'S DILEMMA

 

Winston Churchill is one of my favorite leaders. He was 65 years of age when the King appointed him to be prime minister of Great Britain, an age when most men are considering retirement, not a promotion. For Churchill, being the leader of his beloved nation was the accumulation of his destiny that he had held since he was a boy.

The purpose of this essay is not to examine his leadership qualities and weaknesses; the eager and curious reader can find these in numerous (almost too numerous in that the authors of contemporary Churchill biographies feel the need to explain why yet another book on this man is being published). Rather, my purpose here is to dive into an action he took early in his premiership that shines a light on his leadership thought and character.

Far too many so-called leaders view their leadership as primarily one of position to focus on themselves. Real leaders are active from their positions and authority to do what is best for their people with the focus on action. Churchill’s focus in World War II was to defeat Nazi Germany whom he considered to be a threat to Western Civilization. Having named himself defense minister in addition to being prime minister the epicenter of the British war effort, for better or for worse, on this man. He delegated domestic policies to other cabinet ministers.

Our story begins on May 10, 1940. On the day Churchill is promoted to Prime Minister from First Lord of the Admiralty (the ministerial head of the Royal Navy) to replace Neville Chamberlain, Nazi Germany invaded France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Denmark. The Belgians, Dutch, and Danes quickly fell to the Nazi onslaught and the French army and the supporting large British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were stunned by the rapid Nazi advance into France. The allied retreat was in full swing and by late May they were centered on Dunkirk surrounded by the sea on one side and the Nazis on the other three. Churchill ordered an evacuation expecting limited success. But between May 26 and June 3 a flotilla of Royal Navy warships and private yachts, trawlers, and fishing boats of all sizes rescued about 330,000 British and French soldiers in a massively successful Naval operation.  There was another successful, yet lesser-known sea evacuation several weeks later further south. But Churchill warned his people that wars are not won by evacuations.

As the war continued in France, the renowed elan (fighting spirit) of the French army and civilian morale were waning. Churchill personally flew to France several times to visit French leaders urging them to continue the fight. He even proposed a stunning union of Britain and France to fight as one nation against Nazi Germany. From these meetings Churchill sensed that France was done for and was not surprised by the French surrender on June 22 Britain was now alone.

The Nazis divided France into two sections- the fully occupied north and a pro-Nazi puppet government led by French collaborators headquartered in the city of Vichy, commonly known as Vichy France. While the Vichy administered French overseas colonies in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Caribbean, Nazi ideology and policies reigned. Now came Churchill’s dilemma and how he dealt with this dilemma could determine the outcome of the British war effort against Nazi tyranny.

The French fleet, nominally under Vichy control, was anchored at the naval base of Mers-el-Kebir near the city of Oran, Algeria in North Africa. The squadron there consisted of two battleships, two battle cruisers, and perhaps a dozen support ships. If these ships fell under Nazi control, then the Mediterranean Sea would eventuality fall under Nazi and Italian control, endangering British bases at Gibraltar and Malta, and more importantly, cut off Egypt and the Suez Canal, and make supplying India nearly impossible.

Churchill ordered Admiral James Somerville to assemble Task Force H to sail to Oran to conduct what Churchill later wrote of as “…a hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I have ever been concerned.” For if the French ships did not join the Royal Navy or did not sail to the United States or a French colonial territory for the duration of the war, or were not scuttled in the harbor, Task Force H had the authority to attack the French ships to disable them to keep them from possible Nazi control.

Task Force H arrived at Oran on the morning of July 3. After eight hours of negotiations proved futile, the British ships commenced their attack. Within ten minutes, three of the French capital ships were sunk or beached and 1,250 French sailors were killed.

What are we to make of Churchill’s decision? While some commentators lamented this attack as betrayal of a former ally, most concurred with Churchill that the action, while distasteful, was necessary to win the war. Even more important, a watchful President Roosevelt in the United States now knew that Churchill was serious about winning and that he, Roosevelt, could begin aiding Britain in small ways at first and then with increasing larger assistance until December 1941, when there was a full-blown alliance between the United States and Great Britain to defeat Nazi Germany and thus save Western Civilization.

As a leader of whatever organization that you lead, you will most probably not be called upon or feel the necessity of sinking ships and killing former allies. But deep in your heart of hearts, do you have the ability to make often personally painful decisions to assist your organization to stay focused on its mission?