"When the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini was convinced that his German ally would win the Blitzkrieg against the Low Countries and France, he openly supported Adolf Hitler by declaring war on France and Great Britain on June 10, 1940. That day, he invaded southern France with a small force to conquer the Alps near the Franco-Italian border and the border regions near Nice. However, Mussolini also had set his sights on the French colonies in North Africa. On June 22, 1940, France signed an armistice with the representatives of the Third Reich. Three days later, France concluded a similar armistice with the Italians.
The French armistice with Hitler and Mussolini was a major setback for the British. Great Britain not only lost her ally France, but she got two more opponents. Not only Italy, but also Vichy-France, a region in unoccupied France, which collaborated with Nazi Germany under the authoritarian leadership of Marshal Philippe Pétain. One of the conditions in the armistice with Germany was that the French Fleet would be confined to their home ports, as was usual practice in peacetime. The British also considered the French surrender a unilateral breach of their agreement with France, concluded on March 26, 1940, to not individually agree on a ceasefire with Germany. Hence after June 22 Winston Churchill perceived the French Fleet as a potential threat. During Operation Catapult, the Royal Navy would even attack French Navy ships in colonial ports.
Churchill felt increasing pressure from the Axis Powers especially in the Mediterranean. The British needed free sea passage in this area to keep the supply lines open from Gibraltar to Egypt, which they controlled. As Great Britain was an island nation and a colonial power, Egypt was essential for her due to the presence of the Suez canal. From 1869 onwards, this waterway connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and therefore offered a direct route between the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. The Royal Navy also needed to maintain supremacy over the Italians in the Mediterranean because of her ally, Greece, which had been attacked by the Italians in October 1940 and later on by the Germans. For the Italians too, there was a need for free passage across the Mediterranean Sea for the vital supply routes to their colony of Libya…"
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goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
