Edward Abel-Smith

Local historian, documentary maker and podcaster Edward Abel Smith discusses one of the Second World War’s lesser known – but nonetheless pivotal – actions, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s resolve turns the tide of the war.

It’s Summer 1940 and Churchill watches in horror as France falls to the Germans in just six weeks, completing the Nazi conquest of mainland Europe. He faces an urgent question: what will happen to France’s mighty navy? Under German control it presents a major threat to Great Britain and could mark a point of no return. By the end of one of the most agonising but necessary military operations of the war, a large part of the French navy would be destroyed and nearly 1,300 French sailors would be dead, a number which would haunt all involved for the rest of their lives.

'A Hateful Decision reads like a thriller… Abel Smith has made an invaluable contribution to the history of the Second World War.’  Jonathan Dimbleby