A secret telegram issued by Winston Churchill has revealed that the former British PM's decision to attack the French ships during the Second World War was one of the hardest he had been forced to take.
According to the Daily Express, Churchill was worried that German invader Adolf Hitler would take control of the potent French Mediterranean fleet and use the ships to raid England.
Churchill ordered the bombardment of the French ships in July 1940, killing almost 1,300 French sailors in the action, after they failed to respond to his warning of "scuttling the ships or sending them across the Channel".
Soon after the attack, British commanders-in-chief all over the world received a secret telegram from England's war office, explaining that every precaution should be taken in case the French declare war against Britain.
