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RELATIVES of 1,297 French sailors killed by Britain in the Second World War want the UK to fund a memorial 80 years after the controversy.

The attack at the Algerian port of Mers el Kebir was ordered by Winston Churchill and is contentious to this day.

Churchill told the Royal Navy to deliberately attack the French fleet to avoid it falling into German hands and prevent Hitler from using it against Britain.

He later wrote: “This was the most hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I’ve ever been concerned.”

The attack on four battleships, six destroyers and a seaplane tender began on July 3, 1940, and was finished on July 8 – 80 years ago today. Many French families viewed the attack as an act of betrayal by Britain. Two British airmen also died when their plane was shot down.

The killing of so many

WINSTON CHURCHILL ON ORDERING THE ATTACK

French personnel was so sensitive it was never reported in the UK until well after the war. Now a £100,000 memorial is planned in the Brittany port of Brest, where many of the dead came from, to be unveiled next year.

Jean-Aristide Brument, 75, chairman of the Association of Old Sailors and Families of Victims of Mers el Kebir, is asking Britain to contribute. He said: “It would be some form of reparation. The attack on the French fleet by a British squadron left a deep wound.

“Mers el Kebir deserves to be better known to the public on both sides of the English Channel. We must maintain the memory of these men.”

War historian Peter Jones said: “Eighty years on, the bombing at Mers el Kebir still has the power to shock. As funds are being raised for a memorial to the sailors who perished, a British contribution to the cause would be the right thing to do.”

It’s the most hateful decision in which I’ve ever been concerned