It is a sentence written by Sir Winston Churchill in his memoirs that is perhaps the most convincing clue and supports our “intimate conviction” today. In the tome “The Turning of Fate, Africa Saved, 1942-1943”, he refers to the convoy in these terms: “the tragedy of SL 125 was an acceptable accident”. The sentence is anodyne, almost insignificant, very brief and yet clear. In saying this, Churchill implies that it was this ‘acceptable accident’ that allowed Operation Torch to succeed and open a new front against the Germans, at Stalin’s request. The death of 400 men and the loss of 13 ships in the convoy would have allowed the landing of 100,000 troops to liberate Europe. Their sacrifice may have been “acceptable” in terms of the raison d’état and it is not for us to judge. But was it acceptable to cloak their disappearance in a hypocritical and guilty veil? In his memoirs, Churchill also says that the submarine danger was the only one that really troubled and tormented him during the war. It was no doubt a General Staff strategist who had devised this diabolical plan, but at the highest level of the British state, they were obviously aware of the details of Operation Torch and therefore of the sacrifice of convoy SL-125!
