Dakar is on the West African coast and on the outbreak of the Second World War was used as a base by the French Navy. After the fall of France in the summer of 1940 the British government decided that French ships would not be used by the German Navy. On 23rd September 1940 the Royal Navy began bombarding Dakar. Losses were suffered by both sides and on 25th September Winston Churchill ordered the abandonment of the operation.