So apologies to Cirrus if I go with my dad's opinion and not his.
Ah yes, the old adage that if you were there, and saw a tiny snapshot of an entire strategic battle, you know far more about what happened than any number of historians who have put together a picture through meticulous study of written records and interviewing many eye-witness accounts....
That reminds me. One of my father's favourite recollections concerned some Vichy French battlewagons lying in Oran harbour. When invited by the allies to come out of their hideyhole and help us defeat the axis lot, they showed their true colours and refused.
So the Royal Navy sank em!
There is actually a rather interesting story about how miscommunication lead to that disaster, which killed around 1000 French matelots and is still regarded in France as a gross betrayal by Britain. In fact the French had little choice but to keep their ships in Oran as they had no fuel and would have been sunk by the Germans immediately if they were to leave, and they also realised that they risked being sunk by the RN if they allowed their vessels to fall under control of the Germans. They therefore signed a compromise deal with the Germans - they would be allowed to keep their ships in Oran harbour, under French flag, they would not attempt to leave, and in return the Germans would not attack them. An agreement was signed to this effect with the Germans, and a copy was sent to London. Unfortunately, the Admiralty mis-translated the French verb "controller" to mean "control", and they thought the truce allowed the Germans to control the fleet. In fact, "controller" means to check, and it just meant that the Germans would check that the fleet did not leave Oran. The rest is history...