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Operation
Torch
Operation Torch (from November 8, 1942) was the
Anglo-American invasion of north-west Africa in WW2
(World War 2).
The Soviet Union had been putting pressure on the United
States and Britain to begin operations in Europe, a
second front to relieve the pressure on the Russian
forces. The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
favoured an attack on northern Africa followed by an
invasion of Europe in 1943, while American president
Roosevelt suspected the Africa operation would rule out
an invasion of Europe in 1943 but agreed to support
Churchill.
The Allies planned an Anglo-American invasion of
northwestern Africa - Morocco and Algeria, territory
nominally in the hands of Vichy France. The French had
around 60,000 soldiers in Morocco as well as coastal
artillery, a handful of tanks and aircraft, with ten or
so warships and 11 submarines at Casablanca. The Allies
believed that the French forces would not fight, although
they harboured suspicions that the French navy would bear
a grudge over the British action at Mers-el-Kebir (Oran)
in 1940. The Allies co-opted a French General, Henri
Giraud, into their force as a potential commander of the
French troops following invasion. The Allies intended to
advance rapidly eastwards into Tunisia and attack the
German forces in the rear. General Dwight Eisenhower
gained command of the attack, with headquarters in
Gibraltar
Table of contents
1 The Landings
1.1 Casablanca
1.2 Oran
1.3 Algiers
2 After the battle
The Landings
The Allies planned to capture the key ports from Morocco
to Algeria simultaneously, targetting Casablanca, Oran
and Algiers.
Casablanca
The Western Task Force comprised all-American units, with
Major General George Patton leading the first assault
force and Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt heading the
naval operations.
The naval support consisted of five aircraft carriers,
three battleships, seven cruisers, 38 destroyers, plus
transport, support and other vessels. The three intial
attack groups numbered 7,000, 19,500, and 9,500 soldiers;
some of the force shipping directly from America to the
battlefield. The assault force departed from Hampton
Roads on October 24, meeting the rest of the force
mid-Atlantic.
The initial forces landed on November 8, 1942 at Safi,
Fedala, and Mehedia-Port Lyautey to sporadic French
resistance. Pro-Allied forces had attempted a coup on the
night of the 7th, but with no success. Safi, to the west,
fell the most easily - on the first afternoon. The
Americans met tougher resistance at Port Lyautey,
although the French defence collapsed suddenly on the
10th. The landing at Fedala, nearest to the target of
Casablanca, formed potentially the most risky part of the
operation - a sortie by the French navy could reach the
landing sites within minutes, and so most of the Allied
naval strength stood arrayed against this threat. Weather
made the initial landings at Fedala tricky, while around
Casablanca the French batteries soon opened fire on the
US naval vessels and dogfights between French and US navy
fighters occured - the Allies sank or severely damaged
four French destroyers and three submarines. The intial
landing at Fedala did not even finish until the 9th, and
rather than advance, the American forces hung back.
The Vichy deputy leader Jean-François Darlan was present
in Casablanca, and negotiations opened with him over a
ceasefire. In France Hitler threatened Pétain that he
would have Vichy invaded if the French did not resist.
Darlan agreed to a surrender on November 11 and the
Germans occupied Vichy France. Most of the French troops
in Africa followed Darlan's lead but certain elements
instead joined the German forces in Tunisia.
After the battle
Eisenhower, with the support of Roosevelt and Churchill,
appointed Darlan as the leader of French North Africa.
Charles de Gaulle of the Free French responded with fury.
The problem vanished when a local French anti-Nazi,
Ferdinand Bonnier de la Chapelle, assassinated Darlan on
December 24, 1942. Henri Giraud, who had been hanging
around since November, became the new leader.
After consolidating in French territory the Allies struck
into Tunisia. Forces in the British 1st Army under
General Kenneth Anderson almost reached Tunis before a
counterattack at Djedeida by German troops under General
Walther Nehring thrust them back. In January 1943 German
troops under General Erwin Rommel retreating westwards
from Libya reached Tunisia.
The British 8th Army in the east, commanded by General
Bernard Montgomery, stopped around Tripoli to allow
reinforcements to arrive and build up the Allied
advantage. In the west the forces of General Anderson
came under attack in February at Faid Pass on the 14th
and at Kasserine Pass on the 19th. The Allied forces
retreated in disarray until heavy Allied reinforcements
blunted the German advance on the 22nd.
General Harold Alexander arrived in Tunisia in late
February to take command. The Germans attacked again in
March, eastwards at Medenine on the 6th but were
repulsed. Rommel counselled Hitler to allow a full
retreat but was denied and on March 9 Rommel left Tunisia
to be replaced by Jürgen von Arnim, who had to spread
his forces over 100 miles of northern Tunisia.
These setbacks forced the Allies to consolidate their
forces and develop their lines of communication and
administration so that they could support a major attack.
The 1st Army and the 8th Army then attacked the Germans.
Hard fighting followed, but the Allies cut off the
Germans from support by naval and air forces between
Tunisia and Sicily. On May 7 the British took Tunis and
American forces reached Bizerte, by May 13 the Axis
forces in Tunisia had surrendered.
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