The Allied landings were to occur in territory occupied by Vichy France. The assumption was that although Vichy France was technically allied to Germany, French troops would put up little resistance to the invasion. The landings in North Africa occurred on November 8, 1942. There were three areas in which the allies attacked. General Patton led American troops on an attack on Casablanca in French Morocco. Another US general named Lloyd Fredendall led the attack on Oran in French Algeria. These two invasions were met with tough initial French resistance, mostly due to confusion with the French leaders and troops in the area. The third attack on Algiers by a British force was met with much less resistance and Algiers was surrendered to the Allies by November 9. A couple days after the landings, Darlan, the French commander who was at Algiers, signed an agreement which declared a ceasefire between the French and the Allied troops in North Africa. Darlan’s cooperation was extremely beneficial to the Allies. It prevented the possibility of the Allies needing to take on a French force numbering at 120,000 troops, a result which would have harmed the Allied position significantly.
Operation Torch had many significant effects on the overall state of the war. The most immediate of these was the German occupation of Vichy France. This was Hitler’s retaliation against the French for giving up North Africa to the Allies. German troops overran Vichy France in the days following the agreement between the French in North Africa and the Allies, nulling the Franco-German armistice which had been agreed upon in 1940. Another important effect was that the Allies were given greater control of the Mediterranean. In addition, North Africa could then be used as the launching point for the attacks on Sicily and Italy in the following year.
https://www.britannica.com/event/North-Africa-campaigns/Operation-Torch
https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=100
https://warontherocks.com/2017/11/16075/
Freedom from Fear
Shawn, I found your post extremely interesting, and appreciate your description of a relatively unknown part of WW2. While this decision to invade North Africa was seen as a benefit to the Western Allied powers, Russia was angered by the broken promise of an immediate two front attack across the English Channel. Another important aspect to Operation Torch was that it highlighted the dissenting beliefs on an optimal war plan. While the British, namely Churchill wished to sent troops to the Mediterranean, some Americans, like George Marshall, believed otherwise. Marshall saw the Mediterranean as a waste of supplies and time that would not help the actual war occurring in Europe. Contrasting views like this were evident all throughout the war, causing slower decisions and slower mobilization. For example, after the attacks on Pearl Harbor and events in the Battle of the Atlantic, Roosevelt found it hard to declare war, even after shooting had already started, due to the isolationists within congress.
ReplyDeleteSources:
Freedom From Fear: Unready Ally, Uneasy Alliance
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fdr-reacts-to-news-of-pearl-harbor-bombing
Shawn, I really liked your post. I think it is a nice supplement to the recent readings, and goes more in depth of a key part of it. Did you know that Operation Torch had much bigger impacts outside of just military impacts? For one, it was the first time America hand been involved in any major conflicts around the Middle East and North Africa since the Barbary wars. As a result, this set the precedence for American interference to the Middle East that is still true to this day. Furthermore, it also the first time Americans knew about the Holocaust. After reaching shore, many Jewish people were willing to aid the Allies. They realized soon enough that this was due to the thousands of Jews in concentration camps.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2017/11/shining-light