| Operation Torch | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theNorth African campaign ofWorld War II | |||||||||
 Landings during the operation | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 United States United Kingdom |  Vichy France Germany Italy | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Ground forces: 107,000 troops 35,000 in Morocco 39,000 near Algiers 33,000 near Oran Naval activity: 108 aircraft 350 warships 500 transports | Ground forces: 125,000 troops 210 tanks 500 aircraft manyshore batteries Naval forces: 1battleship (partially armed) 10 other warships 11 submarines Germany: 42 submarines Italy: 21 submarines | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| United States:[1] 556 dead 837 wounded United Kingdom: 574 dead Naval Forces: 1 escort carrier 4 destroyers 2 sloops 6 troopships 1 minesweeper 1 auxiliary anti-aircraft ship | Vichy France: 1,346+ dead 1,997 wounded 1 light cruiser 5 destroyers 6 submarines 2flotilla leaders Germany: 8 submarines Italy: 2 submarines | ||||||||
Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was anAllied invasion ofFrench North Africa duringWorld War II. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to begin their fight againstNazi Germany andFascist Italy on a limited scale.[2]
The French colonies were aligned with Germany viaVichy France but the loyalties of the population were mixed. Reports indicated that they might support the Allies. The American GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces inMediterranean theater of the war, approved plans for a three-pronged attack onCasablanca (Western),Oran (Centre) andAlgiers (Eastern), then a rapid move onTunis to catch Axis forces in North Africa from the west in conjunction with the British advance fromEgypt.
The Western Task Force encountered unexpected resistance and bad weather but Casablanca, the principal French Atlantic naval base, was captured after a short siege. The Centre Task Force suffered some damage to its ships when trying to land in shallow water; Oran surrendered after bombardment by British battleships. The Eastern Task Force met less opposition and were able to push inland and compel surrender on the first day.
The success of Torch caused AdmiralFrançois Darlan, commander of the Vichy French forces, who was in Algiers, to order co-operation with the Allies, in return for being installed asHigh Commissioner, with many other Vichy officials keeping their jobs. Darlan was assassinated by a monarchist six weeks later and theFree French gradually came to dominate the government.
When the United States entered the Second World War in December 7 1941, British and Americans met at theArcadia Conference in Washington D.C. to discuss future strategy. The principle ofEurope first (Germany first) was agreed upon, but British and Americans had different views on how to implement it. Americans favoured a direct approach with first a limited landing in Europe in 1942 (Operation Sledgehammer), and then a follow-up main thrust in 1943 (Operation Roundup). The British pressed for a less ambitious plan. They realized the build-up of American forces (Operation Bolero) would take time, and there was not enough shipping available for large operations.Winston Churchill proposed to invade North Africa.[3] The head of theUnited States Army, GeneralGeorge Marshall and the head of the US Navy,AdmiralErnest King strongly opposed that plan, and were inclined to abandon the Germany first strategy if Churchill persisted. But PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt wanted to support the Russians and as any Pacific operation would be of no help to them, he agreed to the North-African operation.[3][4][5] On 14 August 1942 Lt. GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower was appointed as Commander in Chief Allied expeditionary Force, and he set up his headquarters in London.[6]
Planners identified Oran, Algiers and Casablanca as key targets. Ideally there would also be a landing at Tunis to secure Tunisia and facilitate the rapid interdiction of supplies travelling via Tripoli toErwin Rommel'sAfrika Korps forces inItalian Libya. A compromise would be to land atBône in eastern Algeria, some 300 miles (480 km) closer to Tunis than Algiers. Limited resources dictated that the Allies could only make three landings and Eisenhower, who believed that any plan must include landings at Oran and Algiers, had two main options: either the western option, to land at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers and then make as rapid a move as possible to Tunis some 500 miles (800 km) east of Algiers once the Vichy opposition was suppressed; or the eastern option, to land at Oran, Algiers and Bône and then advance overland to Casablanca some 500 miles (800 km) west of Oran. He favoured the eastern option because of the advantages it gave to an early capture of Tunis and also because the Atlantic swells off Casablanca presented considerably greater risks to an amphibious landing there than would be encountered in the Mediterranean. The Combined Chiefs of Staff, however, were concerned that should Operation Torch precipitateSpain to abandon neutrality and join the Axis, the Straits of Gibraltar could be closed cutting the entire Allied force's lines of communication. They therefore chose the Casablanca option as the less risky since the forces in Algeria and Tunisia could be supplied overland from Casablanca in the event of closure of the straits.[7][8]
The Morocco landings ruled out the early occupation of Tunisia. But withBritish forces advancing from Egypt, this would allow the Allies to carry out apincer operation against Axis forces in North Africa by mid-January 1943.[9]
The Allies believed that the Vichy FrenchArmistice Army would not fight, partly because of information supplied by the AmericanConsulRobert Daniel Murphy inAlgiers. The French were former members of the Allies, and US troops were instructed not to fire unless they were fired upon.[10] TheVichy French Navy were expected to be very hostile after the BritishAttack on Mers-el-Kébir in June 1940, and theSyria–Lebanon campaign in 1941.[11]
Allied military strategists needed to consider the political situation in North Africa. The Americans had recognisedPétain and the Vichy government in 1940, whereas the British did not and had recognised GeneralCharles de Gaulle'sFrench National Committee as a government-in-exile instead.[12] After his backing of British operations against the Vichy French inDakar and Syria, de Gaulle did not have many supporters in North Africa.[13] Hence the Allies decided to keep de Gaulle and hisFree French Forces entirely out of the operation.[14]
To gauge the feeling of the Vichy French forces, Murphy was appointed to the American consulate in Algeria. His covert mission was to determine the mood of the French forces and to make contact with elements that might support an Allied invasion. He succeeded in contacting several French officers, includingGeneralCharles Mast, the French commander-in-chief in Algiers. These officers were willing to support the Allies but asked for a clandestine conference with a senior Allied general in Algeria.[12] Major GeneralMark W. Clark, one of Eisenhower's senior commanders, was secretly dispatched toCherchell in Algeria aboard the British submarineHMS Seraph and met with these Vichy French officers on 21 October 1942. Due to the need to maintain secrecy, the French officers were left in the dark about concrete plans, but they gave Clark detailed information about the military situation in Algiers. These officers also asked French GeneralHenri Giraud be moved out of Vichy France to take the lead of the operation.[15]
Eventually the Alliessucceeded in slipping Giraud out of Vichy France on HMSSeraph to Gibraltar, where Eisenhower had his headquarters, intending to offer him the post of commander in chief of French forces in North Africa after the invasion. However, Giraud would take no position lower than commander in chief of all the invading forces.[16] When he was refused, he decided to remain "a spectator in this affair".[17]
The Allies organised three amphibious task forces to simultaneously seize the key ports and airports in Morocco and Algeria, targetingCasablanca,Oran and Algiers.[18]
A Western Task Force (aimed at Casablanca) was composed of American units, withMajor GeneralGeorge S. Patton in command andRear AdmiralHenry Kent Hewitt heading the naval operations. This Western Task Force consisted of the U.S.3rd and9th Infantry Divisions, and two battalions from theU.S. 2nd Armored Division, 35,000 troops in a convoy of over 100 ships. They were transported directly from the United States in the first of a new series ofUG convoys providing logistic support for the North African campaign.[19]
The Centre Task Force, aimed at Oran, included the U.S. 2nd Battalion509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, theU.S. 1st Infantry Division, and theU.S. 1st Armored Division, a total of 18,500 troops. They sailed from the United Kingdom and were commanded by Major GeneralLloyd Fredendall, the naval forces being commanded by Commodore Thomas Troubridge.[20]The central task force also included air power from USS Ranger, the only true aircraft carrier involved, and USS Swanee, an escort carrier. This included Grumman Wildcat, a navy standard aircraft fighter of the time.
Torch was, for propaganda purposes, a landing by U.S. forces, supported by British warships and aircraft, under the belief that this would be more palatable to French public opinion, than an Anglo-American invasion. For the same reason, Churchill suggested that British soldiers might wearU.S. Army uniforms, andNo. 6 Commando did so.[21] (Fleet Air Arm aircraft did carryUS "star" roundels during the operation,[22] and two British destroyers flew theStars and Stripes.[21]) In reality, the Eastern Task Force, aimed at Algiers, was commanded byLieutenant-GeneralKenneth Anderson and consisted of a brigade from theBritish 78th and theU.S. 34th Infantry Divisions, along with two British commando units (No. 1 and No. 6 Commandos), together with the RAF Regiment providing 5 squadrons of infantry and 5 Light anti-aircraft flights, totalling 20,000 troops. During the landing phase, ground forces were to be commanded by U.S. Major GeneralCharles W. Ryder,Commanding General (CG) of the 34th Division and naval forces were commanded by Royal NavyVice-AdmiralSir Harold Burrough.[20]
Aerial operations were split into two commands, withRoyal Air Force aircraft underAir Marshal SirWilliam Welsh operating east ofCape Tenez in Algeria, and allUnited States Army Air Forces aircraft under Major GeneralJimmy Doolittle, who was under the direct command of Major General Patton, operating west of Cape Tenez.[23]
The Vichy French had around 125,000 soldiers in the territories as well as coastal artillery, 210 operational but out-of-date tanks and about 500 aircraft,[24] of which 173 were modernDewoitine D.520 fighters.[25] These forces included 60,000 troops in Morocco, 15,000 in Tunisia, and 50,000 in Algeria.[26] The bulk of the Vichy French Navy was stationed outside North Africa: three battleships and seven cruisers atToulon and one battleship and three cruisers at Dakar. In North Africa, at Casablanca the incomplete battleshipJean Bart was used as a coastal battery and there was one cruiser, seven destroyers and eight submarines. At Oran there was a force of four destroyers and nine submarines.[27][28]
In the early hours of 8 November,French Resistance fighters staged a coup in the city of Algiers. They seized control of the city, but when no US troops appeared in the morning, they quickly lost control to Vichy French forces. Meanwhile, the American consul Robert Murphy attempted to persuade GeneralAlphonse Juin, the senior French Army officer in North Africa, to side with the Allies and place himself under the command of General Giraud. Murphy was treated to a surprise: AdmiralFrançois Darlan, the commander of all French forces, was also in Algiers on a private visit, and Juin insisted on contacting Darlan at once. Murphy was unable to persuade them to side with the Allies right away, and Darlan contacted Pétain, who instructed him to resist.[29]
The invasion commenced with landings on three beaches, two west of Algiers and one east. The landing forces were under the overall command of Major-General Charles W. Ryder, commanding general of the U.S. 34th Infantry Division. The11th Brigade Group from the British 78th Infantry Division landed on the right-hand beach; the US168th Regimental Combat Team, from the 34th Infantry Division, supported by 6 Commando and most of 1 Commando, landed on the middle beach; and the US39th Regimental Combat Team, from the US 9th Infantry Division, supported by the remaining 5 troops from 1 Commando, landed on the left-hand beach. The36th Brigade Group from the British 78th Infantry Division stood by in floating reserve.[30] Though some landings went to the wrong beaches, this was immaterial because of the lack of French opposition. Only atCape Matifou a coastal battery opened fire, and in the forenoon some resistance was offered at the fortresses of Cape Matifou, Duperre and L'Empereur. At 06:00 the airfield atMaison Blanche was captured and at 10:00Hawker Hurricane andSupermarine Spitfire aircraft fromGibraltar started to flow in at the airfield. A second airfield atBlida surrendered the same day to a British plane landing on the airfield.[31]
The only fierce fighting took place in the port of Algiers, where inOperation Terminal, the British destroyersHMS Malcolm andHMS Broke attempted to land a party of USArmy Rangers directly onto the dock, to prevent the French destroying the port facilities and scuttling their ships. Heavy artillery fire hitMalcolm and forced her to abandon the operation, butBroke was able to disembark250 Rangers who secured the power station and oil installations. At 9:15 however she too had to recall the Rangers and abandon the operation due to the heavy artillery fire. As a result of the damage received,Broke foundered the next day in bad weather.[32][31]
By 16:00 the US troops had surrounded Algiers and held the coastal batteries defending the harbour. At 18:40 Juin made an agreement with Ryder to stop the fighting. The next day on 9 November a local cease-fire was negotiated and Darlan authorized the Eastern Task Force to use the harbor of Algiers, but in Oran and Morocco the fighting continued. Giraud arrived the same day in Algiers and at noon on 10 November after negotiations with General Clark, Darlan ordered all hostilities to end and to observe neutrality. On secret orders from Pétain, on 11 November he ordered the forces in Tunisia to resist a German invasion.[33]
The Western Task Force landed before daybreak on 8 November 1942, at three points in Morocco: In the South atSafi (Operation Blackstone), in the North at Mehdiya-Port Lyautey (Operation Goalpost) and the main thrust was at the centre inFedala, close to Casablanca, (Operation Brushwood).[34] Just like in Algiers, there was a failed attempt to neutralize Vichy French command in the morning of 8 November: GeneralBéthouart was unable to convince AdmiralMichelier nor GeneralNoguès to side with the Allies. Instead they ordered the Army and Navy to oppose the invasion.[35]
At Safi the objective was to capture the port facilities intact and to land the Western Task Force's mediumSherman tanks, which would be used to reinforce the assault on Casablanca.[36] Two old destroyers,USS Cole andUSS Bernadou, were to land an assault party in the harbor, whilst troops landed on the beaches would quickly move to the town. The landings were begun without covering fire, in the hope that the French would not resist at all. However, once French coastal batteries opened fire, Allied warships returned fire. Most of the landings occurred behind schedule, but met no opposition on the beaches. Under cover from fire of the battleshipUSS New York and cruiserUSS Philadelphia,Cole andBernadou landed their troops and the harbor was captured intact. Safi surrendered on the afternoon of 8 November. By 10 November, the landed troops moved northwards to join the siege of Casablanca.[37]
At Port-Lyautey, the objective was to secure the port and the airfield, so that aircraft could be flown in from Gibraltar and from aircraft carriers. The landings were delayed because of navigational problems and the slow disembarkation of the troops in their landing ships. The first three waves of troops were landed unopposed on five beaches. The cruiserUSS Savannah bombarded coastal batteries atKasbah Mahdiyya. The next waves came under fire from coastal batteries and Vichy-French aircraft. A first attempt by the old destroyerUSS Dallas to bring a raiding party inshore on theSebou River to the airfield, failed on 8 November.[38] Vichy French reinforcements coming from Rabat were bombarded by the battleshipUSS Texas and the cruiserSavannah. A second attempt on 10 November to take the airfield was successful and over the next two days, the escort carrierUSS Chenango sent 77Curtiss P-40 Warhawk to the airfield.[39] With the support of aircraft from the escort carrierUSS Sangamon, the Kasbah battery was taken and ships could come closer to shore to unload supplies. On 11 November The cease-fire ordered by Darlan halted all hostilities.[38]
At Fedala, a small port with a large beach 15 miles (24 km) from Casablanca, weather was good but landings were delayed because troopships were not disembarking troops on schedule. The first wave reached shore unopposed at 05:00. Many landing craft were wrecked in the heavy surf or on rocks. At dawn the Vichy French shore batteries opened fire. By 07:30 fire from the cruisersUSS Augusta andUSS Brooklyn with their supporting destroyers, had silenced the shore batteries. At 08:00 when Vichy-French aircraft appeared and attacked, one battery reopened fire. Two Vichy-French destroyers arrived from Casablanca at 08:25 and attacked the American destroyers. By 09:05 the Vichy French destroyers had been driven away, but all available Vichy French ships sortied from Casablanca and at 10:00 renewed the attack on the American ships at Fedala. By 11:00 the battle was over, the two American cruisers had either sunk or driven ashore the light cruiserPrimauguet, two flotilla leaders and four destroyers. Only one destroyer escaped back to Casablanca. Fedala surrendered at 14:30 and transport ships could move closer to shore to speed up the unloading.[40] Meanwhile the American Covering force with the battleshipUSS Massachusetts had appeared before Casablanca and when coastal batteries opened fire at 07:00, the American ships responded at once and damaged the Vichy-French battleshipJean Bart with five hits, putting its one operational turret out of action.[41] Of the eleven submarines in port, three were destroyed but the other eight took up attack positions. These submarines attackedMassachusetts; the aircraft carrierUSS Ranger; and the cruisersBrooklyn andTuscaloosa, but all their torpedoes missed, and six submarines were sunk.[27]
On 9 November the small port of Fedala was in use and troops advanced on Casablanca. Despite having lost 55 aircraft the previous day, attacks by Vichy-French aircraft continued all day.[40] On 10 November,Jean Bart was repaired, but when she opened fire, she was attacked by dive-bombers from the aircraft carrierRanger and heavily damaged by two bomb hits.[42] The Americans surrounded the port of Casablanca by 10 November but waited for the arrival of the tanks from Safi to start an all-out attack planned for 11 November at 07:15. Orders from Darlan, broadcast on 10 November, to cease resistance were ignored until 11 November 06:00, the city surrendered an hour before the final assault was due to take place.[40]
The Center Task Force was split between three beaches, two west of Oran and one east. Landings at the westernmost beach were delayed because of a French convoy which appeared while the minesweepers were clearing a path. Some delay and confusion, and damage to landing ships, was caused by the unexpected shallowness of water and sandbars. On all beaches the landings met no resistance.[43] An airborne assault by the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which flew all the way from England, over Spain, to Oran, to capture the airfields atTafraoui andLa Sénia failed.[44][43] Aircraft from three British carriers attacked these airfields in the morning and destroyed seventy airplanes which were armed and ready to take off to attack. In the afternoon the Tafraoui airfield was captured by the quickly advancing troops from the beachheads, and immediately Spitfires were flown in from Gibraltar. TheU.S. 1st Ranger Battalion landed east of Oran and quickly captured the shore battery atArzew.[43]
At the same time of the landings, in the early morning of 8 November, anattempt was made to land U.S. infantry by the sloopsHMS Walney andHMS Hartland at the harbor of Oran, in order to prevent destruction of the port facilities and scuttling of ships. But both sloops were sunk by Vichy-French destroyers in the harbour and the operation failed.[43] The Vichy French naval fleet consisting of one flotilla leader, three destroyers, one minesweeper, six submarines and some smaller vessels, broke out from the harbor and attacked the Allied invasion fleet. Over the next two days all these ships were either sunk or driven ashore, only one submarine escaped to Toulon, after an unsuccessful attack on the cruiserHMS Jamaica.[32] French batteries and the invasion fleet exchanged fire throughout 8–9 November, with French troops defending Oran and the surrounding area stubbornly; bombardment by the British battleshipHMS Rodney brought about Oran's surrender on 10 November.[43]
In the central and eastern Atlantic, U-boats had been drawn away to attack tradeconvoy SL 125,[45] and troop convoys between the UK and North Africa went largely unnoticed. AFocke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor detected on 31 October a task force of aircraft carriers and cruisers, and on 2 November a returningU-boat reported a troop ship convoy.[46]
On 4 November the Germans became aware of an impending big operation, they anticipated another convoy run to Malta or an amphibious landing in Libya or atBougie Bay. Seven U-boats of the Atlantic force were ordered to break through theStrait of Gibraltar and go to the North African coast. Nine Mediterranean U-boats were also deployed to the same region.[47] A total of nineteen U-boats were stationed between theBalearic Islands and Algiers, whilst the Italian Navy deployed twenty-one submarines East of Algiers.[48] On 7 November five German submarines made contact with the British invasion forces but all their attacks missed their target. On 8 November most of these U-boats were operating near Bougie and missed the landings at Algiers.[47] When receiving news of the landings,Dönitz ordered twenty-five of the Atlantic U-boats to move towards the Morocco area and Gibraltar, leaving only ten U-boats in the North Atlantic and bringing the U-boatmain offensive against the convoy lanes to the United Kingdom to a virtual standstill.[49] The first wave of nine U-boats to arrive off Morocco ran into a well-prepared defense and achieved little. OnlyU-130 sank three large transports on the anchorage of Fedala, forcing the port to close and ships to divert to Casablanca.[50] The second wave of fourteen U-boats was sent to the area West of Gibraltar, trying to block all traffic in and out the Straits. They sank the escort carrierHMS Avenger and the destroyer tenderHMS Hecla with heavy loss of life. In both theaters of operation, the Mediterranean and Atlantic, the Germans lost eight U-boats,[51] and the Italians two.[20]
Between 8 and 14 November German bomber and torpedo aircraft attacked ships along the North African coast. They sank two troop transports, one landing ship, two transport ships and the sloopIbis. The aircraft carrierArgus and the monitorRoberts were damaged by bombs.[27]
There were limited land communications to move quickly from Algiers eastwards to Tunisia. The Allies had planned additional landings at Bougie and Bone in order to speed up that advance, but there were not enough resources available to execute these landings together with the main landings at Oran and Algiers. On 10 November the British 36th Infantry Brigade was boarded on three troop transports which landed unopposed, under the cover of a bombardment force in the harbor of Bougie on 11 November. A further troop transport was to land commandos, RAF personnel and petrol atDjidelli, with the goal to capture the airfield there and provide air cover over Bougie. Due to the heavy surf, this landing was delayed and finally diverted to Bougie and as a consequence air cover was only available from 13 November onward. The Axis air force based in Sardinia and Sicily exploited the lack of air cover between 11 and 13 November to execute heavy attacks on the harbour of Bougie.[52] They sank the empty troop transportsCathay,Awatea and the landing shipKaranja.[27]
It quickly became clear that Giraud lacked the authority to take command of the French forces. He preferred to wait in Gibraltar for the results of the landing. However, Darlan in Algiers had such authority. Eisenhower, with the support of Roosevelt and Churchill, made anagreement with Darlan, recognising him as French "High Commissioner" in North Africa. In return, Darlan ordered all French forces in North Africa to cease resistance to the Allies and to cooperate instead. The deal was made on 10 November, and French resistance ceased almost at once. The French troops in North Africa who were not already captured submitted to and eventually joined the Allied forces.[53] Men from French North Africa would see much combat under the Allied banner as part of theFrench Expeditionary Corps (consisting of 112,000 troops in April 1944) in theItalian campaign, where Maghrebis (mostly Moroccans) made up over 60% of the unit's soldiers.[54]
The American press protested, immediately dubbing it the "Darlan Deal", pointing out that Roosevelt had made a brazen bargain with Hitler's puppets in France. If a main goal of Torch had originally been the liberation of North Africa, with this deal that had been jettisoned in favour of safe passage through North Africa. WhenAdolf Hitler learned of Darlan's deal with the Allies, he immediately orderedthe occupation of Vichy France.[55]
The Eisenhower/Darlan agreement meant that the officials appointed by the Vichy regime would remain in power in North Africa. No role was provided for Free France, which deeply offended De Gaulle. It also offended much of the British and American public, who regarded all Vichy French as Nazi collaborators. Eisenhower insisted that he had no real choice if his forces were to move on against the Axis in Tunisia, rather than fight the French in Algeria and Morocco.[56] On 24 December,Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, a French resistance fighter and anti-fascist monarchist, assassinated Darlan. Giraud succeeded Darlan but, like him, replaced few of the Vichy officials. Under pressure from the Allies and De Gaulle's supporters, the French régime shifted, with Vichy officials gradually replaced and its more offensive decrees rescinded.[57]
Darlan ordered cease fire in North Africa on 10 November, and the next day the Germans and the Italians invaded Vichy France. One of their goals was to seize the French fleet in Toulon. Darlan invited the French commander of the fleet in Toulon,Jean de Laborde to join the Allies, but instead the French commander ordered the fleet scuttled on 27 November when the Germans entered Toulon.[58]
After the German and Italian occupation of Vichy France, the FrenchArmée d'Afrique sided with the Allies, providing a third corps (XIX Corps) for theFirst Army under the command of Anderson.[59] On 9 November, Axis forces started to build up in French Tunisia, unopposed by the local French forces.[60] After consolidating in Algeria, the Allies began theTunisia Campaign. Elements of the First Army came to within 40 mi (64 km) ofTunis before acounterattack atDjedeida thrust them back.[61] Meanwhile, after their victory at El-Alamein, theEighth Army under Lieutenant-GeneralBernard Montgomery was pushing German and Italian troops underGeneralfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel steadily towards Tunisia from the East. In January 1943 they reached South Tunisia where Axis troops made a stand at theMareth Line.[62] In the west, theUS II Corps suffered defeats at theBattle of Sidi Bou Zid on 14–15 February and theBattle of Kasserine Pass on 19 February, but Allied reinforcements halted the Axis advance on 22 February. Fredendall was sacked and replaced byGeorge Patton.[63]General SirHarold Alexander arrived in Tunisia in late February as commander of the new18th Army Group, which had been created to command the Eighth Army and the Allied forces fighting in Tunisia. The Axis forces attacked eastward at theBattle of Medenine on 6 March but were easily repulsed by the Eighth Army. On 9 March, Rommel left Tunisia to be replaced byJürgen von Arnim.[64] The First and Eighth Armiesattacked again in April. On 6 May the British took Tunis and American forces reachedBizerte on 7 May. By 13 May, all Axis forces in Tunisia had surrendered.[65]
Despite Operation Torch's role in the war and logistical success, it has been largely overlooked in many popular histories of the war and in general cultural influence.The Economist speculated that this was because French forces were the initial enemies of the landing, making for a difficult fit into the war's overall narrative in general histories. The operation was America's first armed deployment in theArab world since theBarbary Wars and, according toThe Economist, laid the foundations for America's postwarMiddle East policy.[66]
| Forces | .svg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Administration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| French campaign |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aftermath |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||
| Military career |
| ||||
| Presidency (timeline) |
| ||||
| Books | |||||
| Elections | |||||
| Legacy |
| ||||
| Popular culture | |||||
| Family |
| ||||
| Related | |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
