Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Operation Torch
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Aftermath== ===Political results=== {{See also|François Darlan#Darlan's deal in North Africa|French Civil and Military High Command}} 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 an [[Clark-Darlan accords|agreement 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.{{sfn|Eisenhower|1948|pp=99–105, 107–10}} Men from French North Africa would see much combat under the Allied banner as part of the [[French Expeditionary Corps (1943–44)|French Expeditionary Corps]] (consisting of 112,000 troops in April 1944) in the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian campaign]], where Maghrebis (mostly Moroccans) made up over 60% of the unit's soldiers.{{Sfn|Gaujac|2003|p=31}} 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. When [[Adolf Hitler]] learned of Darlan's deal with the Allies, he immediately ordered [[Case Anton|the occupation of Vichy France]].{{Sfn|Satloff|}} 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.{{Sfn|Gelb|1992|pp=255-264}} 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.{{Sfn|Gelb|1992|pp=272-282}}[[File:Toulon 1942.jpg|thumb|Scuttled and burning French warships in the harbor of Toulon]] ===Military consequences=== ====Toulon==== {{main|Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon}} 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.{{Sfn|Pack|1978|pp=106-107}} [[File:Axis prisoners of war are herded out of the city as Allied armies enter Tunis. - NARA - 195472.jpg|thumb|Italian prisoners of war in Tunisia]] ====Tunisia==== {{Main|Tunisia Campaign|Run for Tunis}}After the German and Italian occupation of Vichy France, the French {{lang|fr|[[Army of Africa (France)|Armée d'Afrique]]}} sided with the Allies, providing a third corps ([[XIX Army Corps (France)|XIX Corps]]) for the [[First Army (United Kingdom)|First Army]] under the command of Anderson.{{Sfn|Gelb|1992|p=298}} On 9 November, Axis forces started to build up in French Tunisia, unopposed by the local French forces.{{sfn|Watson|2007|p=60}} After consolidating in Algeria, the Allies began the [[Tunisia Campaign]]. Elements of the First Army came to within {{cvt|40|mi|km|0}} of [[Tunis]] before a [[counterattack]] at [[Djedeida]] thrust them back.{{Sfn|MacCloskey|1971|pp=141-142}} Meanwhile, after their victory at El-Alamein, the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]] under Lieutenant-General [[Bernard Montgomery]] was pushing German and Italian troops under {{lang|de|[[Generalfeldmarschall]]}} Erwin Rommel steadily towards Tunisia from the East. In January 1943 they reached South Tunisia where Axis troops made a stand at the [[Mareth Line]].{{Sfn|Morison|1947|p=258}} In the west, the [[II Corps (United States)|US II Corps]] suffered defeats at the [[Battle of Sidi Bou Zid]] on 14–15 February and the [[Battle of Kasserine Pass]] on 19 February, but Allied reinforcements halted the Axis advance on 22 February. Fredendall was sacked and replaced by [[George Patton]].{{Sfn|Gelb|1992|p=209}} [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] Sir [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Harold Alexander]] arrived in Tunisia in late February as commander of the new [[18th Army Group]], which had been created to command the Eighth Army and the Allied forces fighting in Tunisia. The Axis forces attacked eastward at the [[Battle of Medenine]] on 6 March but were easily repulsed by the Eighth Army. On 9 March, Rommel left Tunisia to be replaced by [[Jürgen von Arnim]].{{Sfn|Gelb|1992|pp=299-311}} The First and Eighth Armies [[Operations Vulcan and Strike|attacked]] again in April. On 6 May the British took Tunis and American forces reached [[Bizerte]] on 7 May. By 13 May, all Axis forces in Tunisia had surrendered.{{Sfn|Morison|1947|pp=259-260}}
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)