Operation Torch: Encyclopedia II - Operation Torch - After the battle

Operation Torch - After the battle

Operation Torch - Political results

It quickly became clear that Henri Giraud lacked the authority to take command of the French forces, as had been hoped. Eisenhower, with the support of Roosevelt and Churchill, therefore made agreements with Admiral François Darlan that he would be given control if he joined the Allied side. Charles de Gaulle of the Free French responded with fury. The problem did not vanish when a local French anti-Nazi, Ferdinand Bonnier de la Chapelle, murdered Darlan on December 24, 1942: Giraud was then installed in his place.

When Adolf Hitler found out what Admiral Darlan intended to do, he immediately ordered the occupation of Vichy France and reinforced German forces in Africa.

The Darlan-Giraud authority, initially resolutely Vichyist, was gradually forced to take part in the war effort against Nazi Germany; to democratize; to eliminate its principal head vichyist rulers; and to eventually amalgamate with the French national Committee of London. The "Comité Français de la Libération Nationale" (CFLN), which was born from this fusion, passed in a few months under the authority of General de Gaulle (despite opposition from President Roosevelt) and became the recognised government of France in war.

Operation Torch - Military consequences

Between November the 8th and 10th French Tunisian forces under the command of general Barré left the whole country open to the Germans, withdrawing to the Algerian border. The general was receiving since November the 14th Juin's orders to resist, but waited until the 18th to begin fighting against the Germans. Then the Tunisian army fought courageously, despite its lack of equipment. The French were quickly helped by British forces.

After consolidating in French territory the Allies struck into Tunisia. Forces in the British 1st Army under Lieutenant 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 9 March 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 6 May the British took Tunis, and American forces reached Bizerte, by 13 May the Axis forces in Tunisia had surrendered.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "After the battle", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki