pyjamarama
October 6th 04, 05:48 PM
One of the few times in military history when French soldiers didn't
readily capitulate...
October 06, 2004, 8:52 a.m.
French Resistance
Captain Renault? Non.
By John J. Miller & Mark Molesky
EDITOR'S NOTE: A little-known fact from the Second World War: During
the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942, the first hostile fire
American GIs faced came from the guns of Vichy France. In fact, the
Greatest Generation had to fight its way through the French to get to
the Nazis.
Here's an exclusive excerpt from the new book by NR's John J. Miller
and his co-author Mark Molesky, Our Oldest Enemy: A History of
America's Disastrous Relationship with France. (For more information
on the authors and their book, plus daily commentary on French
politics and history, visit their website here.)
Just after three in the morning on November 8, 1942, two British
cutters carrying a battalion of American soldiers approached the
harbor of Oran, in French Morocco. Their mission was to capture and
secure the port for the off-loading of men and materiel during the
imminent Allied invasion, called Operation Torch. Almost a year had
passed since Germany and Italy had declared war on the United States.
The time had now arrived for the American army to enter the fight to
liberate Europe and the Mediterranean from fascism. All along the
coast of French North Africa that night, tens of thousands of GIs
would storm ashore at Algiers, Casablanca, Fedala, Safi, Mehdia, and
Oran. Once the Americans seized these cities, it was on to Tunisia to
join the British Eighth Army in its struggle against Rommel's vaunted
Afrika Korps.
As the lead ship neared the boom at the mouth of the harbor, a single
question animated the mind of all on board: Would the French resist?
In the weeks leading up to the invasion, diplomats and intelligence
officers had assured the American military that they would not. They
were counting on French gratitude earned in the First World War. "Our
latest and best information from North Africa," wrote President
Franklin Roosevelt to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, "is
.... [that] an American expedition led in all three phases by American
officers will meet little resistance from the French Army in Africa."
But how could the president be so certain? Hadn't the French
government signed a shameful Armistice with Germany rather than go
into exile and carried on the war from abroad? Hadn't French leaders
actively collaborated with their Nazi masters and even shipped
valuable supplies to General Erwin Rommel in Tunisia? In 1941, French
colonial troops in Syria had fought savagely for more than a month
against a combined British and Free French force. But surely, replied
the optimists, the French would rally to the Stars and Stripes when
they saw it flying above American forces intent on their liberation.
Then the French guns opened up. Guided by spotlights from shore,
machine gun tracers sprayed out across the dark water, followed by a
withering artillery barrage. From the docks and jetties, French
snipers squeezed off round after round. Neither the large and
conspicuous U.S. flags flying from both ships nor the repeated calls
over a loudspeaker in American-accented French — "Do not fire! We are
your friends! Do not Fire!" — had any effect.
As the H.M.S. Walney broke through the boom and entered the harbor, a
shell smashed through its bridge, killing the French-speaking sailor
declaring Franco-American amity through his microphone. With the
groans of the wounded filling the air, a French destroyer, La
Surprise, made straight for the Walney. Its powerful guns swept across
the crowded decks of the much-smaller ship and tore through its
lightly armored sides. Then an artillery shell sliced through the
Walney's engine room, causing terrible injuries. Several more shells
blew apart both boilers, blasting metal fragments in every direction
and drenching sailors with scalding water.
With its engines gone, the ship now drifted with the tide. Sensing the
kill, two French submarines and a destroyer began firing mercilessly
into the stricken ship. Although the troops on board managed a
courageous final stand with their small arms, the Walney was on fire,
its bloody deck layered with corpses and its cabins choked with smoke
and mangled bodies.
The H.M.S. Hartland suffered a similar fate. Already severely crippled
and burning from several direct hits, the Hartland found itself next
to a French destroyer, the Typhoon, which raked the cutter with
machine-gun fire from bow to stern. The pile of corpses on deck was
soon so thick that it impeded access to the fire hoses. At 4 A.M., an
hour after the fighting began, the wounded captain ordered the living
to abandon ship. French sailors rescued some from the oily sea.
Sharpshooters and machine-gunners finished off the rest. By dawn, the
doomed raid was over. Casualties stood at more than 90 percent,
including 307 dead. To add insult to grievous injury, the French would
charge the Allies a pilotage fee (per local law) for entering the
harbor.
For the next three days, the Americans faced fierce fighting across
twelve separate battlefields in Algeria and French Morocco. American
GIs comprised the bulk of the landing force on the theory that they
would antagonize the French less than the British. But the French
Premier, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, refused to back down. "France
and her honor are at stake," he cabled President Roosevelt. "We are
attacked. We will defend ourselves. This is the order I am giving."
Only superior numbers and American tenacity made Operation Torch a
success. "Had the landings been opposed by the Germans," admitted
General George S. Patton, "we would never have gotten ashore."
It is widely believed that Vichy was a weak puppet regime that
cooperated reluctantly with the Nazis and put up only a token
resistance to Allied forces. The comical figure of Captain Renault
from the movie Casablanca epitomizes this image of Vichy officials as
opportunists motivated almost entirely by petty corruption rather than
fascist ideology. The reality was quite different, as the Americans
discovered in North Africa.
— The story continues in Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America's
Disastrous Relationship with France, by John J. Miller and Mark
Molesky.
readily capitulate...
October 06, 2004, 8:52 a.m.
French Resistance
Captain Renault? Non.
By John J. Miller & Mark Molesky
EDITOR'S NOTE: A little-known fact from the Second World War: During
the Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942, the first hostile fire
American GIs faced came from the guns of Vichy France. In fact, the
Greatest Generation had to fight its way through the French to get to
the Nazis.
Here's an exclusive excerpt from the new book by NR's John J. Miller
and his co-author Mark Molesky, Our Oldest Enemy: A History of
America's Disastrous Relationship with France. (For more information
on the authors and their book, plus daily commentary on French
politics and history, visit their website here.)
Just after three in the morning on November 8, 1942, two British
cutters carrying a battalion of American soldiers approached the
harbor of Oran, in French Morocco. Their mission was to capture and
secure the port for the off-loading of men and materiel during the
imminent Allied invasion, called Operation Torch. Almost a year had
passed since Germany and Italy had declared war on the United States.
The time had now arrived for the American army to enter the fight to
liberate Europe and the Mediterranean from fascism. All along the
coast of French North Africa that night, tens of thousands of GIs
would storm ashore at Algiers, Casablanca, Fedala, Safi, Mehdia, and
Oran. Once the Americans seized these cities, it was on to Tunisia to
join the British Eighth Army in its struggle against Rommel's vaunted
Afrika Korps.
As the lead ship neared the boom at the mouth of the harbor, a single
question animated the mind of all on board: Would the French resist?
In the weeks leading up to the invasion, diplomats and intelligence
officers had assured the American military that they would not. They
were counting on French gratitude earned in the First World War. "Our
latest and best information from North Africa," wrote President
Franklin Roosevelt to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, "is
.... [that] an American expedition led in all three phases by American
officers will meet little resistance from the French Army in Africa."
But how could the president be so certain? Hadn't the French
government signed a shameful Armistice with Germany rather than go
into exile and carried on the war from abroad? Hadn't French leaders
actively collaborated with their Nazi masters and even shipped
valuable supplies to General Erwin Rommel in Tunisia? In 1941, French
colonial troops in Syria had fought savagely for more than a month
against a combined British and Free French force. But surely, replied
the optimists, the French would rally to the Stars and Stripes when
they saw it flying above American forces intent on their liberation.
Then the French guns opened up. Guided by spotlights from shore,
machine gun tracers sprayed out across the dark water, followed by a
withering artillery barrage. From the docks and jetties, French
snipers squeezed off round after round. Neither the large and
conspicuous U.S. flags flying from both ships nor the repeated calls
over a loudspeaker in American-accented French — "Do not fire! We are
your friends! Do not Fire!" — had any effect.
As the H.M.S. Walney broke through the boom and entered the harbor, a
shell smashed through its bridge, killing the French-speaking sailor
declaring Franco-American amity through his microphone. With the
groans of the wounded filling the air, a French destroyer, La
Surprise, made straight for the Walney. Its powerful guns swept across
the crowded decks of the much-smaller ship and tore through its
lightly armored sides. Then an artillery shell sliced through the
Walney's engine room, causing terrible injuries. Several more shells
blew apart both boilers, blasting metal fragments in every direction
and drenching sailors with scalding water.
With its engines gone, the ship now drifted with the tide. Sensing the
kill, two French submarines and a destroyer began firing mercilessly
into the stricken ship. Although the troops on board managed a
courageous final stand with their small arms, the Walney was on fire,
its bloody deck layered with corpses and its cabins choked with smoke
and mangled bodies.
The H.M.S. Hartland suffered a similar fate. Already severely crippled
and burning from several direct hits, the Hartland found itself next
to a French destroyer, the Typhoon, which raked the cutter with
machine-gun fire from bow to stern. The pile of corpses on deck was
soon so thick that it impeded access to the fire hoses. At 4 A.M., an
hour after the fighting began, the wounded captain ordered the living
to abandon ship. French sailors rescued some from the oily sea.
Sharpshooters and machine-gunners finished off the rest. By dawn, the
doomed raid was over. Casualties stood at more than 90 percent,
including 307 dead. To add insult to grievous injury, the French would
charge the Allies a pilotage fee (per local law) for entering the
harbor.
For the next three days, the Americans faced fierce fighting across
twelve separate battlefields in Algeria and French Morocco. American
GIs comprised the bulk of the landing force on the theory that they
would antagonize the French less than the British. But the French
Premier, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, refused to back down. "France
and her honor are at stake," he cabled President Roosevelt. "We are
attacked. We will defend ourselves. This is the order I am giving."
Only superior numbers and American tenacity made Operation Torch a
success. "Had the landings been opposed by the Germans," admitted
General George S. Patton, "we would never have gotten ashore."
It is widely believed that Vichy was a weak puppet regime that
cooperated reluctantly with the Nazis and put up only a token
resistance to Allied forces. The comical figure of Captain Renault
from the movie Casablanca epitomizes this image of Vichy officials as
opportunists motivated almost entirely by petty corruption rather than
fascist ideology. The reality was quite different, as the Americans
discovered in North Africa.
— The story continues in Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America's
Disastrous Relationship with France, by John J. Miller and Mark
Molesky.