The Tide Turns 1089

Free French troops attacking in the North African desert, 1942.

largest concentration of German troops might be disastrous and wanted to
postpone a cross-Channel invasion of France as long as possible.
With the Axis reeling in North Africa and British troops now controlling
Egypt and Libya, the Allied commanders now decided first to drive all Ger­
man and Italian troops out of North Africa before contemplating an invasion
of France from Britain. They had been sobered by a disastrous cross­
Channel raid by Canadian troops against the French port of Dieppe in
August 1942.
In November 1942, the Allies launched “Operation Torch.” A British and
American force commanded by American General Eisenhower landed on
the coast of French Algeria and Morocco, easily overcoming Vichy French
resistance. To his consternation, de Gaulle now learned that the Allies were
negotiating with the Vichy commander in North Africa, Admiral Jean Dar­
lan (1881-1942). Despite Petain's order that Vichy forces in North Africa
continue to oppose the Allied invasion, Darlan ordered his troops to accept
a cease-fire after three days of fighting. Hitler used Darlan’s capitulation
in North Africa as an excuse in November 1942 for German forces to occupy
the “free” zone of Vichy France. Little now remained of Vichy's illusion of
independence. French naval commanders scuttled their own ships to pre­
vent them from being used by the German navy.
The Allies named Darlan as “the head of the French state” in return for
his promise that French troops in North Africa would now join the Allies.
De Gaulle demanded that Britain and the United States recognize his