Operation Torch: 80th Anniversary

My idea is to use this thread to commemorate the anniversary of events associated with Operation Torch, as each event date reaches "80 years" over the coming months. My original intention was to publish this post later this month, on the day the first ships set sail. However, having just found site member Rob Crane's excellent information on Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP): COPP Survey | October 1942 I now realise I'm running a bit late!
So I hope you very knowledgeable guys & gals can help push this thread along.​

Operation Torch had its roots in the British desire to clear North Africa and launch an attack on the Italian & German forces from the south. Initially the Americans hated the idea. They wanted to invade France and hit the Germans head on (Operation Sledgehammer).

But without recent combat experience, it would, in all probability, have been a disaster. In fact, the Allies made heavy work of the Operation Torch landings, and many troops lost their lives having been dropped in deep water.

As late as 22nd July 1942, President Roosevelt approved 5 possible "operations":-

1. Jupiter: Allied invasion of Norway
2. Gymnast: US only invasion of Morocco
3. Super-Gymnast: Allied invasion of North Africa
And 2 other plans for US reinforcement of Egypt and Iran.​

A few days later, Super-Gymnast was accepted and renamed Torch.

So Churchill had got his way, and as the great diplomat that he was, he informed President Roosevelt that "I am your ardent lieutenant in this enterprise".

In a little over 3 months before the invasion date, there was certainly plenty of prep & planning required...

 

Worth a read: Operation Reservist SBS 2 Oran 1942

 

This might help.
HyperWar: US Army in WWII: Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative In the West

 

Just wondering - do you know why the proposed plan to invade of Norway was scrapped? Seems like a decent idea to protect the Arctic convoys and disrupt the Swedish iron-ore supplies to Germany.

 

It might be best to ask this question on the recent thread: Why couldn't iron ore from Sweden be transported just through the Baltic Sea?

 

Interesting thread, but not really addressing my question. I was asking why the Norway plan was scrapped. I suppose to put it another way - why was North Africa chosen over Norway? Was this only due to British (Churchill's) influence? Why couldn't both plans be carried out? Lack of resources at that time of the war?

 

I've looked on this site and there are no previous threads on this Operation Jupiter; there was a Normandy 1944 operation using the name.

There is one 1982 book, SOE's Secret War in Norway by Dorothy Baden‐Powell. Plus, a war game and there is a short explanation on: Jupiter (i) | Operations & Codenames of WWII Quite an informative thread, referring to official documents, is on: How did the forces required for invading Norway compare to those actually used for invading North Africa?

I quote:

 

Yes, one of the biggest problems was the lack of shipping to transport troops and materiel to any landing sites.

I'm clearly no expert, but using North Africa as a springboard to invade & conquer Italy looks (to my mind) the clear winner. However, Eisenhower didn't see things that way. He summed up the choice of Torch as "the blackest day in history". But he went on to make a good job of it, and maybe this even helped his political career.

 

Not to overlook that the USA had a number of diplomats working in consulates across French North Africa, with a "sprinkling" of OSS. All, presumably, trying to establish what Vichy France was doing and in particular would they fight with the Allies. I encountered references to the consular activity during research, but now cannot find the sources.

See: Foreign relations of Vichy France - Wikipedia

Nor was the USSR in a very strong position at the time, Crimea having fallen by the end of July 1942, with the Caucasus campaign to follow. Would the USSR have provided full access to airfields and ports in Northern Russia then? I mean apart from the rhetoric about their demand for a "Second Front".

 

Torch was kicked off as a result of Tobruk falling in North Africa and to relieve the pressure on Egypt. Montgomery's victory at El Alamein occurred while the Algeria Torch invasion forces were passing Gibraltar and was announced on the invasion ships. It was only approved on [IIRC] 25 July by Roosevelt. CIGS Brooke's diary says the loss of Egypt was the loss of the Persian Gulf refineries and India. North Africa therefore had to be secured, from a British perspective.
The lack of landing ships and logistical support shows in the staging of the invasion plans. It took five or six return invasion fleet sailings from 21 October to early January from UK to land the whole US /UK Algerian invasion force.

 

16th October 1942 Operation Flagpole

A planning meeting was held in London to discuss arrangements for a proposed meeting with the French in North Africa. The aim would be to win their support for the invasion that would follow.

The US delegation included Eisenhower (the Allied commander for Operation Torch) and his deputy Major General Mark Clark. Clark would personally lead a small team of negotiators to Algeria in discussions with Général Charles E. Mast, the leader of a group of pro-Allied Vichy France officers.

 

21st October 1942 Cherchell Conference

On the night of 21st October 1942, the British Royal Navy submarine HMS Seraph arrived along the Algerian coast. It surfaced, and Royal Navy sailors rowed Major General Mark Clark, his small delegation and a bodyguard of British commandoes ashore at the small fishing village of Cherchell.

French commander Charles Mast gave Clark an undertaking that when the Allies invaded Vichy French territory in North Africa, his troops would not oppose the landings.

Later on the 22nd, the police arrived. Clark and his team hid in the cellar for several hours before fleeing, and hiding on the beach in among the sand dunes, until being rescued in the evening and returning to HMS Seraph.

I can't help wondering how Torch would have unfolded if Clark and his boys had been captured!

 

Steve,

Presumably Clark's bodyguard were also instructed to kill him if capture was imminent. Just like radar technicians who accompanied raiders to France,

 

Wow! Is that true? Would Clark have known that?

I understand Clark really cocked-things-up when he decided to enter Rome for a photo opportunity in 1944. Maybe his bodyguard should have shot him anyway!

 

I have no idea if my suspicions are true. Given Clark's knowledge of the planning for Operation Torch, including the intelligence gathered, it would be an option if he faced capture for his bodyguards to kill him.

 

I don't know enough about French colonial territories around the world – was there perhaps an element of thinking that taking Algeria and French Morocco might make some colonial administrations that had aligned with Vichy France decide to 'flip'? So it might have (to some extent) positive global outcomes?

 

22nd October 1942 Convoy KMS01

According to the Arnold Hague database, Convoy KMS01 (the slow convoy) set sail from the Clyde heading to Algiers on the 22nd.

With an escort of 17 ships, there were 49 merchant ships carrying around 5600 troops, fuel, landing craft and other vital materiel in support of the Torch landings. Ships would also have sailed from the US about this time, but I have no information on those.

The vast majority of troops would follow on the fast convoy a few days later.

Edit: Was convoy SL125 actually just a decoy for Torch? Convoy SL-125: Sacrificial Lamb For Operation Torch? | Defense Media Network

 

22-26 October 1942: Torch Convoys KMS01, KMF01 & UG.1

From what [I think] I understand, there were 3 convoys carrying the Torch invasion force.
- UGF.1 sailed from Virginia, USA with US troops & supplies for the Western Task Force (French Morocco)
- KMS01 sailed from the Clyde, Scotland with mostly equipment & supplies for both the Central & Eastern Task Force (Algeria)
- KMF01 followed the route of KMS01, with Allied troops for the Central & Eastern Task Force.



Convoy SL125 had no official link with Operation Torch, but some believe it may have been sacrificed in the interests of Torch. It sailed from Sierra Leone 16th October arriving Liverpool 9th November. According to the Hague database it included 45 Merchant ships and 23 escort ships.

This convoy was spotted and a ship was sunk by a German U boat on the 27th October. A 'wolf pack' of German U boats were quickly assembled and a dozen ships from the convoy were sunk.

By the 31st October, RAF bombers had arrived and another 11 escort ships had been sent in support.

 

Propaganda: John Ford made a colour documentary film about Operation Torch, mainly for home consumption.
Some of the film was apparently added later made in Arizona but a lot was shot in North Africa.
There's a good section towards the end of British 25 Pounders firing with shots filmed from an OP overlooking. the battle area.

 

Landed via twitter, although I was briefly aware of this:

Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/190644708X?ref_=cm_sw_r_apan_dp_S4CCECMCJA3A8GT201EZ

The book may be difficult to find; Codename Rygor: The Spy Behind the Allied Victory in North Africa Paperback – Illustrated,(Published) 22 July 2010.