This book by George Ward Price, controversial journalist before and during the war was published in 1944, it was found yesterday whilst researching the meeting between the SAS & 8th Army at Tezour, a remote city with a French military garrison in south-west Tunisia in early 1943. (See: The French SAS in Tunisia January 1943 ) The book may supplement the current thread on Operation Torch: Operation Torch: 80th Anniversary Giraud appears in many threads here. He was a competitor to de Gaulle for a few months. See: Henri Giraud - Wikipedia My research found Chapter Nine of the book, which explains how the French Army tried to avoid being crippled during the Armistice in North Africa, how the campaign in French North Africa unfolded, with the new Free French troops advancing towards Tunisia and a few other passages. See: Giraud and the African Scene • Chapter 9 The book itself covers a far wider theme and the Vichy, then Free French commander, General Henri Giraud is clearly the focus - he had particular access to him, he also shared some of his conservative politics. Link to the book's opening: Giraud and the African Scene (G. Ward Price) (the book is out of copyright) A 1944 book review commented: More on the author's background: George Ward Price - Wikipedia I might dip into other chapters later.
Giraud was FDR's preference to lead unoccupied France and be the head of a liberated French provisional government . His hostility to CDG was deep seated and permanent such that CDG was not included in the planning for D Day. While Giraud could be regarded a a fine soldier, he could not match CDG as a soldier politician By July 1944, FDR had to reluctantly acknowledge CDG, the creator of the Free French as the leader of the French provisional government on the liberation of France. Giraud was forced out of the race. WSC does not come out very well in this struggle for power in post war France. He did not back CDG, his preference as the leader of the French Resistance / Free French against FDR's choice. The French/US political understanding was soured whenever CDG was in power. A good example being when he dismissed US Forces from France soil declaring that only the French would determine when nuclear weapons were to be launched from its soil. The outcome to that is that France has an independent nuclear deterrent withy NATO. An excellent informative publication regarding the matter is contained in Peter Novick's work published as The Resistance versus Vichy which contains FDR's involvement in the matter. An insight to Ward Price. He was a prewar Daily Mail journalist whose newspaper covered all the Nuremburg Rallies from 1935 and he was the man who reported them.
I examined US policy on Algeria a year plus ago, whilst researching Setif, the scene of violence on 8/5/1945 and add these points. De Gaulle's attitude to the USA can be traced back to events in Algeria (alongside the conduct of the war). American policy towards French colonial rule is summarised by Bills: ‘In French North Africa, the direction of US wartime policy was clearly toward stabilizing and sustaining French control over the region - a policy effectively enacted on the spot by (Robert) Murphy (US diplomat in French North Africa, the equivalent of a High Commissioner), approved by FOR, and implemented over a wide area by the American military command….. Still, as the war progressed, despite Roosevelt's cold shoulder to de Gaulle, US commitments to preserve the French empire in North Africa gathered in number and legitimacy.’[1] On the 8th November 1942 Anglo-US forces, led by General Eisenhower, landed in Algeria and Morocco, in Operation Torch facing initially a brief resistance from Vichy French forces; the two allies had then headed east to Tunisia, where the Vichy French regime had been replaced by German and Italian forces, who surrendered on the 13th May 1943.[2] Professor Andrew Hussey in his book on pg. 170 of ‘The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and its Arabs’ (pub. 2014) refers to an (undated) 1942 incident in Philipeville, a city in eastern Algeria, where French commanded Senegalese troops shot dead thirty Muslims in the old town before American troops intervened to stop the shooting. Hussey refers on pg. 151 to Giraud being ‘a conservative and popular with the colons, who saw him as continuing the old order. He spoke Arabic and also had an admiration and affection for Islam and the ‘natives’. The Allies relied on the use of French-controlled ports, facilities, and communication routes (mainly roads) as their action continued and few, if any “behind the lines” problems were encountered along the ‘Lines of Communication’ (LoC).[3] One website contributor[4] referring to November 1942-April 1943 wrote that: ‘No impairment of the flow of supply. The large numbers of French troops in the process of re-equipping and retraining, plus the unknown numbers of British troops engaged in LoC protection, eased the problem of guarding the long LoC.’ The Casablanca Conference took place between January 14-24, 1943; General de Gaulle, the Free French leader was forced to attend this Anglo-American conference.[5] A PhD student at Kings College London, commented[6] in an email: ‘All I can say at the moment is when de Gaulle arrived in early 1943 for the Casablanca conference he was displeased at the American troop presence and that he felt he was being welcomed to French territory by US occupiers.’ From June 1943 there had been a Free French administration, so Allied forces were there as allies and the French had responsibility for maintaining order. After a meeting at AFHQ in June 1944 it was agreed that the protection of Allied dumps and installations remained the concern of Allied Commanders.[7] Following the declaration of a Provisional Government of France on the 29th August 1944, which the UK and USA accepted, France regained full control of Algeria and ended the role of the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory.[8] The American Consul-General, Edward P. Lawton, in Algiers reported after the initial riot in Setif: ‘While it is generally agreed that the situation is serious, no one doubts that the French can and will enforce order by whatever measures are necessary.’ [9] A prominent Algerian politician, Ferhat Abbas[10], is reported to have commented in 1945: ‘Ferhat Abbas and his followers dreaded the moment when the Second War would enter its final phase in Europe, because it would result in the departure from Algeria of all the armed forces and intelligence offices of the United States, thus leaving the field open to the France for a takeover of the territory and its inhabitants. Washington abstained from officially condemning the repression of the riots of May 8, 1945, but half-heartedly deplored it in a private correspondence with its ambassador in Paris.’[11] No US military personnel are now buried in Algeria, all those who died across North Africa are buried in Tunisia at one cemetery, the North African American Cemetery, including consolidation from five US military cemeteries in Algeria after 1945.[12] On the 15th June 1945 the French Government ordered the closure of United States military bases in Algeria in response to American policy favouring decolonization.[13] This policy decision has not been researched. [1] Pg. 30 in ‘Empire and Cold War: the Roots of US-Third World Antagonism, 1945-1947 by Scott L. Bills, published 1990 (available via Birmingham University Library contact as a PDF). [2] From: Operation Torch - Wikipedia [3] In June 1943 Italian commandos launched a raid on airfields near Algiers and Biskra, with limited success. From: A.D.R.A Royal italian air force commando A glider tailfin of a German DFS 230 assault glider, was found abandoned in Algeria between Sétif and Philippeville (now Skikda) at the end of December 1942. From: 255's Trophies There was some German special forces activity till the surrender: OCTOBER 2012 newsletter - Cape Town - South African Military History Society - Title page [4] From: Use of Troops for Rear Area Security. Russia, France. North Africa [5] See: Casablanca Conference - Wikipedia and BBC - WW2 People's War - Timeline [6] His PhD examines the role of secret intelligence and clandestine diplomacy in Anglo-French relations during the Second World War (not yet published). He responded on 8/2/2021 with this observation. [7] See, citing UK Cabinet Papers: HyperWar: ORGANISATION OF FRENCH FORCES IN MEDITERRANEAN THEATRE [8] See: Charles de Gaulle - Wikipedia [9] Ditto and Footnote 38 [10] See: Ferhat Abbas - Wikipedia [11] From: Les Américains en Algérie 1942-1945 | cdha.fr Centre on Documentation of the History on Algeria [12] From: http://www.abmc.gov/North-Africa and 3044th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company | WW2 US Medical Research Centre [13] From: Principal Dates and Time Line of History of Algeria 1945-1957
All you need to know about Ward Price and the rag he worked for. George Ward Price Always remember, never forget, Jim.
