November 1942: Allied invasion of North Africa

On 8 November 1942, the Allies carried out coordinated landings at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers with the intention of capturing French North Africa, code-named Operation Torch. After brief resistance, the Vichy French forces in North Africa, under Admiral François Darlan, surrendered to the Allies on 10 November in exchange for retaining administration of North Africa. Allied troops that advanced toward Tunisia and Libya.

All of the Allies agreed on the need to conduct some operation against the European Axis to relieve pressure on the USSR. America favored an invasion of France across the English Channel, but Britain preferred to attack somewhere peripheral to Europe. Britain was still traumatized by its retreat from Dunkirk during the Battle of France and wanted to avoid attacking Europe until Germany was weaker. Eventually, in return for a British promise to an invasion of France by 1944 at the latest, the USA agreed to an invasion of North Africa. An invasion of North Africa would restore British lines of communication in the Mediterranean, stop Axis attacks on Egypt, and relieve pressure on the USSR.

The Vichy French in North Africa initially resisted the Allied invasion, but it quickly became clear that the overwhelming superiority of the Allies in numbers and armament made resistance futile. Darlan was a republican and disagreed with the Vichy government; he was overwhelmingly concerned with French interests in North Africa. As a result, Darlan was willing to betray Vichy France so long as his administration in North Africa was kept intact.

Darlan’s surrender to the Allies prompted major changes in the status of France and French possessions. Now isolated from Metropolitan France, the French colonial administration in West Africa announced its support for the Free French. As a result, the Axis was unable to benefit from the manpower and resources of France’s colonial empire. Darlan’s surrender also undermined German trust in the Vichy government, leading Germany and Italy to invade and occupy Vichy France out of a fear that the Vichy government might surrender and leave the Mediterranean coast exposed to an Allied invasion.

Allied success in Operation Torch achieved all of the Allies’ strategic goals: pressure on the Soviets was relieved, Axis operations against Egypt were disrupted, and British lines of communication were restored across the Mediterranean. Operation Torch marked a major turning point in the Middle Eastern Theater, as Axis forces rapidly lost ground. The capture of North Africa also provided a base for future invasions of Europe; the invasion of Italy in September 1943 and the invasion of Vichy France in August 1944 were both launched from bases in North Africa.