Wow, I am reading "Army at Dawn" by Rick Atkinson. I knew that we had gone up against Vichy French at the very beginning of our (US) involvement of WWII but I had no idea of the scale (and the mismanaged nature of the assault).
We half heartedly assaulted the beaches of northern africa from Algiers to Morrocco, very incorrectly assuming that the French stationed there would see that we were americans and drop their weapons to welcome us. Using mostly outdated WWI era equipment and ships, we were not prepared for the defense put up by the Vichy and suffered some avoidable casualties. We took the heaviest losses assaulting several ports, where we assumed that the Vichy defenses would give up once a pyrotechnically unfurled American flag was launched into the bay. Assaults on ports require surprise and fast action, otherwise defending forces scuttle craft and make the port unusable for months, which is what happened. America and Britain's joint operations suffered from two different fighting styles and logistical approaches being rushed together for an ill-prepared assault.
The numbers of allied killed or wounded over the week or so of fighting were somewhere around 2,500. With French losses in the 3,000's. I am amazed that this chapter of WWII is glazed over as much as it is.
We half heartedly assaulted the beaches of northern africa from Algiers to Morrocco, very incorrectly assuming that the French stationed there would see that we were americans and drop their weapons to welcome us. Using mostly outdated WWI era equipment and ships, we were not prepared for the defense put up by the Vichy and suffered some avoidable casualties. We took the heaviest losses assaulting several ports, where we assumed that the Vichy defenses would give up once a pyrotechnically unfurled American flag was launched into the bay. Assaults on ports require surprise and fast action, otherwise defending forces scuttle craft and make the port unusable for months, which is what happened. America and Britain's joint operations suffered from two different fighting styles and logistical approaches being rushed together for an ill-prepared assault.
The numbers of allied killed or wounded over the week or so of fighting were somewhere around 2,500. With French losses in the 3,000's. I am amazed that this chapter of WWII is glazed over as much as it is.
