Operation 'Torch' The Invasion of North Africa - Then and Now (Pallud Jean Paul)(Pevná vazba)

In 2012 Jean Paul Pallud wrote the After the Battle account of the Desert War; now he completes the story with detailed coverage of the landings of Operation `Torch’ in North-West Africa in November 1942. When the western Allies decided to launch a second front in North Africa, they carefully considered the anti-British feeling left in France by the ill-advised attack by the Royal Navy on the French Fleet at Mers el Kébir in July 1940. Consequently, the operation was given an American rather than a British complexion, General Eisenhower was chosen to lead a mostly American force into battle and the major Royal Navy contribution was kept as inconspicuous as possible. At this point in the war, the Allies had almost no experience with amphibious operations and it was a risky undertaking to carry out such an immense operation covering multiple landings over 600 miles apart. Even more amazing was the fact that part of the invasion forces was to depart from the United States, 6,000 miles away. As the orders were not confirmed until a month before Operation `Torch’ was launched, there was very little time to organise such a logistically complex operation involving American and British forces, and even less time for the pro-Allied French to organise more than small measures of support. There were two landings in the Mediterranean, at three main points near Algiers and three near Oran, and three landings on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. There, the main landing
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