Operation Torch? who against who?

[bruce]

was it the famouse Rommel vs Monty, or Rommmel vs Eisenhower???

thx

[Caldric]

It was the American Landing so I would say Ike vs. Rommel, which actually got a couple of American commanders sacked. Ike survived somehow.

However, in Torch the American's for the first time took up arms against a long standing friend the French.

As they say sometimes the cure is more painful then the injury, and this was the beginning of liberating the French or curing them from the Nazi's. They surrendered fairly quick after a bit of fighting, there was a strong resistance to the landing.

[Caldric]

Here is a decent link with a condensed summary of the operation. There is plenty more out there.


http://www.internet-esq.com/ussaugusta/torch/

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/OperationTorch.html

[Lobscouse]

Ike and Rommel?
Rommel was always a front line soldier and commander, while Ike probably never heard a shot fired in anger, until he arrived in wartime England.
Eisenhower's forte was staff work, and his brilliant staff work in the largest prewar maneuvres held in the US, in 1940 I think, paved the way for his rise to supreme commander.
As for Monty, well he was a field commander, a cautious one perhaps, but one all the same. In the Great War he was almost buried with the dead, after a battle, but managed to let out a gasp as he was about to be intered.

[Lobscouse]

That last paragraph was intended to illustrate that Monty was also a tough little bastard. No long-legged squeeze driving him around the cocktail parties.

[Caldric]

I agree that Ike was not a front line commander, but he was a great politician and alliance tender. And he was also in command of Operation Torch, which really was not Rommel either.

[Qvist]

Rommel? PzA Afrika was not responsible for the defense of Tunisia - AFAIK, General Walter Nehring was.

cheers

[HJ Division Grenadier]

Torch was actually a combined allied effort, the reason it was given US military overall structure was to try to sway the opinion of the Vichy government who disliked the British due to the fact the Royal Navy destroyed the French fleet. This was done because of the risk of the powerful French navy falling into the hands of the Kreigsmarine.
It is true that the bulk of the forces taking part of the amphibious landings were American, but Torch as the overall operation was called was joint allied.

[Lobscouse]

Operation Torch also saw America's growing naval strength eclipsing that of the Royal Navy, for the first time. It is said that when the two naval components rendevoused in mid Atlantic the American admiral signalled to his RN counterpart something along these lines "How is the world's second largest navy?" To which the British admiral replied "We are well, and how is the world's second best?" Don't ask me for a source.

[Caldric]

That is funny Lobscouse!

[Lobscouse]

Thanks Cal. I thought so too, being an old(er) Limejuicer at heart.