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Operation Torch
Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to engage in the fight against Nazi Germany on a limited scale. It was the first mass involvement of US troops in the European–North African Theatre, and saw the first major airborne assault carried out by the United States. While the French colonies were formally aligned with Germany via Vichy France, the loyalties of the population were mixed. Reports indicated that they might support the Allies. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in Mediterranean Theater of Operations, planned a three-pronged attack on Casablanca (Western), Oran (Center) and Algiers (Eastern), then a rapid move on Tunis to catch Axis forces (Afrika Korps) in North Africa from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alphonse Juin
Alphonse Pierre Juin (16 December 1888 – 27 January 1967) was a senior French Army general who became Marshal of France. A graduate of the École Spéciale Militaire class of 1912, he served in Morocco in 1914 in command of native troops. Upon the outbreak of the First World War, he was sent to the Western Front in France, where he was gravely wounded in 1915. As a result of this wound, he lost the use of his right arm. After the war, he attended the École Supérieure de Guerre. He chose to serve in North Africa again. After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, he assumed command of the 15th Motorized Infantry Division. The division was encircled in the Lille pocket during the Battle of France and Juin was captured. He was a prisoner of war until he was released at the behest of the Vichy Government in 1941, and was assigned to command French forces in North Africa. After Operation Torch, the invasion of Algeria and Morocco by British and American forces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airborne Assault
Airborne forces, airborne troops, or airborne infantry are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers. The main advantage of airborne forces is their ability to be deployed into combat zones without land passage, as long as the airspace is accessible. Formations of airborne forces are limited only by the number and size of their transport aircraft; a sizeable force can appear "out of the sky" behind enemy lines in merely hours if not minutes, an action known as ''vertical envelopment''. Airborne forces typically lack enough supplies for prolonged combat, so they are utilized for establishing an airhead to bring in larger forces before carrying out other combat objectives. Some infantry fighting vehicles have also been modified for paradropping with infantry to provide heavier firepower. Due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean And Middle East Theatre Of World War II
The Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War. The vast size of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe. The fighting in this theatre lasted from 10 June 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, until 2 May 1945 when all Axis forces in Italy surrendered. However, fighting would continue in Greece – where British troops had been dispatched to aid the Greek government – during the early stages of the Greek Civil War. The British referred to this theatre as the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre (so called due to the location of the fighting and the name of Middle East Command), the Americans called it the Mediterranean Theater of War and the German informal official history of the fighting is The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million Military personnel, personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Air warfare of World War II, Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French North Africa
French North Africa (french: Afrique du Nord française, sometimes abbreviated to ANF) is the term often applied to the territories controlled by France in the North African Maghreb during the colonial era, namely Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. In contrast to French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa which existed as federations of French colonies and administrative entities in their own right, French North Africa was never more than a term of convenience to refer to the three separately governed territories under different forms of colonial regime. In the 19th century, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, which had loosely controlled the area since the 16th century, left the region vulnerable to other forces. In 1830, French troops captured Algiers and from 1848 until independence in 1962, France treated Algeria as an integral part of France, the ''Métropole'' or metropolitan France. In subsequent decades, a substantial European settler population emerged in Algeria k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Run For Tunis
The Run for Tunis was part of the Tunisia Campaign which took place during November and December 1942 during the Second World War. Once French opposition to the Allied Operation Torch landings had ceased in mid-November, the Allies made a rapid advance by a division-sized force east from Algeria, to capture Tunis and forestall an Axis build up in Tunisia and narrowly failed. Some Allied troops were fewer than short of Tunis by late November but the defenders counter-attacked and pushed them back nearly , to positions which had stabilised by the end of the year. Background Allies The planners of Operation Torch had assumed that Vichy would oppose the landings and the invasion convoys had a preponderance of infantry to meet ground opposition. At Algiers the disembarkation of mobile forces for an advance did not commence until 12 November, making an advance eastwards possible only by 15 November. The Allies had only two infantry brigade groups from the British 78th Infantry Divi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flotilla Leader
A flotilla leader was a warship of late 19th century and early 20th century navies suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer (known as a destroyer leader). The flotilla leader provided space, equipment and staff for the flotilla commodore (who typically held the rank of captain), including a wireless room, senior engineering and gunnery officers, and administrative staff to support the officers. Originally, older light or scout cruisers were often used, but in the early 1900s, the rapidly increasing speed of new destroyer designs meant that such vessels could no longer keep pace with their charges. Accordingly, large destroyer designs were produced for use as leaders. As destroyers changed from specialized anti-torpedo boat vessels that operated in squadrons to larger multi-purpose ships that operated alone or as leaders of groups of smaller vessels, and as command and control techniques improved ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Algerine (J213)
HMS ''Algerine'' was the lead ship of her namesake class of minesweepers built for the Royal Navy during World War II, the s. Initially assigned to the North Sea, she was transferred to lead the 12th Minesweeping Flotilla. The Flotilla were posted to the Mediterranean to assist with Operation Torch. In 1942, after a successful mine clearing operation off Bougie, she was torpedoed by the , causing ''Algerine'' to sink, leaving only eight survivors. Description ''Algerine'' displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines, driving two shafts, which gave a maximum speed of . The ship mounted one single 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V gun. ''Algerine'' had four single mounts for Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon, and she was fitted with two depth charge rails, and four depth charge throwers. Career ''Algerine'' was laid down on 15 March 1941, by Harland & Wolff, Belfas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Reservist
Operation Reservist was an Allied military operation during the Second World War. Part of Operation Torch (the Allied invasion of North Africa), it was an attempted landing of troops directly into the harbour at Oran in Algeria. Background The purpose of Operation Reservist was to capture the valuable facilities and ships at the Vichy French port of Oran before they could be destroyed. The landing of troops directly from ships was extremely risky; however it was hoped that either the French defenders would be taken entirely by surprise, or that they would actually co-operate with the landing forces. Two sloops, and were used to landing the troops. The Operation The landing ships came under sustained fire from the defenders once they were inside the harbour boom including four shore batteries (from east to west – Mole Ravin Blanc, Mole Miller and, Mole J. Giraud and Mole Centre). There were 31 French ships in the port which did considerable damage to the Allied vessels. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Battleship Jean Bart (1940)
''Jean Bart'' was a French fast battleship, the second and final member of the . Built as a response to the Italian , the ''Richelieu''s were based on their immediate predecessors of the with the same unconventional arrangement that grouped their main battery forward in two quadruple gun turrets. They were scaled up to accommodate a much more powerful main battery of eight guns (compared to the guns of the ''Dunkerque''s), with increased armor to protect them from guns of the same caliber. ''Jean Bart'' was laid down in 1936 and was launched in 1940, following the outbreak of World War II in Europe. The ship was not complete by the time Germany won the Battle of France, and ''Jean Bart'' was rushed to Casablanca to escape advancing German troops. She had only one of her main turrets installed, along with a handful of anti-aircraft guns. While in Casablanca, the French attempted to prepare the ship for action as much as was possible in light of limited infrastructure and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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