The Free French General, Henri Giraud feared that the Maquis on Corsica would be crushed unless the Allies intervened and gained the agreement of the Allied supreme commander of the North African Theater of Operations, General Dwight D. Eisenhower to assist the resistance. Eisenhower stipulated that no Allied forces engaged in the battle at Salerno (9–16 September) could be spared and the French must their own ships and troops. From 11 September, French troops were dispatched to Corsica from Algiers; the submarine "Casabianca" ferried 109 men to Ajaccio and from 13 to 24 September the destroyers and delivered 500 men and of supplies and on 16 September thirty men and of supplies were delivered by the submarine , followed on 17 September by 550 men and of stores in "Le Fantastique", and and of supplies by the submarine . A US commando unit comprising 400 men with of supplies were landed from the Italian destroyers and .