Evening star., 1942-11-14
Message to Gurcio'

"They took great risks and accom-
plished their work. It was a modern
message to Garcia" Thus does
Lieutenant General Eisenhower,
commander in chief of our North
African expeditionary force, char
acterize the amazing secret mission
OF a group of American officers.
headed by Major General Mark w.
Clark, three weeks before the thun-
derstroke. The parallel with the
intrepid mission of Lieutenant
Rowan, early in the Spanish-Ameri-
can War, who penetrated the Spanish
lines and got message to the Cuban
insurgent leader, General Garcia,
that American troops were coming
to their aid, is happy one. But that
long-past exploit is vastly exceeded
by its successor in the magnitude of
the stakes involved. The under
standing arrived at by General Clark
with high anti-Axis French officers
and the precise knowledge of military
dispositions which he brought back
with him were in great part RESPONSE
BILE for the lightning rapidity with
which most of French North Africa
was overrun in seventy-two hours, at
trlf1ing cost in casualties. AS for
the mission itself, it has all the trim
mings Of Hollywood thriller, from
the submarine trip to the African
coast to the police raid on the secret
meeting and the mishaps that at
tended the getaway.
The fact that officers of the French
forces in North Africa gladly risked
their lives in order to aid an Ameri-
can occupation reveals both the hol-
lowness of the Vichy regime and the
widespread sympathy among French
men for America, Frances tradi-
tlonal friend. No such inside assist
ance would have been Forthcoming
IT the expedition had been wholly or
even primarily a British one. The
fact that this is essentially an
american show" was the determin-
ing factor in the attitudes, not mere
ly OF the original French sympa-
thlzers but of all those who have
since come over to our side after
more or less token resistance. The
most significant of those accessions
is that Of Admiral Darlan. This
rlght-hand man Of Marshal Petain,
like so many French Navy men, is
avoWedly anti-British. Yet he ap-
parently arranged his capture" by
the Americans in Algiers, and is now
"advising" the French fleet at Toulon
to come over" II internal rivalries
and jealousies can be smoothed out,
1t looks as though the French forces
in North Africa soon may be enlisted
wholeheartedly in the cause Of the
United Nations.
Another important factor is the
friendly attitude of the natives who,
even in Algeria, form the great ma
jority of the population To all the
Moslem peoples of the Near and Mid
die East, America stands in a class
apart from the other Western ma
tions. Those Oriental peoples under
stand clearly that we have no politi-
cal ambitions in their part of the
world, and that our troops will not be
the spearhead of imperialistic enter
prises. Furthermore, it is apparent
that our forces have brought per-
suasive allies in the shape of golden
"eagles" and double eagles" which
work wonders with primitive folk
'rightfully suspicious of paper cur
rencies. Britain has won many
bloodless victories in Eastern lands
by the skillful use of what are humor-
ously termed her yellow dragons"
With natives and Frenchmen thus
uniting in cordial welcome, our
task of consolidation in North Africa
is well on its way.