Evening star., 1943-11-07
African Anniversary

year ago it seemed just another No
vember evening when the clocks
struck nine. But to few insiders
at the White House, the State De-
partment and the Pentagon Build
ing across the Potomac, those meas
ured strokes spelled the zero hour"
for the announcement of the first
great American offensive in the
war-the landing on North Africa.
1t was vast and complex opera
ton. On beaches hundreds of miles
apart, stretching from the surf
fringed Atlantic coast of Morocco
to the quieter Mediterranean shores
OF Algeria, American Rangers
leaped from assault barges and
splashed ashore in the darkness be-
fore dawn, quickly followed by light
tanks and mobile artillery to secure
beachheads for the masses of in
fantry and heavy equipment waiting
in big transports standing offshore,
guarded by warships and planes
This audacious stroke, first de-
cided on by President Roosevelt and
Prime Minister Winston Churchill at
their White House conferences Of
the preceding June, was delivered
with smoothneSs and efficiency,
made possible by those intervening
months OF careful preparation. Per-
haps the most astounding feature
OF the whole Enterprise was the way
the strategic secret was kept. Down
to the very last moment, the Axis
knew only that something big was
atoot, with no precise information
as to where the blow would fall.
Their closest guess was Dakar, far
to the southwark in French West
Africa, where their Vichy tools gath
cred dependable forces to repel an
attack that never materialized
Meanwhile, the cities Of the north
fell like overripe fruit, Admiral
Darlan and the Vichy proconsul
made terms and the initial victory
was won with incredible ease and a
minimum Of casualties. With the
exception of Tunisia, where the Axis
just beat us to the punch, French
Africa had passed from Axis to
Allied control
1t would not be quite accurate to
say that our landing in French
North Africa marked the turn of
the tide which has ever since flowed
more and more swiftly in favor of
the United Nations. History will
PROBABLY assign that momentous
turning point to Marshal Rommels
crushing defeat at Ell Alamein on
the desert border of Egypt by the
British Eighth Army But the two
events are chronologically close.
The battle of Ell Alamein began on
October % and the decisive break
through came on November 4, only
three days before the American
landings at the other end of North
Africa, some 1000 miles away. Yet
the two events, though geographic
ally remote from each other. were
strategically parts Of an organic
whole. Both strokes were envisaged
In the great plan sketched out the
previous June, and their virtually
simultaneous delivery was alike
reciprocal and cumulative. Axis re-
lnforcements which otherwise would
have gone to bolster Rommel had
to be hastily diverted to Tunisia.
The whole Axis structure in North
Africa was obviously doomed. From
an offensive base it became a defen-
sive bastion of Italy, to be held. as
long as possible in order to gain
time for preparations against the
Allied invasion OF Italy and it's is
lands which was certain eventually
to come.
The whole splendid panorama Of
Allied victories which has filled the
ensuing twelvemonth was implicit
in the hammer strokes of year ago
on the opposite ends of the North
African seaboard. Mr.. Churchill,
with his usual flair for apt charac-
terization, described those African
successes at the time as: Not the
end. Not even the beginning of the
end. But, perhaps. the end OF the
beginning"