The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-23

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 The general plan of campaign was simple. With new Allied land ings in northwest Africa, the crafty Marshal Erwin Rommel was to be squeezed into giant pincers trap.
 The blow was struck on Nov. 8, just two weeks after Montgomery started west from Egypt. An un- precedented armada of $50 vessels landed American and British troops at points near Casablanca on the Atlantic coast of French Morocco and near Gran and Algiers in Alge- ria on the Mediterranean coast.
 Race Against Time
 Resistance was sharp but brief. AlgierS fell in a matter of hours, After four days brisk fighting, Ca sablanca, the show city" of gIist- ening white buildings, and Gran, modern naval base, also capitulat- ed, placing all of Morocco and Al geria in Allied hands.
 It. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. the Allied commander, appointed Adm. Jean Francois Darlan "tem- porary political leader of the con quered territory, and then without pausing to consolidate, the Allied VanguardS moved on. For the job they had to do, time was all-im- portant.
 From Algiers, American and Free French units raced eastward through the deep ravines and gorges of the Atlas mountains to- ward Tunisia. Their goal was Bi- zerte, the great German-held na- val base commanding the narrow waters between Sicily and the knob of Tunis. British 1st army forces, landed at Bone and PhIippeville, joined them on the way Success would mean sealing off German re- Inducements and certain and spec dy victory for the campaign.
 But the German reaction was rapid. From Sicily and Italy, re- serve armor poured into Tunisia by plane and ship. The race was close, and for several days the out come hung in the balance. But Eisenhower lost his daring gamble by a step. First contact was made 35 miles west of BiZerte on Nov IT, The German veterans held, and the Allied drive slithered to a halt in the autumn North African mud.
 Hampered by this mud and lack ing fuel and supplies to press an immediate offensive, Eisenhower settled down to spend the winter hanging on to his advance Tuni- sian positions and building up his force for the final clash with Rom mel.
 French Scuttle Fleet
 During the breathing spell, events continued to buzz elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean. Hitler, who had ordered the occupation of the Vichy half of France with the A. lied landings. on Nov 27 ordered his troops to seize the hitherto ln- violate Mediterranean base of Tou- lon and grab the French fleet based there. It was a good idea, but it didn't work. Taking matters into their own hands, the French sailors scuttled their vessels even as the German tanks were rumbling through the cioy. The first Nazis to arrive found dock Installations in ruins and three battleships, five cruisers and 26 destroyers either smoking wrecks or resting on the bottom.
 In Algiers, two days before Chris. mas, an event occurred which set the already turbulent French poli- tical pot to boiling over. Two bull lets from the pistol of 20year-old Frenchman named Boniner de la Chapelle ended the life of the al- legedly pro-Vicl-y Adm. Darlan, The slayer, later identified as an ardent anti-Vichyite, died before a firing squad the next day. Gen. Francois Giraud, still not mem Der of the Free French group, but credited with resolute opposition to Germany, was chosen to replace Darlan.
 At the end ot January, the AllleO TuniSian armies were cheered by the news that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill had completed dramatic 10-day meet ing at nearby Casablanca. The AL lied chiefs of staff, plus Giraud and the Free French leader Gen. Charles de Gaulle, were present. it was announced Complete har- mony" had reigned and a Satisfac- tory accord had been reached on future strategy, it was said.
 To the east, meanwhile, Mont gomery's main problem seemed to be to maintain contact with the fleeing Afrika Korps, averaging F miles daily past the battle-weary villages of Libya, Tobruk and Ben ghazi had fallen late in November, and the British were back at Fl Agheila, 800 niles west of Egypt, for tho third time in the war on