The Americans overcautiously rejected a plan to land in
Tunisia. The Germans seized the occasion, and the Allies were
forced to undertake a Tunisian campaign which they might
otherwise have avoided, so prolonging the African campaign.
The Germans took advantage of the state of confusion into which
the French had fallen at Tunis and at Bizerta, and formed a
bridgehead. Their purpose was to save Rommel's Afrika Korps,
which was retreating continuously westward before the British
Eighth Army under Montgomery. The Allies decided not to
capture Tunis and concentrated their attacks on the Italian and
German troops. The Americans occupied the northern front,
the French the middle and the British the southern front. Only
a fraction of the Italo- German force embarked and escaped,
while 250,000 Italians were captured at Cap Bon. Montgomery
was supported by a token force of Free French troops from Chad
under the command of Leclerc. The French army of the armistice
thus satisfied its wish to regain a place in the Allied force,
although it lacked equipment and could not avoid some sense
of divided loyalties. It was gradually fitted out with American
arms and retained for modern warfare, and was later given the
chance to redeem the defeat of 1940, first in Italy and then in
Provence.
But France was not completely committed to the Allies and
disunity among the French did not help. After the short mysterious
command of Admiral Darlan, there was a long dispute as to
whether he should be succeeded by General Giraud, who was
backed by the Americans, or by General de Gaulle, who was
favoured by the Resistance. The two candidates agreed to combine
forces in a single army and to establish a joint command,
the French Committee of National Liberation, from which
General Giraud was gradually edged out. At Algiers, which was
made the capital of the Free French, the Committee organized
an immense effort to mobilize all the resources of the French
Empire and to modify the colonies' status, to help the resistance
inside France, to restore a republican constitution and repeal
the laws of the Vichy government, to prepare to assume power in
France and to execute sweeping reforms which would resuscitate
France after the war. The Americans largely disapproved of
this effort and they would recognize none but the defacto government
in France.
World History
