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Chapter Nine: The Liberation of French Africa
Following the Battle of Dakar in 1940 and the British victory in the Western Desert Campaign in 1941, de Gaulle and the Free French began to persistently request that Churchill and the British Government organise landings along the coast of Algeria, so as to ensure that the rest of French West Africa would fall under Allied control. Initially, however, Churchill and Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, were reluctant to organise any amphibious landings in North Africa, as, although the Royal Navy was easily the dominant naval force and there was little threat from either the Kriegsmarine nor the Regia Marina, there was an issue of prior lack of experience of the British, Commonwealth and Free French forces in amphibious landings – and the German failure in Sealion had shown the dangers of such inexperience. So, it February 1942, it was resolved by the British Government to instead organise landings on the island of Madagascar, in order to drive off the Vichy French forces on the island and to gauge how Allied soldiers would fare in such a landing. Such a decision was opposed by de Gaulle, who continued to advocate for an immediate landing in Algeria, yet was supported by British and Commonwealth generals. It was agreed that a British division, under the command of Robert Sturges, would land on the island, supported by a brigade of Free French troops under the command of Henri of Orléans.

The Battle of Madagascar, as it came to be known, began on April the 7th, as Allied forces landed along the beaches of far north Madagascar, near the city of Diego-Suarez, which was an important strategic site, both for the Vichy French to defend and for the Allies to capture. The British division and Free French brigade proceeded to advance towards the city, and captured it two days after landing. From Diego-Suarez, the Allies began to advance southwards, and throughout the campaign held a strong numerical advantage – the number of British troops present was roughly 15,000, while the number of Free French troops present was roughly 2000, giving the Allies a combined force of 17,000 men. By comparison, the Vichy French garrison on the island was only 8000 strong, with a limited amount of equipment and supplies. Consequently, by June the 8th, Vichy French forces were given the order to evacuate their remaining holdouts on the southern portion of the island, and so the Battle of Madagascar came to an end in an Allied victory.

Having witnessed British and Free French troops successfully stage an amphibious landing, Churchill and Brooke now had the confirmation they needed that landings in North Africa could indeed take place – much to the delight of de Gaulle. Preparations for said landings, code-named Operation Battleaxe, took place between mid-May and late-July, and by September, it was agreed that plans for Battleaxe had been refined and were ready to be put into action. The operation called for three landings along Vichy French Algeria and Morocco – a Western Task Force, consisting of two Free French divisions, would land in Morocco, a Centre Task Force, consisting of two British divisions, would land near Oran, and finally an Eastern Task Force, consisting of a further two British divisions would land near Algiers [1]. The date of Battleaxe’s landings was scheduled for August the 20th 1942, and so the necessary forces were assembled.

However, before Battleaxe was launched, it was agreed by the British High Command that it would be beneficial for Vichy troops to be drawn away from the North African coast when the landings took place, and so it was agreed that, five days prior to Battleaxe, British forces from Libya under the command of Montgomery, who had been promoted to the position of Field Marshal since the conclusion of the Western Desert Campaign, would push into Tunisia. On the 10th, the Tunisian Campaign began, as Montgomery and his recently formed 10th Army (consisting of several of the corps which had took part in Operation Hammerhead) launched a surprise attack into Tunisia, with the intention of capturing the coastal city of Zarzis. The Battle of Zarzis lasted from the 10th to the 12th, and eventually resulted in the Vichy French and Italian forces [1] defending the city retreating to the Mareth Line – a series of defensive fortifications designed to prevent an invasion of Tunisia.

This led to the Battle of Mareth, which lasted from the 13th to the 19th. Initially, attempts by the 10th Army to break the line and force the Vichy French and Italians to retreat were repulsed, and thus a stalemate ensued. However, as Battleaxe began and many Vichy forces were re-directed to Algeria and Morocco, Montgomery and the British were able to successfully penetrate the Axis defences and, on the 19th, the Mareth Line collapsed. This forced the Vichy French and Italians to retreat further into Tunisia, having lost their key defensive position, while Montgomery and the 10th Army entered the nearby the city of Gabés.

From Gabés, Montgomery intended to push further north towards the major city of Sfax, where the bulk of Axis resistance in Tunisia was now concentrated following the collapse of the Mareth Line. Between the 20th and the 22nd, British forces advanced towards Sfax, encountering little resistance aside from a few Vichy French companies which had not retreated as far following the collapse of the Mareth Line. On the 22nd, the Battle of Sfax began, as Montgomery and the 10th Army began to assault the city, while the Vichy French and Italian defenders, consisting of three divisions, attempted to repulse the British attacks. By the 27th, however, resistance around Sfax had collapsed in the face of the 10th Army’s numerical and technological superiority, and so the Vichy French and Italians one again retreated, while Montgomery and the 10th Army entered the city triumphant.

It is at this point that an overview of the events of Battleaxe can be described.

On the 20th, Battleaxe began, as Royal Navy ships transported the divisions to their necessary targets – as previously mentioned, the Royal Navy easily held naval superiority, and so no interruptions came during the travel towards French North Africa. Once the fleets reached their separate targets, the landings began. As the separate Task Forces landed, they encountered varying degrees of resistance from the Vichy French garrisons holding the colonies – the Western Task Force and the Centre Task Forces encountered less resistance than the Eastern Task Force, which was attempting to capture Algiers, the capital of Vichy French Algeria and therefore the centre of Vichy French resistance. By the 21st, British forces in the Centre Task Force had been able to secure control of Oran, while the Free French Western Task Force secured Casablanca on the same day and Safi the following day. On the 22nd, fighting came to a close near Algiers, as the British Eastern Task Force was eventually able to advance, and the Vichy French, suffering from low morale and a shortage of equipment, surrendered, allowing British Field Marshal Harold Alexander [2], who held the overall command of the Allied forces performing Battleaxe, to enter Algiers and accept the surrender of the Vichy French Governor. And so, multiple strategic cities on the North African coast had been secured by the Allies – yet Battleaxe was not at an end yet.

When news of the Allied landings reached the European Continent, the Vichy regime knew that its days were numbered – on the 22nd, the German forces in occupied France, on the orders of the Nazi Government, which now believed that Vichy France was nothing more than a dead weight after its failure to defend North Africa, initiated an invasion of Vichy France, codenamed Case Anton. The invasion was swift, yet, before the Germans could fully conquer the Vichy state, Pétain’s Government ordered the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon, preventing the Germans from securing it. In the months following Anton, Hitler and the Nazi Government proceeded to re-organise France and the Low Countries now that it was completely German-controlled – this included the establishment of two new Nazi puppet states, the SS State of Burgundy (consisting of French-speaking Switzerland, eastern France, and Belgium) (which was directly controlled by Heinrich Himmler), the SS State of Brittany (consisting of the French province of Brittany), while the rest of France continued as a German-occupied zone.

News of the initiation of Anton reached the Vichy French forces in North Africa on the 24th. At this point, the British and Free French forces had pushed forward from their initial landing points and were advancing with significant pace – by the 26th, the entirety of the Algerian and Moroccan coast was controlled by the Allies. At this point, Vichy morale was extremely low, while many French forces still loyal to the Vichy regime were now uncomfortable with the fact that they now served the Third Reich, rather than a French Government. As a result of this, defections began en masse to the Allies from not only the beleaguered Vichy soldiers but also the governors of the remaining Vichy French colonies. As a result of this, by the 31st, the entirety of French West Africa was under Allied control – including the remaining portions of Tunisia, in which the local Vichy governor, Jean-Pierre Esteva, had defected on the 28th, allowing Montgomery and the 10th Army to easily finish off any remaining Italian troops in the colony.

The conclusion of Battleaxe brought an end to the Liberation of French Africa in an Allied victory. Shortly after the campaign came to an end, de Gaulle and the Free French Government moved their headquarters from Dakar, where it had been based since 1940, to Algiers, while Free French ranks swelled with recruits from the former Vichy armies in West Africa. Meanwhile, British troops had gained significant experience in amphibious landings, and so the British Government began preparing the Empire and Commonwealth’s next move in its fight against Nazi Germany.

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[1] Like in our timeline, many Italian troops retreated to Tunisia after the end of the Western Desert Campaign.

[2] As a minor side-note, in this timeline, Harold Alexander is granted the title Earl of Algiers, rather than Earl of Tunis.

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