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I've always thought it was incredibly stupid for Eisenhower to send General Mark Clark to clandestinely met with French officers before the landings took place. Clark was the chief planner for Torch and also knew all about ULTRA. What if he had been captured?

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1942:

October 21:
General Mark Clark, deputy to General Eisenhower, clandestinely goes ashore in Algeria to meet with sympathetic Vichy officers. It is hoped that the Allies can persuade the French not to resist the coming landings in French North Africa. However, the secret mission goes awry; Clark and his colleagues are taken prisoner.

October 22:
Following the orders of General Francois Darlan, Clark is turned over to the Gestapo, who immediately subjugate him to interrogation. At the same time, German officers initiate a counterintelligence measure by radioing Berlin that General Clark had been killed rather than captured. Eisenhower and his staff believe this to be the case.

October 23:
The British Eighth Army, commanded by General Bernard Montgomery, launch their offensive against the Germans at El Alamein.

October 24:
The Allied task forces for Operation Torch set sail.

General Clark, breaking under Gestapo interrogation, reveals the details of Operation Torch and, worse still, reveals the secret of ULTRA. The Germans are horrified at the ULTRA revelation and the High Command at first refuses to believe it. However, it is immediately seen that their knowledge of Operation Torch provides a golden opportunity.

October 25:
General Clark is flown to Germany for more interrogation. As a precaution, German forces began to limit their radio traffic.

It is proposed the German and Italian troops occupy Tunis, but this is rejected. It is feared that such a move will reveal to the Allies that operational security has been compromised. However, preparations are made to speedily occupy the city once the landings have begun.

October 27:
Germany informs Vichy authorities about the coming invasion and declares that any cooperation with or nonresistance to the Allies will result in the immediate occupation of Vichy France. The French are reminded that hundreds of thousands of French POWs remain in German hands.

The Luftwaffe begins to deploy additional units in Sicily and Sardinia.

With Rommel having returned to the front, the Germans counter attack at El Alamein. While they are unable to drive the British back, it appears that the offensive has stalled.

The Royal Air Force sinks the tanker Proserpina outside Tobruk, denying Rommel critical supplies of fuel.

October 29:
Admiral Francois Darlan arrives in Algiers and begins to plan a strong resistance to the Allied landings. Preparations are made for the French Navy to sail from Toulon to attack the Allied forces when the invasion commences.

The reduction in German radio traffic is noted by Allied intelligence. Some officers express their concern that perhaps General Clark has been captured, contrary to the story of his death.

The German High Command, having gotten more details from General Clark, is now convinced that the information about ULTRA is true. They immediately begin to implement countermeasures to ensure communications security.

October 30:
Despite the knowledge that the Allies can read their radio transmissions until proper countermeasures can be enacted, the Kriegsmarine orders its U-boats to converge upon the Allied convoys. To preserve operational security, overflights of the convoys are made by long-range Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft, which appear to the Allies to have stumbled upon the convoys by chance.

November 1:
The Allied convoys are warned to expect U-boat attacks.

A purge of officers believed to have Allied sympathies is launched among the Vichy army and air force in North Africa. Several high-ranking officers are arrested, including General Emile Bethouard, Henri d'Astier de La Vigerie, and Jose Aboulker. The French Navy, being pro-Vichy and fiercely anti-British, is not particularly affected.

The Battle of El Alamein drags on, with the British and Commonwealth forces gradually wearing down the German and Italian armies.

November 2:
U-boats begin to shadow the Allied convoys. Knowing their transmissions are being decoded, the Germans send messages to nonexistent U-boat wolfpacks indicated as being west of the convoys, hoping that this will cause the Americans to speed up and minimize zigzagging.

Pro-Allied French officers in North Africa send messages alerting the Allies that the Vichy forces are preparing for heavy combat. Eisenhower and his planners are now concerned that their operational security has been compromised.

The Germans demand that the French allow the Luftwaffe to operate from North African airfields. After delaying for a few hours, threats to occupy southern France are sufficient to cause the French to capitulate.

November 3:
The U-boats launched their first attacks on the Allied convoys. Several ships are sunk, while others are damaged and forced to turn back. The men, green and untested, are severely rattled. U-boats are destroyed by escorts.

The Germans send radio messages using the same system that is being decoded by ULTRA, which lead the Allies to believe that the Germans expect the convoys are headed to Malta. The Allies believe that they still will have the element of surprise when they land in North Africa.

Royal Navy destroyers hunt U-boats on the approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar. The Royal Air Force prepares to shield the convoys from air attack as they transit the narrow strait.

Luftwaffe units begin arriving at Algerian airfields.

November 4:
Units of the Vichy French Air Force are sent from southern France to North Africa as reinforcements.

As the Central and Eastern Task Forces near Gibraltar, they come under sustained U-boat attack and lose several more ships, despite strong anti-submarine efforts by the Royal Navy. The American and British soldiers are thoroughly rattled and many valuable supplies are lost.

The British Eighth Army launches its final assault at El Alamein, as the German and Italian lines crumble.

November 5:
The Central and Eastern Task Forces transit the Strait of Gibraltar, as the Western Task Force nears Morocco.

While the French Air Force remains on the ground, Luftwaffe aircraft flying from Algerian airfields launch sustained attacks on the Allied convoys as they transit the strait. A fierce air battle rages overhead as Royal Air Force Hurricanes and Spitfires flying from Gibraltar attempt to protect the ships.

The French fleet at Toulon prepares to sortie.

November 6:
As U-boat and air attacks continue to inflict damage on the Central and Eastern convoys, Eisenhower strongly considers canceling the landing at Algiers and using those forces to reinforce the landing at Oran. But it is decided to proceed with the original plan, especially as the Allies remain convinced that the Germans believe the convoys are headed towards Malta.

November 7:
Rommel retreats westward from El Alamein, pursued by the British Eighth Army.

As the Allied convoys close in on their beaches, U-boat and air attacks continue to inflict losses.

To the horror of Allied intelligence, it is discovered that German radio traffic is again at peak levels, but that ULTRA cannot crack it.

November 8:
Allied forces land at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, where they immediately encounter fierce resistance from the French defenders. Shaken by weeks of sea travel and days of terrifying enemy attacks, the green American troops land in a confused and scattered fashion.

By the end of the day, the landings at Algiers are in serious trouble. Things are only marginally better at Oran, while only around Casablanca have the Allies established a firm foothold.

The French fleet sorties from Toulon, heading south under German and Italian air cover.

The French naval squadron at Casablanca sorties to attack the Western Task Force. In a fierce battle, the Americans lose three destroyers and a cruiser, but the French force is destroyed.

The Vichy government, declaring that the Americans and British are engaged in “unprovoked aggression against the French nation,” declares that a state of war exists between France and the Allies.

German paratroopers land at Tunis airport.

November 9:
Fierce fighting continues to rage around Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. With no harbor secured, offloading of supplies is haphazard and confused. Largely stationary, the ships are easy targets for U-boat and Luftwaffe attacks.

British air attack are launched on the French fleet, damaging two cruisers but losing many aircraft to the Luftwaffe.

With the French fleet approaching, Eisenhower orders that the landing force at Algiers be evacuated. However, the withdrawal is confused and disorderly. Many American and British soldiers are taken prisoner.

In Morocco, while Casablanca is not yet secured, the Americans have established a firm beachhead.

November 10:
The French Fleet and the Royal Navy engage in the Battle of Algiers, as the French attempt to attack the British vessels evacuating the landing force from Algiers. Both sides suffer heavy loses, with the French flagship Strasbourg being sunk. However, the Royal Navy is in an impossible position and withdraws to the west. Many Allied troop transports are sunk.

German forces landing at Tunis began to move westward to reinforce the French, while others are sent eastward to reinforce Rommel.

Rommel continues to retreat across North Africa. With word of the Allied landings in North Africa and receiving word that German and Italian reinforcements are to be sent to Tunisia, Rommel begins to consider where he will halt his retreat.

November 11:
Fierce fighting continues to rage around Oran, with the French encircled but resisting stoutly. They hope to be able to hold out long enough to be relieved by French forces from Algiers and by German support. Allied shipping off Oran continues to suffer losses from U-boat and air attack.

At Casablanca, the French defenders are fighting house-to-house against Patton’s men, with both sides suffering heavily. The level of submarine and air attacks is slackening, as the Axis forces decide to concentrate on Oran.

The harbor at Algiers having been damaged during the attempting Allied landing, the French fleet elects to return to Toulon rather than risk another engagement with the British.

November 12-15:
With no hope of relief, French resistance in Casablanca ceases. The Americans have suffered 7,000 casualties during the attack, which was characterized by confusion and mismanagement. But the Allies finally have their first firm foothold in French North Africa.

Fighting continues to rage in and around Oran. While American forces continue to advance street by street, British forces are taking up blocking positions to the east of the city, so as to prevent French and German reinforcements from attacking the Allied forces from the rear.

Germany, even as it is facing defeat at Stalingrad on the Russian Front, elects that a strong defensive campaign in Africa can serve to wear down the Americans and British to such an extent that they might eventually settle for a separate peace. Therefore, North Africa is to be considerably reinforced.

November 16:
French resistance in Oran finally ceases, although the Allis have suffered heavy losses in capturing the city. British forces holding a line east of the city report contact with French and German light infantry, although it seems that Axis efforts are focused on creating a defensive line between Oran and Algiers.

The French Navy begins assisting the Italian Navy escorting Axis supply ships across the Mediterranean.

The Luftwaffe begins regular bombings of the harbors at Oran and Casablanca, as well as attacks on Allied airfields. U-boat attacks on merchant shipping in the Central Atlantic are reduced as their operations shift to the coasts off North Africa.

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Any thoughts? What happens next?
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