Operation Torch

Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa, was launched in November under the command of the unknown U.S. Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Allies tried to ensure French co-operation, and in the event resistance was patchy in quality and quantity. Fortuitously, Admiral Darlan, Marshal Petain's deputy, was visiting his sick son in Algiers, and was persuaded to order a ceasefire. The Germans swiftly sent troops to Tunisia, and the Allied advance bogged down with the rains of early winter.

Although the Vichy government repudiated Darlan's ceasefire, Hitler was furious and invaded the Unoccupied Zone of France. A German force had orders to seize the French fleet at Toulon, but the French activated a well-prepared plan and the fleet was scuttled by its crews in the nick of time. Here damaged and sunk cruisers and destroyers can be seen (above) through the smoke of burning heavy cruisers.

American troops, part of the Central Task Force, on their way ashore by landing craft at Oran. It was thought that the French would be less likely to engage the Americans than the British, still mistrusted because of the attack on Mers-el-Kebir and the fighting in the Levant.

With Allied convoys at sea, sailors could be told their destination. Here Rear Admiral Sir Harold Burrough explains forthcoming operations to officers and men aboard his flagship.

Raid on Dieppe

On August 19,1942, the British mounted Operation Jubilee, a large scale raid on the port of Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France. Some 4,900 Canadian, 1,000 British and 50 U.S. troops left five English ports in a fleet of 237 warships and landing craft. Air support was inadequate and intelligence poor, and despite some minor successes the main assault was a bloody failure, with 3,367 Canadian casualties. The Royal Navy lost a destroyer and several landing craft, and the RAF 106 aircraft to only 48 German. Although useful lessons were learnt from Dieppe, the operation's unjustifiable risks were worsened by its labyrinthine planning. Landing craft run in towards the beach (above) under cover of floating smoke dischargers.

The frontal assault was mounted by The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and The Essex Scottish, with armour from the 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment (The Calgary Tanks), supported by the Fusiliers Mont-Royal. Twelve tanks were stopped on the beach because shingle jammed their tracks, and the 15 that made their way inland were soon knocked out. Here a German infantryman picks his way among blanketed Canadian dead.

Canadian prisoners are marched through Dieppe.

Propagandists found some crumbs of comfort: No. 4 Commando, seen here after returning to Newhaven, had taken the Varengeville battery. The U.S. Ranger makes the point that this was the first time Americans had been in action on the ground in Europe during the war.

More Middle East

The British maintained a horsed cavalry brigade of one regular and two yeomanry regiments in Palestine. These yeomen (above) ride along the coast road on their way into Syria on the last occasion that British
cavalry went on campaign mounted.

Armistice terms allowed French soldiers to choose between repatriation or service with the Free French. Much to de Gaulle's annoyance, only about 6,000 of Dentz's troops opted for Free France, while over 20,000 were repatriated. This photograph (below) shows French soldiers waiting to register their preferences in Beirut.

The Middle East

A treaty permitted the stationing of British troops in Iraq, but in May the Iraqis, emboldened by Britain's misfortunes elsewhere, besieged the air base at Habbaniya. Churchill, concerned about the threat of oil supplies and the danger of German build-up, ordered Wavell to send troops from Palestine to relieve it, but when they arrived the siege had been lifted. In Syria and the Lebanon substantial French forces under General Dentz remained loyal to the Vichy regime. When they gave aid to the Iraqis and allowed German aircraft to land, the British decided to take action. Although Free French, as well as Australian, British and Indian units participated in the invasion, which began in June, Vichy troops fought with unexpected determination, and an armistice was not signed till July 14, 1941.

Above, an RAF armoured car from the Habbaniya base enters Fort Rutbah, Iraq, on May 16. There were few Germans and Italians in Iraq, and the pro-Axis elements in Iraq lacked both troops and a cohesive
plan: Baghdad itself fell on May 31.

After the German invasion of Russia, British and Russian troops jointly invaded Iran, where German influence was strong, in August 1941 to secure an overland route to Russia. A captured Iranian officer (below) talks to a British officer, through an interpreter, near an Anglo-Iranian Oil Company refinery at the head of the Gulf.

Britain Prepares

With the fall of France, Britain stood alone and Churchill presciently informed his countrymen that Hitler would have to “break us in this island or lose the war.” Serious preparations were made to meet an invasion, although, with so much of its equipment lost in France, the army was pitifully weak. The evacuation of children from London and other major cities, begun the previous year but reversed (despite government pleas) as many children returned to the cities when air attacks did not materialize, resumed, and Britain braced itself for a long war.

The battle of France was still being fought when these little evacuees left London (above). A policeman is checking one little tot's label to make sure she boards the right train.

Signposts and other direction indicators (below), which would have helped the invaders to find their way around the country, were taken down.

Government Trouble in France

On the night of June 16-17, 1940, the French government formed by Marshal Philippe Petain requested an armistice. But not all Frenchmen were prepared to accept it. Charles de Gaulle, a recently-promoted brigadier general who had fought with some success in the campaign, left for England, and on June 18, he broadcast on the BBC, urging his countrymen to continue the fight on, and ten days later the British recognized him as the leader of all free Frenchmen. The relationship between Churchill and de Gaulle was never comfortable, but thanks to de Gaulle the flame of France's national honour was kept alight.

Marshal Petain, head of the French state established at the spa town of Vichy, shaking hands with Hitler (above).

Charles de Gaulle accompanies King George VI (below) in an inspection of Free French troops, summer 1940.

The Führer Conquers Paris

German leader Adolf Hitler triumphant on his only visit to Paris, June 23, 1940.

Nazis in Paris

In one of the French campaign's most durable images (note the film truck in the background) German troops parade through Paris, May 1940.

Covering the Armistice

CBS correspondent William Shirer (center) types his account of the armistice. In the background is the hall which had housed the railway carriage in which the 1918 ceremony was concluded. The carriage was taken to Germany where it was destroyed later in the war in an air raid.

The Fall of France

The French garrison of Lille fought on while the Dunkirk evacuation proceeded, but with the collapse in the north the Germans regrouped and struck southwards. There was more heavy fighting in the often-neglected part of the campaign. The British 51st Highland Division, a fine Scots Territorial formation which had been fighting under French command, was forced to surrender at St Valery-en-Caux on June 12. The Germans entered Paris on June 14, and on June 22, an armistice was signed at Rethondes, in the Forest of Compiègne — scene of the 1918 armistice negotiations.

German air power was dominant throughout the campaign. The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber (above) with its characteristic gull-winged silhouette, acted as "flying artillery" for advancing German tanks.

Major General Erwin Rommel (below), Commander of 7th Panzer Division, in satisfied mood at St-Valéry, June 12th. A grim-faced Major General Fortune of the 51st Highland Division stands behind him.

The Miracle of Dunkirk

The Dunkirk evacuation, code named “Operation Dynamo” by the British, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between May 26 and June 4 1940, when British, French and Canadian troops were cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk.

In a speech to the House of Commons, which has since come to be known as “We Shall Fight on the Beaches,” Winston Churchill called it the greatest military defeat for many centuries, warning that “the whole root, the core, and brain of the British Army” was stranded in Dunkirk. He hailed their subsequent rescue as a "miracle of deliverance."

On the first day only 7,010 men were evacuated but by the ninth day a total of 338,226 soldiers — 198,229 British and 139,997 French — were rescued by the hastily-assembled fleet of 860 boats. Many of the troops were able to embark from the harbor’s protective mole onto 42 British destroyers and other large ships, while others had to wade from the beaches toward the ships, waiting for hours to board, shoulder-deep in water. Others were ferried from the beaches to the larger ships, and thousands were carried back to England, by the famous "little ships of Dunkirk," a flotilla of around 700 merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats.

The Innocent Victims of War

In an image taken near Louvain, French refugees flee the German forces and make their way to safety in May 1940.

War Weary Troops

French prisoners (above) are seen in a makeshift camp, during the summer of 1940. Exhausted Belgian troops (below) make their way on the Louvain-Brussels road. All European armies except the British used substantial numbers of horses in 1940.

British Help in France; Unfortunate Refugees

Above, a British field gun is seen in action 30 May 1945. German air superiority in the skies over France made artillery deployed in the open especially vulnerable: this gun enjoys the benefit of some cover.

A member of the German 56th Artillery Regiment, on his way to the Channel coast, took this photograph (below) of French refugees killed in an air attack.

British Expeditionary Force

Leading elements of the BEF arrive in France, September 1939 (above). Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the British Expeditionary Force was sent to the Franco-Belgian border. By May 1940, when the German attack began, it consisted of ten infantry divisions in three corps (I, II, and III), 1st Army Tank Brigade and a RAF detachment of about 500 aircraft, the BEF Air Component. Also in France was a separate long-range RAF force, the Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF). Commanded by General Lord Gort, although constituting only a tenth of the defending Allied force it sustained heavy losses during the German advance and most of the remainder (roughly 330,000 men) were evacuated from Dunkirk between May 26 and June 4, 1940, leaving much of their equipment behind. However, the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was left behind at Saint-Valery-en-Caux, as it was not trapped by the Germans at the time; it surrendered along with elements of the French 10th Army later in June. The short lived second Expeditionary Force commanded by General Alan Brooke was evacuated from Western France during Operation Ariel.

Although the censor has blacked out details that might give a clue to the location of these railway wagons (below), there are the same "40 men-8 horses" wagons familiar to British soldiers of an earlier war, on the way to the British concentration area around Arras.

France Prepares For War

France planned to fight a long war, with the Maginot Line safeguarding her from German attack while her war machine gradually built up speed. The French army was a mixture of ancient and modern, with infantry and artillery reminiscent of 1918 and, although it had some good tanks, too many of these were allocated to infantry support. Lord Gort's British Expeditionary Force (BEF) went to France in 1939 and established its headquarters at Arras, in the midst of World War One battlefields remembered by many of its members. French infantry is seen on the march (above), September 1939.

Below, French tanks on manoeuvres, autumn 1939. When the Germans invaded on 10 May 1940, France could field 2,285 tanks on her north-eastern front.

Invasion of the Rhineland — 1936

The Rhineland, located between France and Germany, was demilitarized by the Treaty of Versailles, but in March 1936 the German army moved in, to the evident delight of the inhabitants as seen above. Following the First World War of the early 20th century, the western part of Rhineland was occupied by Entente forces, then demilitarized under the Treaty of Versailles. German forces remilitarized the territory in 1936, as part of a diplomatic test of will, three years before the outbreak of the Second World War. The remilitarization of the Rhineland was favoured by some of the local population, because of a resurgence of German nationalism and harboured bitterness over the Allied occupation of the Rhineland until 1930 (Saarland until 1935).