World War II: Algeria


Figure 1.--An American soldier landing as part of Operation Torch took this photograph. He captioned it, 'Arab farm boy in Algeria'. The Algerian Arabs were basically passive during World War II, but it had a major impact on how they viewed French rule. Few Americans traveled much in the early 20th century. In World war I, manhy Americans were deployed in France, but in few other foreign countries. World war II proved to be very different.

Algeria was the center of French power in North Africa. At the time of World War II, Algeria was a part of France and not a French colony. The French Government had promoted French colonization and there was a substantial French population in Algeria. Political power was in the hands of the French. The French saw the local Islamic people as backwards and inferior and were very suspicious of them. The local Algerian population were French subjects, but not French citizens with political rights. French policy was acculturation. Most Algerians resisted acculturation. Those that did not dound that racism limited opportunities even with a French education. The French colonial regime was unpopular, but there was not serious independence movement before the War. Algerian nationalists for years worked within the system to achieve civil rights. This was resisted by the French settlers saw this as a threat. The nationalists formed a militant anti-French party in 1939 called the Friends of the Manifesto and Liberty. The fall of France (1940) changed the strategic ballance in North Africa. French bases in North Africa and the Mediterrean coast kept the Mediterranean firmly in Allied hands. With the Vichy regime under the thumb of the NAZIs and the entry of Italy into the Wart, the British were now isolated. surprised many nationalist leaders who now begin to see independence from a weakened France a realistic possibility. The French Vichy Government maintained their hold on Algeria under the terms of the Franco German Armistice. Vichy authorities introduced anti-Semetic laws. Italy entered the War (June 1940) and a few months later launched an invasion of Egypt. Fighting was at first in the Western Desert, but a propaganda campaign was also launched. The Axis was primarily attempting to undermine the British position in Egypt and Iraq, but the Algerians were also listening to radio broadcasts. Allied and Axis propaganda appealed to the local populations throughout North Africa. Both sides offered civil rights and freedom. With the entry of the United States in the War the strategic ballance began to shift. Under pressure from Stalin to open a seconf front, the Allies launched Operation Torch with landings in Morocco and Algeria (November 1942). The objective was to race east and cut off Rommel's Afrika Korps retreating west from El Alemain. The Germans, however, were able to seize Tunisia and rush in reinforcements, delaying the allied victory. The Luftwaffe's limited air lift capability was diverted from supporting the Stalingrad pocket. The Germans could not, however, match the manpower and material superiority of the allies. The Axis forces were caught in the pincers of a two-prong Allied advance from Algeria and Libya. Hitler bought time by defenduing Tunisia, but it mean in the end that the German force trapped there was substantially larger than it might have been. The French Government after the War attempted to revive the political process. This proved futile. The Algerian nationalists were increasingly demanding indeperndence while the French settlers continued to oppose even basic civil rights for Muslims. The result was armed revolution and a vicious civil war.

Colonial Algeria

Algeria was the center of French power in North Africa. At the time of World War II, Algeria was a part of France and not a French colony. The French Government had promoted French colonization and there was a substantial French population in Algeria. Political power was in the hands of the French. The French saw the local Islamic people as backwards and inferior and were very suspicious of them. The local Algerian population were French subjects, but not French citizens with political rights. French policy was acculturation. Most Algerians resisted acculturation. Those that did not dound that racism limited opportunities even with a French education. The French colonial regime was unpopular, but there was not serious independence movement before the War. Algerian nationalists for years worked within the system to achieve civil rights. This was resisted by the French settlers saw this as a threat. The nationalists formed a militant anti-French party in 1939 called the Friends of the Manifesto and Liberty.

Fall of France (June 1940)

The Germans proceeded to conquer virtually all of Western Europe. After a few months of the "Phony War", France's turn came. The Germans struck on a wide front against the neutral Netherlands, Belgiym, and Luxemburg. The terror bombing of Rotterdam convinced the already hard-pressed Dutch Army to surrender. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) rushed north to aid the Dutch. The Germans then struck in the Belgian Ardenes which allowed them to avoid the formidable Maginot Line. The French and Belgians considered the Ardenes impassable to tanks. The Germans managed to easily penetrate the rough terraine, crossed two substantial rivers, and the XIX Panzer Corps rapidly reached the English Channel--cutting the BEF off from the French and rendering the Maginot Line uselss. The French entrenched behind the Maginot Line simply could not cope with the exposive highly mobil style of Blitzkrieg warfare. The Panzers surrounded the Belgian Army which King Leopold III surrendered. The BEF was within Hitler's grasp. The Panzers were only a few miles south of Dunkirk and facing no serious opposition. Hitler ordered the Panzers to halt. Some believe that he hoped this gesture would help convince the British to comes to terms, other believe that is was just as it was described at the time, aneeded pause to regroup and prepare for a more coordinated assault. [Davidson, p. 408 and Fest, p. 630.] What ever the reason, this 48-hour respite allowed the British to organize a defensive perimter around Dunkirk and begin an almost miraculous withdawl. Nearly 340,000 men were evacuated from Dunkirk, including French and Dutch sholdiers. This is even more important that it sounds as akmost all if the British sholdiers were regulars and would form the corps of the future British Army that would play such an important role in the War. All of the BEF's equipment, however, was lost. Paris soon fell and the French signed a NAZI imposed armistace. The collapse of France after only a few weeks was a disaster of emense proportions. It was the French Army that had provided the bulk of the allied War Western Front in World War I. The German victory was not accomplished with superior numbers or weaponry. In fact they had fewer men, tank, and planes. What they had was a superior tactical doctrine. The Germans were amazed to find, for example, that French tanks were not even equipped with radios, and a more disciplined fighting force. NAZI propaganda began to describe Hitler as " Der grösste Feldherr Allerzeiten " (the greatest field commander of all time).

Mediterranean Balance of Power

The fall of France (1940) changed the strategic ballance in North Africa. French bases in North Africa and the Mediterrean coast kept the Mediterranean firmly in Allied hands. With the Vichy regime under the thumb of the NAZIs and the entry of Italy into the War, the British were now isolated. And the powerful Italian Navy now outnumber the Royal Navy and was supported by air bases in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Libya. The hard-pressed British considered evacuating the Meditwrranean, but decided to remain in Malta and fight it out with the Italian Navy. The Mediterranean campaign resulted in some of the sharpest surface naval fighting in the European theater. And the British against all odds pervailed. Fortunately for the Royal Navy, the major battles wre fought before the Luftwaffe established a significant presence in the Meditrranean.

Oran--Mers El Kebir (July 1940)

The Royal Navy began World War II with only 9? battleships, a fraction of the World War I Grand Fleet. Italy's fleet of fast modern battleships and carriers already outnumbered the Royal Navy in the Mediterranen. The French batleships if they had fallen into German hands would have given the Axis the striking power to confront the Royal Navy. Neither Pétain or the French admirals ordered the French fleet to British ports or scuttled it. Rather the French Government decided to order the fleet to ports where it would be decomissioned under Axis supervision. Churchill's most difficult decission after France fell was the order he gave to neutralize the French fleet. A British squadron was dispatched to Oran (Mers El Kebir) where the French flet had sought shelter. The French fleet was given the options of joining the British in the fight against the NAZIs, imobilizing their vessels, or destruction. The French rejected the British demands and the British opened fire. About 1,200 French sailors were killed. Only the French battleship Strassbourg survived. Besides aleviating the threat of the fleet falling into German hands, the action reportedly convinced President Roosevelt that the British were determined to resist the Germans.

Vichy

The terms of the June 1940 armistace between Germany and France divided France into an occupied and unoccupied zone, with a rigid demarcation or boundary line between the two. The Germans obrained direct control three-fifths of France, including northern and western France and the entire Atlantic coast which was critical to the Ferman war effort against Britain. The Atlantic coast region provided air bases for the Luftwaffe air campaign and the Kriegesmarine U-boat capaign. The rest of France was left to be administered by the Petain's Government at Vichy. Provisions of the armistice, the 'surrender on demand clause', was an obligation to arrest and turn over anyone requested by the Germans. Thus the Germans to persue any one they wanted even in the unoccupied or Vichy zone. Initially this included Jews, Communists, Socialists, as well as political officials who had been outspokingly critical of the NAZIs. France was forced to disband its army, except for a minimal force of 100,000 men for maintaining domestic order. This was the same size force that Germany had been allowed under the Versailles Peace Treaty. The 1.5 million French Prisoners of War (POWs) were to remain in Germanm prisoner of war camps. The French government agreed to stop military units from leaving France to fight with the British. France had to agree to pay for the cost the Germans incurred in occupying the country. The French Vichy Government maintained their hold on Algeria under the terms of the Franco German Armistice. One of the German concessions to the French was to allow France to retain control of its colonies. Vichy pursued a policy of collaboration. France was a major support to the NAZI war economy. Marshal Pétain, however, adamently refused to enter the War on Germany's side.

Vichy Algeria (1940-42)

The Franco-German and Franco-Italian Armistice came into effect (June 25, 1940). There was a ceremony at the war memorial was followed by a veterans’ parade. There were few there to observe the ceremonies. Most of the French in Algeria were still in shock at the German victory. Most saw appeals to carry on the struggle from French colonies as hopeless. The archbishop of Algiers apparently echoing public opinion, advocated the recovery of France in a spirit of “submission to the officials who had the difficultg task of governing it”. As one historian explains, since the British Mers-el-Kebir attack, "the struggle against Germany was an individual one." [Cantier] The French Parliament voted to give Pétain and the Vichy men power (July 10). French North Africa was considered under the terms of the Armistice to be part of unoccupied Vichy France. Thus all French laws were activated in Algeria, including those goverming Jews. Pétain described a “National Revolution” which would create “a 'new Man'” and fight against the forces of “Anti-France”. The Vichy government was at first popular and was seen as preventing the worst excesses of a German occupied France. Vichy officials claimed that it balanced “two sets of discourse”. In fact, Vichy pursued a Fascist path and even bragged about policies of colboration. Vichy anti-Semitic regulations were implement in Algeria although there were no mass transports of Jews. Vichy policies of press censorship and other abridgements of civil rights were implemnted. French colonies in Africa began shidting allegince to DeGualle's Free French as soon as ot was clear that the British were going to continue the fight, but the three North African territories remained firmly loyal to Vichy until the Allied Toirch landings (November 1942).

Algerian Regiment Revolt (January 1941)

A regiment of Algerian soldiers within the French army mutined (January 25, 1941). They massacred their French officers and seized weapons. They then advanced toward the city of Algiers and opened fire on civilins. After the revolt was put down an investigation revealed that inequalities in the French Army's treatment of native soldiers and French soldiers had been a maor factior in the revolt. The investigatiors concluded that the mutiny was not spontaneous. The soldiers may have been influenced by the Parti Populaire Algérien. There was also some indication that the Abwehr was involved.

The Holocaust

Algeria in 1940 was an integral part of France with departments 91-93. There was a majority Arab population, a substantial number of French settlers, and a very small Jewish population. After the fall of France, a French Goverment was established in an unoccupied zone with a capital at Vichy. This Government while not totally controlled by the Germans, collaborated with them in many ways. One of these was the Holcaust. Vichy authorities introduced anti-Semetic laws. A Vichy law provided that "foreign nationals of the Jewish race" would be detained in "special concentration camps" (October 4. 1940). [Laskier, North Africa, p. 65-66.] Vichy authorities proceeded to persecute Jews and deny civic rights. It is not entirely clear to what extent these actions were the result of German pressure or French anti-semitism. Presumably a combination of the two. It is clear that not all Vichy actions were forced on them. Committees for Aryanization were established. Jews lost the French citizenship they had enjoyed since the 1870s. [Ward] Accounts vary some what, but about 16 camps were set up in Algeria for roughly 2,000 Jews. We know of no deportations to the European death camps. The Allied landings as part of Operation Torch prevented any further actions against Algerian Jews (November 1942). Anti-Jewish regulations, however, were not immediately rescended.

The Western Desert

Fighting in North Africa was at first in the distant Western Desert.Italy entered the War (June 1940). Once it was clear that the French Army was defeated, Mussolini decided to join Hitler and declared war on France and Britain. Even though German armies were pouring through France, Mussolini's attack in the south was unsuccessful. Mussolini also invaded Egypt from Libya, hoping to seize the Suez Canal (September 13, 1940). The British counter attacked and nerarly defeated the Italians (December 1940). The Italian collapse in Libya was only prevented by the German insertion of Field Marshal Rommel and the Afrika Korps (March 1941). This led to a sea-saw campaign that was not settled until Field Marshal Montgomery, with massive supplies of American tanks and equipment defeated the Afrika Korps at El Alemaine (October 1942). The Germans and Italuians retreated West just as the Americans and British launched Opreration Torch (November 1942).

Algerian Arab Nationalists

The German victory surprised many nationalist leaders who now begin to see independence from a weakened France a realistic possibility. The Axis launched a propaganda campaignd. The Axis was primarily attempting to undermine the British position in Egypt and Iraq, but the Algerians were also listening to the Arab radio broadcasts. Allied and Axis propaganda appealed to the local populations throughout North Africa. Both sides offered civil rights and freedom.

Operation Torch (November 1942)

With the entry of the United States in the War the strategic ballance began to shift. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided that the Allies needed to open a Second Front to take pressure off the hard-pressed Red Army reeling under the German summer offensive driving toward Stalingrad and the oil-rich Caucauses (July 1942). Joseph Stalin demanded an invasion of Europe. Wisely Roosevelt and Churchill targetted French North Africa. American General George Marshall, in many ways the architect of the American victory, was opposed to Totch, considering it a diversion. Roosevelt insisted. While Montgomery's victory at El Alemain often receives more attention, it was the Torch landings that were the decisive action. The Amercan and British landings in North Africa sealed the fate of the Axis desert campaign. Even if Rommel had broken through to Suez, he would have been forced to turn west to deal with the Allied landings in French North Africa. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Allied commander to oversee the Torch Landings. The Allies driving east from their Moroccan and Algerian beachheads linked up with the British advancing west from Egypt (November 1942).

Free French Control (1942-45)

The liberation of Algeria was somewhat tarnished by Gen Eisenhower's decision to strike deals with Vichy commnders. His motive was to limit casualties and prevent fighting with the French troops in North Africa. To help stop the fighting, Eisenhower agreed to appoint a Vichy official, Adm. Francois Darlan as High Commissioner of North Africa in exchange for a cease-fire. There was also some hope of coopertion wih the Vichy regime itself. Once The Germans occupied the unoccupied zone and Vichy cooperation with Germany expnded, cooperaton with Vichy was of little value Once established in Morocco and Algeria, the Alies drove toward Tunisia. There were no landings in Tunisia because of the dangers of Axis air attacks. But the Torch forces drove toward Tunisia. Most of the subsequent fighting for North Africa took place in Tunisia. Thus Algeria did not play a major role in the subsequent World War II fighting. With the imvasion of Sicily and Italy (July-September 1943). Allied air bases in Algeria had little straregic value. We do note thar British Operation Bellicose Lancasters landed in Algiers before returming to Britain (June 1943). . Gen. DeGualle and the Free French took control of Algeria (May 1943). He began the wholesale dismanteling of Vichy regulations. DeGualle relocated the Free French headquarters from England to Algeria which had the largest French population outside of France itself. The major role that Algeria played in the War was combining the Vichy French Army with the Free French and equipping them with American arms and equipment. Thy would played an important role in the Dragoon landongs in southern France (August 1944) and would be the core of the reconstituted French Army. Arab Muslim nationalist srntiment began to grow in the inter-War era. And the Free French rhetoric of liberation echoed almong the majority aran population. Social unrest intensified at the end of the war. A poor wheat harvest (1944-45, shortages of manufactured goods, and unemploument were factors. The clandestine Parti du Peuple Algerien (Algerian People's Party--PPA) organized demonstrations in twenty-one towns across Algeria the country, with marchers demanding freedom for Messali Hadj and independence for Algeria (May 1, 1945). Violence erupted at some of these demonsttions, including Algiers and Oran. Arab nationalist leaders were intent on using the approaching NAZI surrender and liberation of Europe with demonstrations promoting their own liberation. Clashes between the French authorities and nationlidts threatened. The tensions between the Arabs and French broke out on VE-Day (May 8, 1945). Some auhors claim tht the violence made polarization complete, if not irreparable. W suspect that this had occured eratlier, but only was exhibited to public view by the violence. The French police told local nationlist organizers they could march in Sétif only if they did not display nationalist flags or placards. They ignored the warnings and gunfire erupted resulting in casualties on both sides. Some 103 Europeans were killed by the rioters. Many historians mark the violence as the beginning of the Algerian Independence War. Word of the Sétif fighting circulated in the ountryside and Arab villagers attacked French colon settlements and government buildings.

Tunisia

The Allied objective for Torch was not just to seize Morocco and Algeria, but was to race east and cut off Rommel's Afrika Korps retreating west from El Alemain. The Germans, however, were able to seize Tunis and Bizerte and rush in reinforcements by air, delaying the allied victory. The Luftwaffe's limited air lift capability was diverted from supporting the Stalingrad pocket. The Germans could not, however, match the manpower and material superiority of the allies. The Axis forces were caught in the pincers of a two-prong Allied advance from Algeria and Libya. Hitler bought time by defendiing Tunisia, but ut mean in the end that the German force trapped there was substantially larger than it might have been.

War for Independence

The French Government after the War attempted to revive the political process. This proved futile. The Algerian nationalists were increasingly demanding indeperndence. They had observed during World War II that France's hold on its colonies was fragile and concluded that independence was a real possibility. While the French settlers continued to oppose even basic civil rights for Muslims. The result was armed revolution and a vicious war for independence with attrocities committed on both sides.

Sources

Cantier, Jcques. LAlgérie sous le régime de Vichy (Odie Jacob).

Davidson, Eugene. The Unmaking of Adolf Hitler (Univesity of Missouri: Columbia, 1996), 519p.








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Created: 12:56 AM 6/20/2011
Last updated: 2:38 AM 7/2/2017