Iron Cross

In the early morning, on the sea 100 kilometers west of Algiers, an important city in France's North African colony, a periscope slowly rose up. It observed the surroundings vigilantly, and then quietly retracted after seeing that there was no movement. Later, the bridge of a submarine was slowly revealed. Although there was no obvious mark on the submarine, judging from the style and painting of the bridge, it was a British submarine. In fact, it was a submarine built by Jewell. The British submarine "Seraph" commanded by Lieutenant Commander Er. He did not have any combat missions. His only mission was to safely transport the newly appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the "Torch" program, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Clark and his The four main staff officers were sent ashore. This 46-year-old, talented and talented new general, who is the youngest among the senior American generals, had just arrived in Gibraltar the day before yesterday, and then secretly took a submarine to this beachside villa near Algiers to prepare Meeting with high-level representatives of the French colonies.

Robert Murphy, the chief U.S. diplomatic representative in North Africa, was the promoter of this meeting. He and the liaison officer sent by France were anxiously waiting at a secluded spot on the shore, looking forward to meeting Clark and others as soon as possible. Soon the two groups of people met. Seeing Murphy looking like he was facing a formidable enemy, Clark asked strangely: "Didn't you say that the French are quite friendly to us? Why are they like this now?"

"Recently, the North African colonies have stepped up their efforts to search for de Gaulle elements, and there are military police and police everywhere." Murphy explained in a low voice, "Of course the French don't dare to do anything to you, but it would be very dangerous if they fall into the hands of the military police. Fei Zhouzhang, because not every French general agrees with cooperating with us."

"It seems we still have a long way to go." Clark shrugged and said nonchalantly, "But they will regret it soon."

The person who met Clark was Major General Mast, the commander of the Algiers Defense Area. He was formerly the chief of staff of General Juan, the commander-in-chief of the North African Army. At this moment, he was as restless as an ant on a hot pot. An hour had passed since the agreed meeting time. , Murphy and the liaison officer he sent out have not received any news yet, could something go wrong along the way?

Just when he was pacing up and down on the carpet uneasily, and almost wanted to leave and give up on the meeting, the liaison officer finally arrived accompanied by Clark and others.

"Welcome, my friend." Looking at Clark's lieutenant general rank, Master was quite happy to take the lead in reaching out his hand: it seemed that the Americans took this matter very seriously.

"It's an honor to meet with Your Excellency." Since it was already much later than the agreed time, the two sides got to the point without much greeting.

Clark was most concerned about the attitude and defense situation of the French army in French Morocco and Algeria. He immediately asked about this key point. Mast introduced some of the situation in his defense area, but the defense situation in the Casablanca area was pushed to the defense area commander Bertouard. Clark was a little disappointed with the major general, but when Murphy whispered to him that the latter was also accessible and had a good attitude, Clark's expression gradually improved.

Mast, who had been paying attention to Clark's expression, was thinking: Casablanca is probably the focus of the Americans' landing. However, one thing he did not tell the Americans was that it was Admiral Michelier who was actually in charge of commanding the entire Casablanca defense area. Murphy didn't know, and he was happy to pretend to be confused - at least he had to leave a little more leverage for himself. If the Americans knew all the secrets, they wouldn't even have any capital to bargain with.

Mast's guess about where the Americans will land is not too far off. The 34th Task Force (if the reader still remembers the name) led by Rear Admiral Hewitt will land in French Morocco, and Patton is The main landing site chosen by the troops is located at Fedala, 22 kilometers north of Casablanca. In addition, there are two other auxiliary landing sites, not far from Casablanca, one at Mehdia, 90 kilometers to the north. One is in Safi, 200 kilometers to the south. Casablanca was chosen because it was the only well-equipped port in French Morocco on the Atlantic coast. The French knew this, and so did the Americans. For the US military, which relies heavily on logistics for operations, it is simply unimaginable without effective port cooperation.

"What is your country's specific landing plan? When will it be implemented? How many troops will there be? Where will they land? What kind of cooperation do we need?" Mast asked a lot of questions like a barrage of questions, "I hope we will Communicate well in advance so that no tragedy like the Dieppe landing happens again this time.”

The corner of Mark Clark's mouth couldn't help but twitch. The disastrous defeat in the Battle of Dieppe in France in August caused the Allied forces to lose nearly 5,000 people. It also sent the German commander on the opposite side, Major General Zeitzler, to the throne of the Army Chief of Staff. , which made him feel very bad, and he told Master bluntly: "The United States is preparing to send a large number of troops to North Africa. At that time, we will receive strong support from the British navy and air force, which will be similar to Dieye in the face of our overwhelming power." This situation will never happen again, and I believe our French friends will not shoot at us.”

Hearing the word "Britain", Master's face became a little ugly. He said in a serious tone: "Everyone in your country may not understand that the relationship between Britain and France has essentially broken down. The degree of the relationship is worse than that between France and Germany." Worse than that, so it is okay for your country to use the British navy and air force to support the landing operation, but if the British Army also takes the opportunity to land, I cannot guarantee whether the bullied French troops will do anything What irrational behavior."

Clark nodded to express his understanding: "We will pay attention to this factor and make adjustments. I believe it will never make it difficult for you."

Master didn't know, Murphy didn't know, and Clark didn't tell the truth at all: there were two fleets landing in Oran and Algiers, all composed of British warships, and the commander was Rear Admiral Harold of the Royal Navy. -Sir Burroughs. The two fleets set out from the UK together. The slow one set sail on October 22, and the fast one set off on the 26th. Just as the United States and France were contacting each other, both naval task forces had already set off. . The landing force carried on it was not all American, but consisted of 9,000 British and American troops each, and was commanded by American Major General Charles Ryder. The reason for adopting this peculiar mixed organization is because the British know that the North African army does not want to see them. If they can be mixed with the US troops, they may encounter less resistance and obstacles during the landing. The two sides also agreed that once the landing was successful, the command of all Allied forces in Algiers would be taken over by Lieutenant General Kenneth Anderson, commander of the newly established British First Army. Therefore, the position held by Major General Charles Ryder was destined to be very short-lived. .

In the pre-evaluation of Operation Torch, the East Route Fleet will face threats from the direction of Italy, so the escort force has been specially strengthened. It is expected that the British Mediterranean Fleet will be commanded by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham after passing through the Strait of Gibraltar at the same time on the evening of November 5. Cover, the size of the fleet will expand to an unimaginable level - more than 250 ships including various types of munitions ships (about 40 transport ships), and a total of 160 warships of various types used by the Royal Navy for escort and cover ship. In Cunningham's mind, his fleet was far stronger than the Italians, so the Italians "could only watch from a distance and do nothing if they didn't want to be torn to pieces." This is because the Americans knew that the French did not want to see the British and they still tried every means to bring in the British landing troops - otherwise the British would not provide naval support as hard as they could.

Master quickly put the British question behind him and continued to ask patiently about the landing.

Clark was certainly not someone who could be easily deceived if he could climb so fast and high in the U.S. military. He did not respond to the other party's series of questions. He only vaguely introduced that Operation Torch was jointly executed by the British and American companies and was divided into approximately 3 parts. Road landing such vague information. For the sake of safety, he neither told the other party the specific time and place when the Allied forces were preparing to land, nor disclosed the corresponding troop strength and the support forces that could provide support at that time. Only after Master's repeated urging, he reluctantly said: " Sir, this information is top secret. In fact, we have not finalized it. The real time of action depends on objective factors such as weather, tide, wind direction, etc. However, I will authorize Mr. Murphy to inform you of the date immediately before landing..."

"In that case, your notification time cannot be less than 24 hours in advance - otherwise I will not have time to notify the frontline troops."

"Yes." Clark nodded, "Another important issue is which leader will you select to lead all the North African troops to join the Allied forces after the landing is successful. I once heard that the commander-in-chief of the North African troops, General Zhu An, has This intention?”

As Zhu An's confidant and chief of staff, Master certainly understands his commander's attitude: he has indeed expressed this consideration in private, but more importantly, he will not express any attitude until the situation becomes clear. Stand idly by and do nothing to help each other. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to point out General Zhu An's true thoughts, but added: "This question is very difficult to answer. General Zhu An is certainly a suitable candidate, but there is currently another general in North Africa who has a higher status and is more powerful. Attention."

"You mean Admiral Darlan?"

Master nodded: "He is the person in charge of the entire French armed forces. He has always been relied upon by President Pétain. He has high prestige in North Africa, and the navy is under his control. I think your country should not want to see the French military." Is the power divided?"