that
they decided to oppose. And yet, in spite of the clear victory of Admiral Plancon’s force over the covering force for Operation
Menace, Darlan had come to the decision that Dakar was too far afield to be
adequately patrolled and defended in the long run. In this he was strongly
influenced by the Germans.
They
pointed out that the garrison would be inadequate against any determined
British attack, and it could not be easily or quickly reinforced, being simply
too far away from other Vichy held bastions in the region. The nearest friendly
force was over 2000 kilometers away in the Division de Marrakesh, and the
Germans had showed no interest in reinforcing Dakar for similar reasons. If it
were built up to a size that might hold its own in battle, then it could not be
easily supplied by sea. When the invasion plan was launched, OKW pointed out
that the entire Force De Raid would have to be based there to have any
chance of stopping it, leaving the better facilities at Casablanca vulnerable.
In the end,
Dakar was seen as an outpost that would have to rely on the French Navy for its
defense, and Darlan was inclined to position his fighting ships farther north
to defend Casablanca. It was a strange logic, for the British planners had
already determined that they simply did not have the force to consider an
amphibious landing against Casablanca, but they saw the presence of heavy
French naval units at Dakar as a most dangerous threat that simply had to be
eliminated.
Operations
were planned to heavily reinforce Force H and mount another major engagement
there, but when Admiral Plancon was ordered to bring
all his capital ships north to Casablanca, and make that place the principle
base of the Atlantic Force De Raid , British planners now saw an
opportunity to use the amphibious force Admiral Keyes had labored so long to
build. They would take any table scraps that fell from French control, and it
soon became clear that a second operation against Dakar could now proceed.
The
plan then would be to begin with Shrapnel against the Cape Verde Islands in
tandem with the second attempt at Dakar. These in hand, the navy would roll
north to Operation Puma against the Canary Islands. Once taken, those islands
would become the primary base for Force H, with the new Naval Headquarters
Atlantic under Admiral Somerville at the Port of Las Palmas on the Grand Canary
Island.
What
the British did not know was that the Germans had good reasons for asking the
French to pull out of Dakar. They had other fish to fry, and they could also
see that the war was now heading to the Middle East. It was a strange push pull
in the war where both sides moved in the same direction, the Germans and French
gave as the British sought to take, but for a reason they kept very secret
until their plan was ready to take real form and shape.
Admiral
Keyes was quite happy to have Dakar back on his target list for possible
combined operations by the Army and Navy. He saw these moves in as
prerequisites to larger operations against French West Africa, but when Keyes
inquired as to further plans, he was surprised and dismayed to learn there were
none!
Any
landing on the Atlantic coast of Africa would find itself with two thousand
miles of inhospitable terrain between that place and the real center of gravity
for the war now—Egypt. Britain’s war effort would be to maintain a wedge
between the advancing armies of the Third Reich, and the Orenburg Federation.
The French Force De Raid aside, other Vichy holdings in Africa would be
ignored. Britain would fight on, but the battle would be waged somewhere
else—in the Western Desert, where Wavell and O’Conner were meeting now to plan
the first steps in the long road home to victory.
Yet
other men were meeting as well, and in a strange quirk of fate the name of
General Richard O’Connor would also figure prominently in their planning.
Chapter 6
“Forgive me if I do not
call you my Führer,” said
they decided to oppose. And yet, in spite of the clear victory of Admiral Plancon’s force over the covering force for Operation
Menace, Darlan had come to the decision that Dakar was too far afield to be
adequately patrolled and defended in the long run. In this he was strongly
influenced by the Germans.
They
pointed out that the garrison would be inadequate against any determined
British attack, and it could not be easily or quickly reinforced, being simply
too far away from other Vichy held bastions in the region. The nearest friendly
force was over 2000 kilometers away in the Division de Marrakesh, and the
Germans had showed no interest in reinforcing Dakar for similar reasons. If it
were built up to a size that might hold its own in battle, then it could not be
easily supplied by sea. When the invasion plan was launched, OKW pointed out
that the entire Force De Raid would have to be based there to have any
chance of stopping it, leaving the better facilities at Casablanca vulnerable.
In the end,
Dakar was seen as an outpost that would have to rely on the French Navy for its
defense, and Darlan was inclined to position his fighting ships farther north
to defend Casablanca. It was a strange logic, for the British planners had
already determined that they simply did not have the force to consider an
amphibious landing against Casablanca, but they saw the presence of heavy
French naval units at Dakar as a most dangerous threat that simply had to be
eliminated.
Operations
were planned to heavily reinforce Force H and mount another major engagement
there, but when Admiral Plancon was ordered to bring
all his capital ships north to Casablanca, and make that place the principle
base of the Atlantic Force De Raid , British planners now saw an
opportunity to use the amphibious force Admiral Keyes had labored so long to
build. They would take any table scraps that fell from French control, and it
soon became clear that a second operation against Dakar could now proceed.
The
plan then would be to begin with Shrapnel against the Cape Verde Islands in
tandem with the second attempt at Dakar. These in hand, the navy would roll
north to Operation Puma against the Canary Islands. Once taken, those islands
would become the primary base for Force H, with the new Naval Headquarters
Atlantic under Admiral Somerville at the Port of Las Palmas on the Grand Canary
Island.
What
the British did not know was that the Germans had good reasons for asking the
French to pull out of Dakar. They had other fish to fry, and they could also
see that the war was now heading to the Middle East. It was a strange push pull
in the war where both sides moved in the same direction, the Germans and French
gave as the British sought to take, but for a reason they kept very secret
until their plan was ready to take real form and shape.
Admiral
Keyes was quite happy to have Dakar back on his target list for possible
combined operations by the Army and Navy. He saw these moves in as
prerequisites to larger operations against French West Africa, but when Keyes
inquired as to further plans, he was surprised and dismayed to learn there were
none!
Any
landing on the Atlantic coast of Africa would find itself with two thousand
miles of inhospitable terrain between that place and the real center of gravity
for the war now—Egypt. Britain’s war effort would be to maintain a wedge
between the advancing armies of the Third Reich, and the Orenburg Federation.
The French Force De Raid aside, other Vichy holdings in Africa would be
ignored. Britain would fight on, but the battle would be waged somewhere
else—in the Western Desert, where Wavell and O’Conner were meeting now to plan
the first steps in the long road home to victory.
Yet
other men were meeting as well, and in a strange quirk of fate the name of
General Richard O’Connor would also figure prominently in their planning.
Chapter 6
“Forgive me if I do not
call you my Führer,” said
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