The trouble had started with the massive German invasion of Russia in June 1941. During the first year of the Pacific War, therefore, Churchill found himself frustrated in an unfamiliar situation. The invasion of North Africa was seen as a more realistic alternative to an immediate invasion of France. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s German-Italian Afrika Korps would be squeezed between the two forces and Allied control of Northwest Africa assured. Ike’s deputy was the rangy, high-strung Maj. Gen. Mark W. Clark, a World War I infantry veteran, while Brig.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 03, 2020 16:07 UTC