The Daring Dozen by Gavin Mortimer Read Free Book Online Page B

the French resistance on the airfield, the remaining aircraft headed for the salt lake, but as Raff approached he saw three tanks heading towards the three planes already on the ground. Assuming them to be Vichy French tanks, Raff gave the order for his men to jump and attack the armoured vehicles from the rear. ‘The air seemed filled with white silk,’ recalled Raff, ‘the paratroopers underneath twisting, turning and striving to make a safe landing. On the ground, others, already disengaged from their equipment, were springing at the containers and dragging out musette bags, extra ammunition and anti-tank guns.’ 8
    Raff had a bad landing, hitting his chest against a jagged rock with such force that he broke two ribs, but he ignored the pain to assemble his men and prepare to attack the enemy armour. Then he heard one of his scouts yell ‘Colonel, those tanks have big white stars on them – they’re American tanks!’ The tanks belonged to the American Combat Command Force that had come ashore earlier at the beaches west of Oran and were now making for their own objectives.
    By now 30 of the 39 planes had landed. Four others had landed in other parts of North Africa and been taken prisoner, one had got lost and landed in Gibraltar, and the other four had ditched in Spanish Morocco and were interned for three months. After a quick examination by his medical officer, Raff ordered his men to follow him on foot to Tafaraoui airfield – 35 miles away. Ten miles into the trek, Raff received word over the radio that American tanks were already in possession of Tafaraoui, but were in need of troops to guard the large numbers of French prisoners. It was decided to send one company from the battalion ahead in three aircraft to fulfil this request while the rest continued on foot towards the airfield. Captain John Berry led the 80-strong unit but halfway to Tafaraoui they were attacked by two French fighters, and in the strafing seven paratroopers were killed and 20 wounded.
    Berry and Raff were finally reunited at Tafaraoui on the afternoon of 9 November. Though they were pleased to hear that the invasion was making swift progress – with Algiers in Allied hands and Casablanca and Oran on the brink of following – there was also a feeling of despondency that the first airborne operation in American history had achieved next to nothing.
    However, that was not the angle taken by the American press. On 12 November the New York Times ran an interview with Raff’s mother, Abell, in which she declared herself ‘very happy and I’m very proud of my son’. The Times told its readers that Edson Raff had led parachutists in the longest airborne invasion in history and was the ‘latest army hero’, as well as filling in some details about the 34-year-old officer. Not only was he a devoted son but he was married to Mrs Virginia Chaney and was also the proud father of two boys, Thomas, aged four, and one-year-old Chaney.
    Even as Raff and his men secured Tafaraoui airfield, events elsewhere were developing rapidly. Having resisted the Allied invasion on the orders of the Vichy government, French forces in north-west Africa quickly began surrendering when they realized the size of the invasion force. As Axis forces were brought in to try to repel the landing force, the German High Command ordered the invasion of southern France (hitherto unoccupied by the Germans and under the jurisdiction of the Vichy government), a move that prompted Admiral François Darlan, commander of the Vichy French forces and in Algeria to visit his sick son, to declare his allegiance for the Allies and order his troops to lay down their arms.
    There now began a race between the Allies and the Germans to occupy air bases and towns of strategic importance in north-west Africa. Raff became involved in the competition when, on 12 November, he was instructed to lead a mission to capture the French airfield at Tebessa in the east of Algeria, 15 miles from the