I ha no iea the US Army fought the Vichy French. There was mention of French air attacks. What aircraft were the French flying?
Apparantly the D.520 was the primary French fighter in the battle.
Thanks!
TBH, they didn’t fight them for long… Operation Torch (the invasion of Algeria) lasted for the whole of one day, and the Resistance started a local putsch at the same time so by the 12 Nov. the US forces and the French Resistance overthrew the local government and the army was disbanded. There’s something about it in the movie Patton - some (maybe even most ?) of the Vichy French were OK with fighting commie sympathizers and “terrorists”, and were willing to help Hitler as the “last bastion between Europe and the Bolshevik”, but America was something else entirely…
That, and as was their fashion at the time, the US sent so many forces all at once, they didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell. Must have given the French uncomfortable memories ;).
After that, Vichy didn’t take any more part in military operations, esp. not against the landings in Provence and Normandy - Pétain declared that France was not a part of the war (yeah, right) and besides, I don’t think the Germans trusted them after Torch. Local forces (esp. the militia, i.e. that part of the police that actively helped the Germans in rounding up Jews and resistants) may have fought during the liberation of some French towns, but I don’t know much about that - I’ll let a real WW2 grog’ deal with that part 
As to the planes question, according to Wiki the French flew Bloch MB 174, Breguet 695, Lioré-et-Olivier LeO 45, Morane-Saulnier MS.406 and Potez 63.11, the Morane being their main fighter in terms of numbers, although it was seriously underpowered even by 1939 standards. The F4F’s chewed them like gum.
Seemed a longer at the time.
The French destroyed an American force sent to capture one port by a coup be main. The invaders got a nasty bloody nose from the French. It did not change a damn thing of course.
On the other hand, French forces occupying airbases in eastern Algeria did nothing to stop the Germans from taking those bases. It is obvious which way the Vichy leaned.
It was the Americans first fight in the European Theater (NA includes that), and a pretty bloody one at that.
North Africa and Sicily were excellent learning enviroments for the Americans, they could’nt lose either, North Africa was a lost cause for the Axis after El Amein, whilst Sicily was an island. The first time the US actually faced the prospect of loosing a campiagn was at Salerno in 1943, but they had divisons then on their 3 or 4th campiagn and they weathered it.
The movie *The Big Red One *started with them fighting the French in North Africa. The movie was based on writer/director Samuel Fuller’s own war experiences.
Couple of quick remarks:
Although la Resistance did come in on the Allied side, the reason the invasion took Morocco and most of Tunisia so fast was that Admiral Francois Darlan, Petain’s second in command, was in Algiers to be with his son (who had just undergone an appendectomy there) and, recognizing a lost cause when he saw one, brought the entire Vichy government of North Africa in under the Allies, calling for a ceasefire and armistice. Morocco’s governor Gen. Nogues had put up a resistance to the Allied landings near Casablanca until he got Darlan’s orders. Darlan claimed to be doing it in Petain’s name, while Petain, whose territory was being overrun by the Germans, denounced him (and Darlan claimed he was being compelled to do so by the Germans).
Vichy France claimed to be neutral though in 'bonds of friendship" with Germany – but everyone was aware that if Germany sneezed, France caught pneumonia.
Tunisia, on the other hand, was held and reinforced by the Germans, and most of the North African campaign after Torch was wrapping them up there.
Oh, and it’s El Alamein.
Technically, the US pilots serving in the RAF during the Battle of Britain would have been the first (and there were no more than about 6 or so in the BoB, regardless of what Hollywood tells you).
As for land forces, there were 50 US Rangers who landed at Dieppe in August of 1942 during the Dieppe raid.
50 Rangers vs 8? Divisions which served in Algeria-Morrocco and Tunisian Campaigns.
Polio. Darlan’s son was in the hospital with polio. And Darlan wasn’t the type of person to be burdened down by scruples when it came to saving his own skin. Nobody really shed any tears when he was assassinated.
You may also want to read about the battle of Kasserine Pass.
By freaking Royalists! Royalists? In 1942!
I bet he was surprised.