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Volume CXXXII, Number 17 |
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The opening of north Africa, part two
KID WONGSRICHANALAI
STAFF WRITER
On the other front of the Second World War, other U.S. troops were preparing with British and Allied soldiers for the reconquest of Europe. Before the invasion of France, however, their objective was to liberate North Africa. Edwin Rommel, the German Desert Fox had entered that continent earlier in the war and British troops had put up a good fight only to be outgunned and outmaneuvered.
In 1942, the Allies were not yet ready for a landing on the European continent and since public demand was for fighting and forward movements, North Africa was seen as the best choice. In a joint movement between U.S. and British troops, an Allied offensive was launched near the end of that year-the so called, "Operation Torch." On October 23, 1942, British, Australian, and New Zealand forces under eccentric General Bernard Montgomery with 150,000 troops struck the Axis lines at El Alamein.
On November 8, U.S. forces landed near Casablanca, opening a second front and pushing German and Italian forces before them. Heavy fighting ensued as Rommel clashed with both British General Montgomery and celebrated American hero General George S. Patton. Even though Allied troops initially lost the race for Tunis, they were eventually victorious, capturing all Axis troops by May 13, 1943.
A month after the Axis capitulation in North Africa, Stanley P. Barron, a Bowdoin graduate-Class of 1940-wrote back President Sills, describing in very few words his impressions of the country: "The most striking comment that I can make of Africa-trite though it may seem-is that its terrifically hot." This perception of the weather, however, did not dampen his patriotic feelings. "It is of considerable satisfaction," he wrote, "to feel that one is doing something material and constructive to bring this struggle to an early and successful close." Other Bowdoin men, such as Orville B. Denison of the Class of 1941 had more time to describe their experiences of Africa:
I am in North Africa, the land of milk and cream. … It is nice here. Warm through the days and comfortable during the nights. And the sun shines every day until winter. Africa is picturesque. … The cities are very much the reciprocal of the rolling country, where the ground is eighty percent barren and where the nomads live in scattered groups of thatch huts and tents located near grazing lands and wells. In the cities it is different. They are experimental in appearance and yet will undoubtedly last into a type of throw-back in architecture. The buildings are far ahead of America, even striving Miami, in simple futurity. But the people are Old-World. All over are the arabs [sic], in their long-skirted robes and hoods, with their beards of varied sizes and shapes, with their women who are hidden in draping folds of cloth except for their eyes. Or their tattooed heels. There are thousands of them in the streets and in the countrysides. The whites are also in appearance, out in the open or, and more often, lounging at the many sidewalk cafés with sour beer or flat wine or diesel brandy in jellyjars on their tables. The whole scene with a background of flies.
Despite these scenes of poverty, Dennison noted that there were also good things for American troops such as U.S. beer and modern plumbing. He concluded:
So this is Africa. Where we had expected Tarzanic jungles we find barbed wire; where we had looked forward to camel safaris we get jeep convoys. And when we get back we'll not wait for grandchildren as audiences to our stories.
With the collapse of Axis control in the region, North Africa was once again a place where Allied troops and civilians could travel with ease. One such place, which was popular to visit was Egypt. From there, George E. Morrison of the Class of 1944, described the beautiful scenery:
To my mind they [pyramids] are what make Egypt so fascinating. Even after having seen them, I can hardly comprehend their antiquity. An American usually looks upon something two or three hundred years old as having quite a history. Therefore he has a little difficulty in trying to realize that he is viewing something which has been standing for thousands of years. Of course I am referring here to man made objects. The Pyramids are wonderful! That does not begin to describe them, but words often cannot express what one feels inside. I was not content to merely gaze upon them, so I undertook to climb the largest Pyramid. It gave me a much better idea of the immense size and I also felt rewarded for my efforts when I saw the view from on top. There is the Nile River, the valley with its green fields, Cairo and best, but certainly not least, the desert. Everything I have heard so much about stretched out before me!
Naturally I saw the Sphinx too. Its face is rather badly worn away, but it is, nevertheless, a great sight.
Bowdoin men, however, were not limited to combat roles. Robert S. Ecke of the Class of 1931, assigned to North Africa, was one of many medical personnel who were concerned with diseases such as typhus. His perceptions of Africa and Egypt were not as positive as George Morrison's:
Your letter…reached this unattractive part of the world. Oh it is lovely enough to look at. The tourist from Shepherd's porch can call it beautiful. The dying moon aslant the palm fringed Mile- the morning-sun-tinted sails of the feluccas- the picturesque (and evil mannered and worse smelling) camel all make material for the women's clubs but nowhere have I seen such cruelty to men and animal. The worst sweat shop is a Soviet cooperative compared with this wretched society. I grieve at every American item that comes into Egyptian hands. The Beys and Paschas own the bodies and souls and Tammany Hall would seem composed to choir boys and acolites [sic]. … The wickedness in high places is astounding and the higher the wickeder.
There were, however, places on the earth, which were filled with greater wickedness. Deep in Germany's European empire the systematic extermination of Jews was being perpetrated under the noses of Allied bombers and reconnaissance fliers while prisoners and captured civilians were being brutally savaged and murdered in the areas still held by the Japanese in the Pacific.
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