Forgotten Heroes

Forgotten Her es

80 Years Since Operation Torch

By Avi Heiligman

The United States military was not ready to attack the Axis powers in the months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It took time to train millions of new recruits and to build the weapons, ships, and other equipment needed to attack Axis strongholds. Politicians and military brass decided that in the event of getting into a war with the Axis, the military priority would be given to defeat the Germans before the Japanese. That being said, the first land offensive took place in the Pacific in August 1942 after the Americans learned that the Japanese were building an airfield on a strategic island in the Solomon Islands. It would take another three months for the Americans to face the Germans in a land battle.

Operation Torch was launched in November 1942 against unfriendly French troops in North Africa. Once they capitulated, the Americans moved to fight the German Afrika Corps under the Desert Fox, General Erwin Rommel. Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers were invaded on November 8, 1942, by an amphibious force led by General Dwight Eisenhower and famous units such as the 1st Division also known as the Big Red One. Many soldiers, from commanders like Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (son of the former president) to the privates, performed brilliantly under fire. Several Jewish servicemen received awards for their actions during the invasion and until the final victory in North Africa.

On the day of the invasion, First Lieutenant Victor Karpass was sick in bed on a Coast Guard ship that was being attacked. The Chicago native was a medical officer with the 6th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division and despite being wounded he refused to leave the ship and continued treating wounded soldiers. The brave Jewish soldier was killed by an enemy shell, and he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

The naval task force assigned to Operation Torch comprised of 350 warships and 500 transports vessels. Boatswain’s Mate Edwin Sperry of New Britain, Connecticut was a Jewish sailor on the fleet tug USS Cherokee (AT-66). The ocean-going tug was the only one of her class to accompany the fleet, and she saw action off the coast of French Morocco during the operation. She had the dangerous task to clear obstructions up a river for other larger ships to navigate. Sperry was on this demolition party and was clearing cables when the enemy opened up fire from a nearby fort. Sperry and the unit fired back until they were clear of the fort, and despite damage to the boat from the surf and enemy fire, they completed the mission. Sperry was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions.

The USS Santee (CVE-29) was an escort carrier that took a position off French Morocco to launch planes in support of the invasion. Lieutenant Arthur Ershler of Hudson, NY, was a pilot based on the Santee, and while raiding a convoy of enemy trucks, his plane was hit by gunfire. The Jewish pilot was getting sick from the gas fumes but continued on to his target. The target was an enemy airbase, and Ershler scored a direct hit on a hangar while damaging several planes in a strafing maneuver. Then he attacked enemy machine gun nests while forcing the enemy soldiers to abandon their dug-in positions. Ershler was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the battle and was later promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander. Stories of bravery under fire from Jewish soldiers were reported many times during the campaign. Corporal George Weinberg of Providence, Rhode Island, earned the Silver Star for leaving cover to rescue a wounded soldier. He carried the man to an aid station a mile away despite the presence of enemy soldiers.

Private Victor Wolinsky was given a letter of commendation for actions in Tunisia. He crawled to within 100 yards of an enemy fire position to administer life-saving blood plasma to a badly wounded soldier.

Corporal Bernard Kessel of Brooklyn, NY, was the driver of a M3 Grant medium tank during the invasion of the port of Oran. His tank became separated from the others in his unit, and soon they found themselves near the airport. As they were the only Americans in sight, the tank crew smashed through a roadblock and soon was facing a 75mm enemy gun. They blew past the gun position and sideswept a column of enemy military vehicles into a ditch. Kessel and his four-man crew were the first to enter Oran, and it soon fell into American hands.

With the capitulation of the Vichy French forces, Operation Torch was a success. Eisenhower then moved the rest of Afrika Corps in North Africa and by May 1943 had pushed the Axis entirely out of the continent. It is sometimes difficult to obtain more than a citation for an award for an individual service member, but sometimes, the citation itself or mention in a newspaper or book will suffice to tell the story.

This week marks eighty years since Operation Torch was launched, and the servicemen who courageously fought in the battle are often forgotten but they are heroes to be remembered.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.