The Daring Dozen (10 page)

The declarations of war affected Raff little in the short term. In March 1942 the 504th Parachute Battalion was renamed the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Parachute Infantry
*
and Raff – now a major – was appointed its commanding officer. He trained his men at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, night and day, recalling in his memoirs that ‘when I told them that we were going places some day, that our battalion would do any and all jobs, fighting either the Japs, the Germans or both, if I had to volunteer to do it, they cheered’. Behind his back, however, Raff had been christened ‘Little Caesar’ for the relentless way in which he drove his men. They respected their chief’s toughness and his willingness to train alongside his men, but they disliked his autocratic style of leadership. Unlike the democratic Evans Carlson, who at the same time was whipping his 2nd Raider Battalion into shape in California, Raff believed unequivocally in the military chain of command and he did not tolerate indiscipline from the men in his battalion.

In May 1942 Raff received orders to ship out for England, and the new airborne battalion did so in the utmost secrecy. Before leaving Fort Bragg they removed all airborne insignia from their battledress and travelled to New York as an infantry battalion. On 6 June Raff and his men sailed from New York on board the erstwhile luxury liner,
Queen Mary
, and by the end of the month they were encamped on the sprawling Berkshire estate of Chilton Lodge, a 16th-century manor house that belonged to Mrs Jean Ward, the daughter of Whitelaw Reid, who was the US Ambassador to Britain from 1905 to 1912. Mrs Ward loaned the house’s extensive grounds to the American military for the duration of the war and Raff’s battalion was the first unit to take up occupancy in the Nissen huts erected on the estate.

Upon arrival in England, Raff (now a lieutenant colonel) came under the operational command of Major-General Frederick ‘Boy’ Browning of the British 1st Airborne Division. Raff welcomed the association and in the weeks that followed he learned much from his Allies. A two-week field exercise was conducted in Devon and the American paratroopers travelled to the British parachute training school in Ringway, Manchester, to practise low-level drops from 650ft.

Despite the rigorous training there was still no indication that the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry would soon be in action, and by late July 1942 the men were suffering from every soldier’s worst enemy – boredom. Raff’s men chafed at the inactivity, as Baron Frederich von der Heydte’s had in the weeks before the invasion of Crete 15 months earlier, though at least the American airborne troops had a plentiful supply of local girls on hand to help while away the hours off-duty.

When Raff and his men were waiting impatiently to put their training to the test, events that were unfolding elsewhere would grant them their wish. On 13 August Lieutenant General Dwight Eisenhower, who had arrived in England two months earlier in command of American forces, was appointed to command Operation
Torch
, a mission designed seemingly to appease Stalin, who for several months had been pressing the Americans and the British to open a second front to ease the pressure on Soviet troops engaged in repulsing the German invaders on the Eastern Front.

The Americans believed the best course of action would be a landing in northern France in September 1942, codenamed Operation
Sledgehammer
, but the British convinced their Allies that they lacked the men and equipment to successfully establish a foothold in France. In addition the British were still fighting Axis forces in North Africa, and their priority was to win that campaign so that they could control the Mediterranean. Eventually the Americans agreed to Operation
Torch
, an invasion of French north-west Africa, understanding that with the whole of Africa in their possession they could use the continent as another base from which to attack Germany.

The great imponderable concerning Operation
Torch
was the French and how they would react. Though France was now governed by the collaborative Vichy government, many of its overseas territories were Vichy in name only, with French soldiers desperate to fight against the Germans.

The Allies drew up a plan for an invasion of French north-west Africa in November, in which three task forces would seize the main ports and air bases in Morocco and Algeria, enabling the invasion force to then strike east into Tunisia and attack the German forces – which by that time were in retreat from Egypt following the British Eighth Army offensive at El Alamein in late October. The ultimate aim of
Torch
was to crush the Axis forces in a pincer with the British applying the force from the east and the Americans from the west.

Eisenhower tasked Major General Mark Clark of II Corps with planning the airborne phase of Operation
Torch
. Clark had seen the potential of paratroopers from the very first days of their existence in the States, and at his headquarters in Norfolk House in London he devised a mission for Raff’s battalion.

What he produced was a daunting challenge for Raff. Flying 1,500 miles from England to Algeria, his men would seize the military airfields of La Sénia and Tafaraoui and thereby prevent French fighter planes from attacking the main invasion fleet as it came ashore. No large-scale airborne assault had ever flown such a distance to its target but despite that, and the fact his men had no combat experience, Raff had every confidence in his battalion, informing Clark in a note:

There is no doubt in my mind that we can accomplish the mission, provided:

(1) we get a break by the Air Corps and (2) by the weather. And provided

(3) I am permitted to command my paratroopers when we hit the ground.
⁵

Granted permission to lead his men into battle – and ordered not to disclose to them their destination until instructed – Raff returned to his battalion’s training camp and pushed the men even harder, telling them they would soon see action. They asked where, but Raff refused to reveal the target, leading his paratroopers to speculate on where they might be headed. Most guessed France, but there were one or two extravagant claims suggesting they were to drop into Berlin and kill Hitler himself. In his memoirs Raff described how ‘all our battalion training and manoeuvres were directed towards the accomplishment of the mission … [we] hiked across country the exact distance [we] actually would march to the objective, which, in the exercises was always an airfield with planes to be destroyed thereon. The remainder of the battalion moved the same distance it would have to move, then assumed firing positions which were similar to the ones to be taken on D-Day.’
⁶

They practised jumping at night, as they would have to do in Algeria, and before long Raff’s battalion could land in any given area and be assembled within 20 minutes. ‘Little Caesar’, though he didn’t let on, was delighted with the discipline and professionalism of his battalion.

Hours were spent studying models of their target (whose identity was still unknown to the men), with everyone from company commanders to buckshee privates instructed in their own individual task. ‘It was also intended,’ commented Raff, ‘to divert personnel from rushing into the first fight they heard or saw, thereby forgetting their primary role.’

Shortly before the battalion flew to Ireland for a final dress rehearsal, a war correspondent from
Time
magazine visited Chilton Foliat to watch the battalion at work. The article appeared in the edition dated 12 October, and described Raff’s men as ‘swashbuckling Hell’s Angels’. The article continued:

[They] make up the most justifiably pampered outfit in the A.E.F. [American Expeditionary Force]. U.S. paratroopers get top pay—$50 extra for men, $100 for officers. They were the first taken off the monotonous English ration and given American victuals, including Southern fried chicken; they have the most cats & dogs (which they carry around in musette bags and take up in their planes), the smartest outfits (sleek high boots for town wear) and the latest and best equipment (including the 4-lb., 30-calibre automatic carbine, light field pieces, mortars, grenades, knives, bayonets, Garands and antitank guns).

Their leader, Lieut. Colonel Edson Raff, 34, fatalistically explains the extra fire power: ‘We want to keep from being eliminated any quicker than we have to.’ Chafing to become advance agents of a second front, the troops keep on jumping, make exhaustive night marches over stone-wall-patched English fields, learn to use knives, to drive continental locomotives. When not included in the Dieppe raid the jumpers moped. One drank himself into the town jail.

Upon arrival in Britain the doughboy jumpers went to work at their 800-ft jumps (U.S. Army minimum). Tommy counterparts were making jumps from even lower altitudes. Sensitive Colonel Raff cabled for permission to lower the jumps and shortly made a new record for the lowest (secret) mass jump without casualties.

Although Colonel Raff is a physical culturist and does not smoke, drink or play cards, his men have more than usual liberty. They gamble extra pay as they must soon gamble their lives. The galloping dominoes were so profitable for one Alabaman that he sent $4,000 home to the folks. After a round of poker, blackjack and craps the cash-lousy chutists took over an entire hotel for a clambake. Camaraderie between officers and men is encouraged by Colonel Raff, whom they call ‘Little Caesar.’ He is tough enough himself not to lose authority by personal contact. Says Raff: ‘In a plane, I’m just another guy named Joe.’
⁷

After the satisfactory rehearsal in Ireland, Raff’s battalion broke camp on 3 November and travelled south by train to St Eval and Predannack, two Royal Air Force bases in Cornwall. By now the main invasion fleet was already sailing south for North Africa and finally, on 5 November, Raff revealed to his men their target and the drop date – 0130hrs on 8 November. He also added that as of that moment it was still not clear whether the French would welcome them or fight them. The day before the battalion embarked for North Africa word reached Raff that the French would be hospitable towards the Americans and they would be able to land unopposed at La Sénia airfield, resulting in the drop hour being rescheduled to mid-morning.

The 556 paratroopers of the Airborne Task Force left England at 2130hrs on 7 November, beginning the 1,500-mile flight south in 39 C-47 aircraft. Twelve hours later the lead aircraft began making their final approach to La Sénia. Suddenly the French opened fire with anti-aircraft batteries and small-arms fire, forcing the C-47s to break off the approach and land some distance from the airfield on a dry salt lake known as the Sebkra. Alerted to 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.