In response to the AlliesΓÇÖ invasion of Algeria and Morocco, German and Italian forces entered Tunisia on November 9, 1942. By early December, the Axis forces there were in serious trouble. Relentless Allied aerial attacks almost drove them out of Tunis on November 24. On December 6, the Germans dissolved the Tunis Jewish Community Board and ordered Moise Borgel to establish a nine-member board in its stead. The new panel was given 24 hours to induct 2,000 Jews for forced labor. Despite its efforts, and even though the French authorities intervened to grant a 24-hour extension, the board managed to mobilize only 120 men. In response, the Germans took dozens of community leaders hostage, made mass arrests in the Jewish quarter, and threatened to blow up the main synagogue of Tunis. After another extension, some 5,000 Jews were mobilized for forced labor and dispersed among 30 locations and camps on the front.
