the French again erupted. On 24 December, François Darlan was assassinated by an anti-Vichy French monarchist and Henri Giraud succeeded him as High Commissioner. To the frustration of the Free French, the US government had displayed considerable willingness to make a deal with Darlan and the Vichyists. Consequently, Darlan's death appeared to present an opportunity to bring together the French in North Africa and Charles de Gaulle's Free French. De Gaulle and Giraud met in late January but little progress was made in reconciling their differences or the constituencies they represented. It was not until June 1943 that the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) was formed under the joint chairmanship of Giraud and de Gaulle. De Gaulle quickly eclipsed Giraud, who openly disliked political responsibility and more or less willingly from then on deferred to the Leader of the Free French. Command changes Nehring, considered by most to be an excellent commander, had continually infuriated his superiors with outspoken critiques. He was "replaced" when the command was renamed the 5th Panzer Army and Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim arrived in Tunis unannounced on 8 December, to assume command. The Army consisted of the composite von Broich battlegroup in the Bizerte area, the 10th Panzer Division in the centre before Tunis and the 1st Infantry Division "Superga" on the southern flank, but Hitler had told Arnim that the army would grow to three mechanised and three motorised divisions. The Allies had tried to prevent the Axis build up with substantial air and sea forces but Tunis and Bizerte were only from the ports and airfields of western Sicily, from Palermo and from Naples, making it very difficult to intercept Axis transports which had the benefit of substantial air cover. From mid-November 1942 to January 1943, 243,000 men and of supplies and equipment arrived in Tunisia by sea and air. General Eisenhower transferred further units from Morocco and Algeria eastward into Tunisia. In the north, the British First Army, over the next three months, received three more British divisions, the 1st, 4th, and 46th Infantry Divisions, joining the 6th Armoured and 78th Infantry Divisions. By late March the British IX Corps HQ (Lieutenant-General John Crocker) had arrived to join the British V Corps (Lieutenant-General Charles Allfrey) in commanding the expanded army. On their right flank, the basis of a two-division French XIX Corps (General Alphonse Juin) was assembling. In the south was