Two hours into the march, Raff received the news that other allied mechanized forces had taken La Senia. Their commander wanted to move out toward Tafaraoui, but had too many French prisoners to guard to continue with his combat mission.
Raff decided to have a few of the C-47s that were parked back on the edge of the lack bed cannibalize gas from other parked aircraft. Once refueled, the selected C-47s would take off, fly the short distance to the task force and land nearby.
Raff would load a company of paratroopers on these aircraft and ferry them to La Senia immediately. A company of paratroopers could lend the tankers a hand with the French prisoners, and free them up to liberate the aerodrome at Tafaraoui.
An hour later several C-47s landed near Raff’s temporary lager. The colonel d
