November 8, 1942

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Martin Antonenko

A Fixture
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Jul 11, 2008
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Operation "Torch..."


On November 8, 1942, as part of "Operation Torch", 106,000 US, British and Canadian soldiers landed in North Africa - in the rear of the "German Africa Corps", which was already under heavy pressure from the 8th British Army!



The landing is covered by a total of six battleships, nine aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers and 56 destroyers...:









The first German prisoners are some German vacationers...:



US General Dwight Eisenhower is in command of the Allies.

The western force (Western (Naval) Task Force) with destination Casablanca summarized all American units together with the commanding major general George S. Patton and rear admiral H. Kent Hewitt...



....who led the amphibious operation. It consisted of the 2nd Panzer Division and the 3rd and 9th Divisions, together 35,000 soldiers. They were transported there directly from the United States.

The central force targeting Oran included elements of the US 82nd Airborne Division and the US 1st Armored Division totaling 18,500 men. She was brought in from Britain on ships and led by Major General Lloyd Fredendall...



... while the naval forces, by Commodore Thomas H. Troubridge...



...were commanded.

The eastern force headed for Algiers was led by Lieutenant General Kenneth Anderson...



... and consisted of the British 78th and US 34th Divisions, totaling 20,000 men. The naval forces were under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Harold Burrough...:



Resistance from the French Vichy regime, which was collaborating with the Germans occupying France, was sporadic in Morocco apart from the coastal batteries.

Only the Vichy Navy, which was massively represented in Casablanca just a few minutes from the landing sector, put up a serious fight and attacked the American formation with a light cruiser, destroyers and submarines, but their attack was repelled.

The French light cruiser "Primauguet"...



...was badly damaged, the destroyers "Fougueux"...



... and "Boulonnais" sank...



...the destroyer "Albatros" had to run aground on the beach to prevent sinking...:



These included the Allies scuttling or badly damaging eight French U-boats and several ships badly damaged in port.

Also in the Algerian capital Algiers, the Vichy soldiers under General Juin...



...fire only a few symbolic shots, then the general capitulates - just like in Oran...:



On the evening of the same day, their chief, the high commissioner of French North Africa, Vice-Admiral Francois Darlan, who actually has 60,000 well-equipped but unwilling troops at his disposal, surrenders...:



Nevertheless, more than 1,100 Allied soldiers die during the landing, the Vichy French lose 462 members of the navy, 326 soldiers of the land troops and 15 members of the Armée de l'Air.

The way to Tunisia in the rear of the Afrika Korps is clear for the Allies!



 
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