Operation Torch was the WW2 military offensive by which the Allied forces landed on the coast of North Africa, at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers. It was launched on November 8, 1942. The importance of this military campaign was that it opened a second front against the Axis Powers and it would put American troops in combat situation against the German and Italians for the first time. Until Operation Overlord was carried out in 1944, it was the largest amphibious operation in history. The American General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander of this expeditionary force.
The two main objectives of Operation Torch was the capture of key ports and air bases to prevent the reinforcement of Axis troops with war materiel and units from Europe. The other objective was to encircle and defeat the Vichy French Army, which was under the German command, before facing off the Germans and Italians. Meanwhile, the men of British 8th Army were fighting against the German Afrika Korps, under Rommel at the Second Battle of El Alamein.
The American landing troops were organized around the Western Task Force (33,000 men), under George Patton. At all three landing sites, the Vichy French forces put up a stiff resistance. At the beginning, their commander, the Vichy Premier Admiral Jean Francois Darlan, refused to sign an armistice. At all three landing beaches, the Anglo-American troops came under ferocious attack, especially at Casablanca. However, the naval and air bombing of parts of the city forced Jean Francois Darlan to sign an armistice on November 11.
At Algiers, two British warships had been struck by coastal artillery fire. Thus, they were able to land only 250 men from the 600-men contingent, whose mission was to secure port facilities to make the beach landing easier. Meanwhile, the third landing site, Oran, had fallen after two days of fierce fighting. Here the British lost 300 men killed in action and more than 100 wounded.
Below, American troops landing on a beach near Casablanca during Operation Torch.
