bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 27 Aug 2022.
Operation Torch was the codename for the British and American landings in northwest Africa on 8 December 1942 and the subsequent combat against Vichy French forces.
Operation Torch was the codename for the British and American landings in northwest Africa on 8 December 1942 and the subsequent combat against Vichy French forces.
French North Africa
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Operation Torch, 8 November 1942
Operation Torch consisted of amphibious landings by British and American forces near three ports in French North Africa:
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The Race to Tunis begins
Allied forces moved eastward from Algeria towards Tunisia by sea, by road, and by rail as quickly as possible. However, adequate motor transportation was not available and German aircraft attacked Allied troop movements on the French railroad network.
Meanwhile, Germany rushed forces by air and sea into Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, and other locations on northern Tunisia. |
Germany won the race to Tunis.
While US and British forces were approaching Tunisia from the west, Erwin Rommel's German and Italian army were beginning their long retreat from the El Alamein area in northern Egypt to Tripoli in northwestern Libya and then into Tunisia. Thus the Allied North African campaigns continued in Tunisia for six additional months. |
Sources for Big Pigeon's The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster - The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch:
† Alff, John Fredrick, SN 37-118-084, US Army, Pott & Cass Cos.
- Patton in Casablanca, the webpage header photo, http://mideasti.blogspot.com/2012/11/patton-and-morocco-friend-of-sultan.html.
- Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia map - C/O https://www.nationsonline.org/index.html.
- Operation Torch Landings map - C/O https://history.army.mil/brochures/algeria/algeria.htm.
- The Allied Landings at Algiers map, https://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=27204 C/O C. Peter Chen's World War II database, https://ww2db.com.
- The French North Africa Railroads 1935 map - C/O railwaywondersoftheworld.com.
- The Northeastern Algeria & Northern Tunisia map - C/O https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-NWA/.
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead Roster - The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
† Alff, John Fredrick, SN 37-118-084, US Army, Pott & Cass Cos.
- 436 Coast Artillery Bn.; on troop transport USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42); KIA 12 Nov 1942 Fedala Roads, off Casablanca, Morocco; Bliss sunk by German submarine U-130, 31 dead, 204 survivors; The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch; BNR.
- Co. I, 168th Inf. Regt., 34th Inf. Div., II Corps, detached to British Commando; WIA 8 Nov 1942; DOW 12 Nov 1942 near Algiers, Algeria; The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch.
- Co. K, 168th Inf. Regt., 34th Inf. Div., II Corps; KIA 8 Nov 1942 Algiers, Algeria; The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch.
- Co. K, 168th Inf. Regt., 34th Inf. Div., II Corps; KIA 8 Nov 1942 near Algiers, Algeria; The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch.
- Co. C, 1st Ranger Bn., II Corps (one of 500 original US Army Rangers); KIA 10 Nov 1942 near Oran, Algeria; The MTO > North Africa > Operation Torch.