What in World War II was 'Operation Torch'?
"was part of Yugoslavia during World War II. So see this article's section on Yugoslavia. Most of Morocco was a protectorate of France during World War II. When France was defeated, Morocco came under the control of the Vichy regime, and therefore was nominally on the side of the Axis powers, although an active resistance movement operated. In November 1942, it was invaded by the Allies as part of Operation Torch. From that point, Moroccan volunteers (the Goumier) fought on the side of the Allies. A small area in northern Morocco, Spanish Morocco, was a Spanish protectorate and remained neutral"
"World War II, Algeria, along with North Africa, were under the control of Nazi Germany and Vichy France. On November 8, 1942 the Allies launched the first major offensive of the war codenamed Operation Torch. Allied Forces led by Dwight D. Eisenhower landed on the northern beaches and advanced south against an army of 60,000 Vichy troops. The Allies retook Morocco along with Algeria, establishing the liberation of northern Africa. During the War, large numbers of both Muslim and European Algerians served with the French Army. Algerian troops particularly distinguished themselves as part of the French Expeditionary Corps under General"
"1942, Allied forces were completing the task of planning Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd PIR scheduled to take the lead and make the first combat jump. Operation Torch was the first joint military action undertaken by the Allies in World War II. This was the springboard for the idea, formed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, of attacking the ""soft underbelly of Europe"" before attempting a cross-channel attack from England onto mainland Europe. The main objective of Torch was to seize French Northwest Africa and, for political reasons, the Americans would lead operation."
"Operation Terminal Operation Terminal was an Allied operation during World War II. Part of Operation Torch (the Allied invasion of French North Africa, 8 November 1942) it involved a direct landing of infantry into the Vichy French port of Algiers with the intention of capturing the port facilities before they could be destroyed. The attacking forces were two Royal Navy destroyers, and (commanded by Henry Fancourt) carrying 600 troops of the 3d Battalion, 135th Infantry, (commanded by Colonel Edwin Swenson), part of the US 34th Infantry Division. The plan was to land the troops directly into the port. It was"
"of the Operation Torch invasion of North Africa in November 1942, being deployed to the new Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO). It was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force in French Morocco in November. The squadron engaged primarily in support and interdictory operations; bombing marshalling yards, rail lines, highways, bridges, viaducts, troop concentrations, gun emplacements, shipping, harbors and other objectives in North Africa. The squadron also engaged in psychological warfare missions, dropping propaganda leaflets behind enemy lines. It took part in the Allied operations against Axis forces in North Africa during March–May 1943, the reduction of Pantelleria and Lampedusa islands"
"the Italian-German ""Panzer"" Army near the Mareth Line and came under command of General Harold Alexander's 18th Army Group for the concluding phase of the war in North Africa, the Tunisia Campaign. Operation Torch started on 8 November 1942, and finished on 11 November. In an attempt to pincer German and Italian forces, Allied forces (American and British Commonwealth), landed in Vichy-held French North Africa under the assumption that there would be little to no resistance. Nevertheless, Vichy French forces put up a strong and bloody resistance to the Allies in Oran and Morocco, but not in Algiers, where a"
"task of intercepting part of Force H which left Gibraltar participating in British Operation ""Baritone"". Submarines did not, however, sight any British vessels that took a different path and then returned to the base. On November 8, 1942 Operation Torch was launched: more than 500 British and American vessels escorted by 350 warships began landing 107,000 troops on the coasts of Algeria and Morocco, thus opening the second front in North Africa. Together with many other Italian and German submarines ""Turchese"" was immediately dispatched to the southern Mediterranean. On September 7, 1943 under the provisions of Zeta Plan, many Italian"
"Torch) in North-West Africa in November 1942, and subsequent battles against Vichy France forces (who then changed sides), the Allies encircled several hundred thousand German and Italian personnel in northern Tunisia and finally forced their surrender in May 1943. Operation Torch in November 1942 was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to engage in the fight against Nazi Germany on a limited scale. In addition, as Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, had long been pleading for a second front to be opened"
"The airborne segment of the operation entailed flying 1,500 miles from England to seize two French airfields near Oran. Just prior to Operation Torch, on 2 November 1942 the battalion was again redesignated, as the 2nd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment. On this momentous day, as C-47s flew over the English countryside, the 509th paratrooper was born. The 2-503rd newly named 2-509th PIR carried out the first American combat jump during the invasion of North Africa. The transport planes flew all the way from English airfields to the African coast. This first operation was unsuccessful, with 7 of its 39"
"Allied aircraft—11 over Malta. On 8 November 1942 Operation Torch began and Allied forces invaded Vichy French Morocco and Algeria. The Germans and Italians allocated large forces to prevent the Allied advance into Tunisia. The Run for Tunis was a success, and the fall of the country into Allied hands was prevented. JG 77 was among the units sent from Sicily to support the Axis forces in the Tunisian Campaign. On 1 November Berres claimed a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk over Bir-el-Abd, and other on 3 November northwest of Quotaifiya, and at 10:31 on 11 November 1942 he claimed another over"
"German ships were sunk in the resulting engagement. Operation Torch, the invasion of Axis controlled Africa, started in 1942. HMS ""Verity"" was assigned to escort military convoys in preparation of this attack. She supported the landings at Oran, during which she helped rescue troops from a stricken SS ""Strathallan"", which had been attacked by . Only 11 were killed in the attack on the ship, which was carrying over 5,000 officers, men and crew. The ""Strathallan"" finally sank nearly 22 hours after the torpedo hit. HMS Verity (D63) HMS ""Verity"" was an Admiralty modified W class destroyer built for the"
"1942 she operated north of Cape Blanc. In mid-June 1942 ""Aradam"" was sent together with four other submarines, including ""Ascianghi"" and ""Dessiè"" to patrol off Cape Blanc and later between Malta, Pantelleria and Lampedusa in an attempt to intercept British convoy as part of the Operation ""Harpoon"". However, the submarine did not sight any enemy ships. On November 8, 1942 Operation Torch was launched: more than 500 British and American vessels escorted by 350 warships began landing 107,000 troops on the coasts of Algeria and Morocco, thus opening the second front in North Africa. Together with many other Italian and"
"""Woolsey"" operated in the Atlantic Ocean, escorting convoys from North America to Iceland, the British Isles, and Puerto Rico. She also took part in Operation Torch, the Allied amphibious invasion of North Africa in November 1942, by which time Austin was a commander. During Torch, ""Woolsey"" detected and assisted the destroyers and in sinking the German submarine ""U-173"" off Casablanca, French Morocco, on 16 November 1942. For meritorious achievement in command of ""Woolsey"" that day, Austin received the Bronze Star Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device “V.” On 22 December 1942, Austin assumed command of the newly commissioned destroyer , and"
"government which could cause serious political and security complications. Diplomat Robert D. Murphy, the U.S. consul general in Algiers, spearheaded efforts to gather pre-invasion intelligence and cultivate diplomatic contacts in French North Africa, and Wright would find himself intimately involved in his pre-invasion activities. On October 16, 1942, Captain Jerauld Wright was summoned to Operation Torch's staff headquarters at Horfolk House in London for an important meeting with General Eisenhower, alongside other senior officers. Eisenhower informed the group that the War Department had forwarded an urgent cable from U.S. diplomat Robert D. Murphy requesting the immediate dispatch of a top-secret"
"Operation Torch. Axis forces were threatened with destruction in a large pincer move. I ""Gruppe"" began bombing operations within a week but saw two changes in command. ""Hauptmann"" Hanns Heise was appointed the group commander in January 1942 but was succeeded by ""Major"" Rudolf Hallensleben in October 1942. Hallensleben was replaced by ""Major"" Ulrich Roch in January 1943. Missions were flown against Allied shipping off Tobruk and Benghazi. Allied ships were also targeted along the Egyptian coast to Alexandria from 23 November to 12 December 1942. The group reported 20 Ju 88s ready for action on 1 December. It transferred"
"were damaged. Plans for the Allied counter offensive after the attack on Pearl Harbor were ongoing by mid-1942. An invasion of Europe in 1943 would be unworkable, but the allies could attack the ""soft underbelly of Europe"" through the Mediterranean, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill put it. Devised by President Franklin Roosevelt and Churchill and code named Operation Torch, the plan was to occupy French North Africa: Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. From these French colonies, attacks could be launched that would drive Italy out of the war. In July 1942, Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Allied Commander-in-Chief of"
"were part of Operation Torch, the assault landings in Morocco and Algeria on 8 November 1942. It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Kenneth Anderson. It eventually consisted of four corps, the V Corps (Charles Allfrey), IX Corps (John Crocker, later Brian Horrocks), U.S. II Corps (Lloyd Fredendall, later George Patton and Omar Bradley) and French XIX Corps (Marie-Lous Koeltz). The Second Army was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey and served under the 21st Army Group. It was responsible for the Anglo-Canadian assault beach landings in Normandy on D-Day. Two of its formations, I Corps (John Crocker) and XXX Corps"
"points on the Moroccan coast to begin Operation Torch. ""Savannah""s Northern Attack Group was to land Brigadier General Lucian K. Truscott's 9,099 officers and men, including 65 light tanks, on five widely separated beaches on either side of Mehedia. Their objectives were the Port Lyautey city and its all-weather airfield, the Wadi Sebou, and the Salé airfield. On the morning of 8 November 1942, ""Savannah"" commenced firing against Vichy guns near the Kasbah, which had been firing on the Army troop's landing boats. She also temporarily silenced a battery which had opened up on the destroyer , enabling her to"
"during Operation Torch, launched on 8 November 1942 as the Allied invasion of North Africa. Facing the U.S. Navy task force headed for Morocco, consisting of the carriers ""Ranger"", ""Sangamon"", ""Santee"" and ""Suwannee"", were, in part, Vichy squadrons based at Marrakech, Meknès, Agadir, Casablanca and Rabat, which between them could muster some 86 fighters and 78 bombers. Overall, the aircraft may have been old compared to the Grumman F4F Wildcats of the U.S. Navy, yet they were still dangerous and capable in the hands of combat veterans who had seen action against both the Germans and the British since the"
"York as a fully functioning combat unit on 1 August 1940. Six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the American entry into World War II, II Corps was sent to England in June 1942, under the command of Major General Mark W. Clark. In November, now under Major General Lloyd Fredendall, II Corps landed in Oran as part of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa. After initially making good headway against German forces during the Tunisia Campaign, II Corps was defeated by German troops under Hans-Jürgen von Arnim at the Battle of Sidi Bou"
"Operation Torch where two were destroyed attacking Oran in Operation Reservist. The remaining seven escorted Mediterranean convoys in support of the North African invasion and saw varied employment in the Atlantic until assigned to the Kilindini Escort Force in late 1943 and early 1944. They stayed in the Indian Ocean for the remainder of the war escorting trade convoys in the Arabian Sea, and five served in the Bay of Bengal supporting Operation Dracula and Operation Zipper in the last months of conflict with Japan. Six were returned to the United States after the conclusion of hostilities; and one, disabled"
"thence to the East Coast of the United States for a many-weeks-long overhaul. On 8 November 1942, Operation Torch—the code name of the Anglo-American effort to conquer Northwestern Africa from the Vichy French and Nazi Germany, and thence to expel the Axis Powers from Africa—got underway. Off Casablanca, French Morocco, the heavy cruisers ""Tuscaloosa"" and ""Wichita"" joined the new American battleship , the aircraft carrier ""Ranger"" and numerous light cruisers and destroyers as the ""big guns"" for the segment of Operation Torch in Morocco. (Other forces invaded Algeria via the Mediterranean Sea.) As American troops waded ashore, ""Tuscaloosa""s powerful 8-inch,"
"tasked with headquarters defense of base operations under the banner of the 502d Adjutant General Company (502d AG). Elements of the division were among the first U.S. military to engage in offensive ground combat operations in the European and Mediterranean theater during World War II. The 2nd Armored Division, now commanded by Major General Ernest N. Harmon, served in North Africa along with the 1st Armored Division. They were part of the Western Task Force of Operation Torch, which landed at Casablanca in French Morocco on 8 November 1942. The remainder of Torch's American component were the 1st, 3rd, 9th"
"8 November 1942, Allied landings in French North Africa (Operation Torch) began. ""Jean Bart"", with her guns opened fire on the U.S. warships covering the landings, with range finding data sent by phone from the shore stations of Sidi Abderhamane and Dar Bou Azza. She was silenced by the second hit from the guns of , which jammed her turret rotating mechanism. The sixth of the seven shells that hit her exploded in a magazine of turret, which was empty as these turrets had not been installed. Had they been, this event would have had catastrophic consequences. These magazines' armor"
"Operation Torch. Based in Algeria, Tunisia, and Italy, the 94th again distinguished itself in combat by winning two Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations as part of the 1st Group. In addition, the squadron earned 14 Campaign honors, participating in almost every campaign in North Africa and Europe. 64 pilots of the 94th Fighter Squadron were credited with 124 Axis aircraft destroyed. The 94th produced a total of six aces in World War II. In April 1945 the 1st Fighter Group received two YP-80 jets for operational testing. The 94th Squadron's Major Edward LaClare flew two operational sorties in the YP-80 although"
"King George VI in early 1942. In late 1942 Operation Torch, the first large Allied combined operation, was launched. The British and Americans landed in force invading French North Africa, but far enough west that the Germans were able to invade Tunisia (owned by France) and make it their base of operations. Torch was followed by Operation Husky the invasion of Sicily, and Operation Avalanche, the invasion of southern Italy. Again the naval forces escorted the invasion fleet and heavy cover was provided against Italian interference. In the aftermath of Avalanche, the Italian surrender was announced and the British naval"
"blockade. Free French and the Allied forces recaptured the colony's capital of Djibouti at the end of 1942. A local battalion from Djibouti participated in the liberation of France in 1944. The Allied invasion French North Africa, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, started on 8 November 1942 with landings in Morocco and Algeria. The invasion, known as Operation Torch, was launched because the Soviet Union had pressed the United States and Britain to start operations in Europe, and open a second front to reduce the pressure of German forces on the Russian troops. While the American commanders favored landing in occupied"
"the United States military and the Soviet Union, but rejected by the British, who felt a landing in France was premature, and hence impractical. This perception was reinforced by the failure of the smaller Dieppe Raid in August 1942. As a result, Sledgehammer was never carried out, and instead the British proposal for an invasion of French North Africa took place in November 1942 under the code name Operation Torch. After the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff pressed for an invasion of mainland Europe via the English Channel ""as soon as possible"", i.e."
"Operation Reservist Operation Reservist was an Allied military operation during the Second World War. Part of Operation Torch (the Allied invasion of North Africa), it was an attempted landing of troops directly into the harbour at Oran in Algeria. The purpose of Operation Reservist was to capture the valuable facilities and ships at the Vichy French port of Oran before they could be destroyed. The landing of troops directly from ships was extremely risky; however it was hoped that either the French defenders would be taken entirely by surprise, or that they would actually co-operate with the landing forces. Two"
"of the operational forces under the command of SHAEF were American. The ETOUSA planning staff in London was usually referred to by its Army Post Office number, ""APO 887"". After the war in Europe ended, ETOUSA became briefly U.S. Armed Forces Europe, then U.S. Forces, European Theater (USFET), and then, eventually, United States Army Europe. Operation Torch—the invasion of French North Africa—involving the 9th, 3rd Infantry and the 2nd Armored Divisions, initiated on 8 November 1942, was the first ground combat operations for the United States in World War II. Albert Coady Wedemeyer was chief author of the ""Victory Program"","
"17 November 1942, north of Algiers, during ""Operation Torch"". She had been badly damaged after being attacked by a Lockheed Hudson bomber and signalled surrender, but was attacked and sunk by a Fairey Albacore torpedo-bomber from the British aircraft carrier . Of her crew 32 were killed and 17 survived, including von Tiesenhausen. As a prisoner of war, Von Tiesenhausen was initially moved to England, he then spent the rest of the war as a PoW in Canada, until his release in 1947. Returning to West Germany, he worked as a joiner, but in late 1951 he returned to Vancouver,"
"United States abandon the Germany-first strategy and take the offensive in the Pacific. Roosevelt ""disapproved"" the proposal, saying it would do nothing to help the Soviet Union. Instead, with Roosevelt's support and Marshall unable to persuade the British to change their minds, the decision was made at the Second Claridge Conference in late July 1942 to carry out Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa. Most of the troops and supplies accumulated for Roundup were used to implement Torch with preparations for Roundup given lower priority because of the uncertainties of Allied strategy. The British were as reluctant"
"Abteilung 350 procedures, subsequently the German High Command was completely taken by surprise by the bulk of the Allies Mediterranean theatre buildup and subsequent landing in French North Africa on 7 November 1942, that was known by the allies as Operation Torch. Not until the Tunisian Campaign was well under way did W-Leit 2 at Taormina pull itself together and contribute to the general effort by intercepting air support messages. It is worth noting that General Albert Praun, who was chief Signals of the Wehrmacht thought that the Allied Invasion of French North Africa was not detected due to radio"