THE INVASION, ON NOVEMBER  8, 1942, INVOLVED AMERICANS ATTACKING AT FEDHALA IN PREPARATION FOR THE ATTACK ON CASABLANCA. RESISTANCE CAME TO AN END ON NOVEMBER 11. MEANWHILE, ANGLO-AMERICAN FORCES ATTACKED ORAN AND ALGIERS. FIGHTING AT ORAN WAS SEVERE, BUT SURRENDER CAME ON NOVEMBER 12.  AT ALGIERS THERE WAS LITTLE RESISTANCE FROM THE FRENCH FORCES UNDER CONTROL OF THE VICHY GOVERNMENT.   ADMIRAL DARLAN ORDERED A CEASE FIRE ON NOVEMBER 8. THIS WAS JUST AFTER THE BRITISH ARMY'S VICTORY AT EL ALAMEIN ON NOVEMBER 3.

ON NOVEMBER 12, 1942,  BRITISH AIRBORNE FORCES CAPTURED BONE, ON THE ALGERIAN COAST, CLOSE TO THE TUNISIAN BORDER.  BY THE FOLLOWING SPRING, THE GERMAN-ITALIAN FORCES COMMANDED BY FIELD MARSHALL ROMMEL HAD BEEN DRIVEN FROM NORTH AFRICA BY BRITAIN'S MONTGOMERY COMMANDING THE EIGHTH ARMY, WHICH PRESSED WESTWARD FROM LIBYA.  EVENTUALLY THE BRITISH MET THE 2ND US CORPS, THE FRENCH 19TH, AND THE FIRST BRITISH ARMY, FIGHTING EASTWARD FROM ALGERIA.  THE CASUALTIES SUFFERED BY THE ENEMY NUMBERED MORE THAN 50,000 DEAD AND WOUNDED. PRISONERS NUMBERED 250,000

IN JANUARY 1943, WINSTON CHURCHILL AND GENERAL DWIGHT EISENHOWER  MET IN CASABLANCA TO PLAN THE NEXT STEP IN THE WAR AGAINST THE AXIS POWERS: THE LANDING IN SICILY AND THE BATTLE FOR ITALY.

ALGERIA

THIS MAP OF ALGERIA SHOWS THE PORT OF ORAN WHERE WE LANDED AFTER A 14 DAY TRIP OUT OF NEW YORK HARBOR. AFTER DISEMBARKING IN ORAN WE WERE LOADED INTO TRUCKS FOR A TRIP TO TLEMCEN,A CITY OF 80,000. THERE WE OPENED A HOSPITAL FOR  COMBAT TROOPS FIGHTING UNDER GENERAL PATTON.  WE WERE A PART OF "OPERATION TORCH", THE ALLIED INVASION OF NORTH AFRICA. THE PLAN WAS TO LAND 35,000  TROOPS AND 250 TANKS UNDER  GENERAL PATTON ON THE ATLANTIC COAST OF MOROCCO; AT THE SAME TIME ALLIED FORCES WERE TO TAKE ORAN AND ALGIERS. OUR HOSPITAL WAS TO SUPPORT THE FORCES FIGHTING FOR ORAN AND ALGIERS. THESE PORTS WERE TO BE SECURED AS BASES FOR CONTINUED MILITARY AND NAVAL OPERATIONS, AND TO DENY FUTURE ENEMY ACCESS TO THESE POSITIONS.

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