The Battle for Port Lyautey Operation Torch Port

The Battle for Port Lyautey Operation Torch Port Lyautey, French Morocco North Africa Task Force 34 Sub Task Force Goalpost Commander: General Dwight Eisenhower Invasion Commander: General George Patton No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey Operation Torch On the evening of November 7, 1942, around midnight, Task Force 34 (composed of three sub task forces) appeared off the coast of North Africa in three different areas. The Western Task Force proceeded to French Morocco. The Central and East Task Forces proceeded to Algeria and Tunisia. Lt John Doxsee was a member of the 2 nd Battalion of the 60 th Infantry Regiment of the 9 th Infantry Division under the Western Task Force. The division was composed of three regiments; the 60 th, 47 th and 39 th. The different regiments were to attack different portions of the French Moroccan coastline. The 60 th went ashore at Port Lyautey, or Mehedia Beach in French Morocco. No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey Operation Torch Aboard the troopship George Clymer, the men of the 60 th Regiment went on the top deck at around 0100 and waited for three hours until given the signal to start the invasion. Once the signal came, the 60 th went over the sides of the ship and loaded into their Landing Craft Infantry or LCIs. From here, they went to a marshal point where they waited for everyone in the wave to rally up. Due to confusion, the first wave landing force was delayed a few hours and did not start the landing until it was nearly daylight. No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey Operation Torch With the delay of the first wave, the second wave proceeded as planned. Now, the second wave would be the first wave to the shore. They met with a few machine gun bursts as they came to shore and once they hit the shore they met moderate resistance from the French defenders. As it became daylight, the first wave, still at it’s rally site, decided to press into the shore. As they went in, John’s boat began taking on water and started sinking. A few hundred yards from shore, the men jumped over the sides of the boat and swam in. Three men drowned. The Second Battalion was assigned to come ashore on Green Beach, just south of the mouth of the Sebou River. No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey The Second Battalion of the 60 th Infantry Regiment came ashore here around 0730 hrs on 8 November 1942. They were the only unit to land on their planned beach. No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey After hitting the beach, the unit had three objectives: 1. Secure Mehedia Beach (Plage) 2. Attack and Secure the Casbah Fortress 3. Secure the Airfield and Town of Port Lyautey No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey The Third Battalion of the 60 th Infantry Regiment planned to come ashore here at Red Beach 2. No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey The Third Battalion also planned to make a landing to the north, on Red Beach. As the saying goes, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Seeing as how their operations would now be occuring in daylight, the Third Battalion decided to consolidate on Red Beach. This left the Second Battalion with no support on the north side of the Sebou River. Additionally, the Third Battalion inadvertently landed five miles north of Red Beach. No rth

The Battle for Port Lyautey The First Battalion planned to make a landing to the south, on Blue and Yellow Beaches. Navigation errors brought the team ashore 2, 800 yards north of Blue Beach instead of on Blue and Yellow. No rth