Transports Move to Tafaraoui

Meanwhile, Colonel Schofield had established a command post on the second floor of the airdrome headquarters building and made liaison with the armored division. This was the unit which had helped to take Tafaraoui and which engaged the enemy in the hills in an attempt to clean up the artillery which had bee sporadically dropping shells on the airdrome all afternoon.

Not all the aircraft which took off from the west end of the Sebkra d'Oran reached Tafaraoui. One was forced down at the east end by French fighters, and in the process most of the crew were wounded (one dying the next day); Three paratroopers were killed and 10 wounded. Near the same place another plane was washed out in landing to escape enemy action, and a third one, also forced down, had its co-pilot killed. The parachutists went on to join in the attack on Tafaraoui.

earlier in the morning a C-47 was forced down in the same region by a French fighter, and the crew and parachutists barely had time to spring to the ground before the Frenchman riddled the plane, wounding one man. Later, other C-47's landed near-by and took off the crew, the parachutists, and the salvage. another troop carrier aircraft, coming down near Arzew, did not join the group for some days.

Of the 39 planes belonging to the 60th Troop Carrier Group which left England, one was at Gibraltar, two at Casablanca, three in Spanish Morocco, and the others near Oran; of these, at least three had been damaged beyond repair. Only 14 of the aircraft at Tafaraoui were at the moment flyable.

Twenty-six Spitfires of the 31st Fighter Group, flying via Gibraltar, arrived at Tafaraoui during the afternoon of D-day. It had been arranged that four Hurricanes from a carrier would cover the landing, and four French Dewoitines above the field were mistaken for the Hurricanes. The attacking Dewoitines brought down one Spitfire just off the end of the airdrome while in the traffic pattern, but other Spits shot down all four Frenchmen. In the dogfight it was very another. One French pilot bailed out when his plane burst into flames, and another fighter which broke away crashed about 10 miles from Tafaraoui. This action occurred about 1600. At 1845 four Spitfires strafed La Senia airfield in cooperation with the armored force then attacking.

On the Monday, 9 November, the Americans at Tafaraoui were awakened by shell explosions and antiaircraft fire, which continued at intervals during the day. One C-47, its radio operator wounded, was put out of commission. While no C-47's took off during the day, the Spitfires were busy. Armored units devoted their attention to the gun positions on the surrounding hills, and by midafternoon the conflict had waned; thereafter sniping was the only hostile action. During the afternoon General Doolittle arrive in a B-17 escorted by 12 fighters.

The morning's principal air action was the breaking up of a column of the Foreign Legion en route from Sidi-Bel-Abbes. Three formations of four Spitfires each took off periodically during the morning to strafe this 10-mile column. The French had very little AAA and the Spits were able to strafe almost at will. A few of the large French guns arrived within range of the airdrome, but their fire was inaccurate and the Spitfires destroyed their emplacements. During these actions the Spitfires had to use captured French ammunition because their own supplies had not arrived.

By noon of 10 November the French Air Force had been destroyed or captured. The U. S. loss was six Spitfires and three C-47's.