Landings at Fedala

Beginning at 0525 on the morning of the 8th, four assault waves were landed on the beaches between Fedala and the Neffifikh River. French searchlights which spotted the landing boats were fired upon by the American fire support vessels, and the shore batteries at Chergui and Fedala then opened up. The slight French opposition to the landings consisted of occasional shelling of the beaches. the French Army confined itself to delaying actions. At 1430 Fedala surrendered. Unloading proceeded during the ensuing night, though the loss of landing craft, due principally to waves and tides, reached the appalling total of 64 percent. The armistice at 0400 and the surrender of Casablanca at 200 hours on 11 November did not hinder French torpedo action, for on the 11th and 12th four of our ships were hit and sunk. These actions had been aided by searchlights at Casablanca, but this aid ceased with the occupation of the city.

the Safi landing were under command of Rear Adm. Lyal A. Davidson and Jam. Gen. Ernest H. Harmon. The principal objective of the move was to land tanks at Safi to keep the garrison of Marrakech from reinforcing Casablanca. From Safi the tanks were to move north to aid in the attack on Casablanca.

The Bernadou and the Cole were sent ahead into the harbor to seize the installations needed to unload tanks; despite the fire of shore batteries their mission was successful. Ten assault waves were landed on four beaches beginning at 0505 on 8 November, while shore batteries were silenced by fire support ships. Another battery south of Safi was captured at 1130, and the Lakehurst moved into the harbor and began landing tanks at 1500.

French planes strafed the assault waves, but otherwise no army opposition was offered. Air cover was provided by the Santee and the Philadelphia. On the 9th an air attack on the Marrakech airdrome destroyed or damaged 20 planes and wrecked a hangar. Meanwhile French relief columns coming from the east were attacked by American aircraft and disrupted. On the 10th and 11th American Army tank units bypassed Mazagan and appeared before Casablanca. Strongpoints in the Mazagan region surrendered by midnight, and information was received that hostilities in French Morocco had ceased.

Ground elements of the XII Air Support Command landed on D-day in order to take over captured airfields at the earliest possible moment, and speedily prepare them for our use. The first Command planes to land were 72 aircraft from the carrier Chenango, which were flown to Craw Field, Port Lyautey. The field was soft and pitted with bomb craters. Those planes whose undercarriages had not been ruined in landing were later moved to Casablanca. Meanwhile, 35 aircraft were landed from the carrier Archer, and B-26's began to arrive from the United Kingdom via Gibraltar. Good airdromes were found at Sale, Rabat, and Casablanca, though the last named had spots which would not bear B-17's. The main effort of the XII Air Support Command was devoted to patrols and to air cooperation with General Patton's troops; it engaged in no air combat. Within a month the Command began a movement eastward which was to result in its entry into the Tunisian fray about the middle of January 1943.