On November 8, 1942, the Western Allies launched Operation Torch, landing in Vichy-controlled Morocco and Algeria to open up a second front in World War II. Torch was a paradoxical operation: The Allies won in just over a week, but losses were relatively high as the operation provided harsh lessons to be learned ahead of the D-Day landings 18 months later.
French soldier Louis Laplace described the shock for the Vichy forces as the Allies landed. “All of a sudden the sirens were going off; it was the first time I heard them in North Africa,” recounted the soldier in Vichy forces’ anti-aircraft division. “A few minutes later, we saw a plane flying low over the water, releasing a curtain of smoke. And then I realised that he was American.”
