Operation Torch

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 35 million and an area of... 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair.
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French Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of... the country, which was a Spanish protectorate. It existed from 1912, when a protectorate was formally established, until Moroccan independence , and consisted generally of the area of Morocco between Fez and Rabat south to Mogador, . The establishment of the French protectorate of Morocco followed centuries-long France-Morocco relations. Despite the weakness of its authority, the Alaouite dynasty distinguished itself in the 18th and 19th centuries by maintaining Morocco’s independence while other states in the region succumbed to Turkish, French, or British domination. However, in the latter part of the 19th century Morocco’s weakness and instability invited European intervention to protect threatened investments and to demand economic concessions.
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The Middle East Theatre of World War II is defined largely by reference to the British Middle East Command, which controlled Allied forces in both... Southwest Asia and eastern North Africa. From 1943, most of the action and forces concerned were in the adjoining Mediterranean Theatre. The region was quiet for the first few months of the war, until Fascist Italy declared war against France and Britain on June 10, 1940. It remained a major active theatre for two and a half years until the British Commonwealth Eighth Army crossed the border from Libya into Tunisia. In February 1943, command of the Eighth Army passed from the Middle East Command to the Allied Joint command for the Mediterranean, AFHQ. The Middle East Theatre remained quiet for the remainder of the war. The Allies initially believed that the Middle East could become a major operational theatre, because they thought that the Germans might invade the area. This did not materialise, although when Allied forces occupied much of the area, in anticipation of such an invasion, there was fighting against Vichy French forces in Lebanon and Syria, and against Iraq in the Anglo-Iraqi War.
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During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in... the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia . The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had interests in Africa dating from the period of colonialism and the Scramble for Africa. The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe. The U.S. entered the war in 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 14 June, the British Army's 11th Hussars crossed the border into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo. This was followed by an Italian offensive into Egypt and the capture of Sidi Barrani in September 1940 and then in December 1940 by a Commonwealth counteroffensive, Operation Compass.
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Operation Terminal was an Allied operation during World War II. Part of Operation Torch it involved a direct landing of infantry into the Vichy... French port of Algiers with the intention of capturing the port facilities before they could be destroyed. The attacking forces were two Royal Navy destroyers, HMS Malcolm and HMS Broke carrying 600 troops of the 3d Battalion, 135th Infantry, , part of the US 34th Infantry Division. The plan was to land the troops directly into the port. It was hoped that either complete surprise would be achieved or that the defenders would support the invasion to the extent at least of refusing to fire on the attackers. However the Vichy forces opened fire on the ships, damaging them heavily. At 4 am on the morning of 8 November 1942 Malcolm and Broke approached Algiers Harbour. They were regarded as hostile by the defending Vichy troops, who opened fire at 4.06 am. Malcolm tried to break through the boom but was hit and severely damaged by a shell fired from the shore.
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