Page:Charles Robert Anderson - Algeria-French Morocco - CMH Pub 72-11.pdf/15

 Casablanca, only twelve miles to the south. Fifty fighters and thirty bombers could enter the battle from airfields in the area. Casablanca was of particular concern to the U.S. Navy covering force off Fedala since it harbored French naval units including cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and the uncompleted battleship Jean Bart, whose operational 15-inch guns could easily reach both transports and landing beaches to the north.

As happened to problems began even before H-hour, set for 0400 on 8 November. Hours earlier, Navy officers had discovered that an unknown current had carried transports up to seven miles out of position. The attempt to realign ships in the darkness forced a postponement of H-hour. With landing craft finally in the water, fewer than half reached assembly points on time; turning toward shore, many straggled behind organized waves. High surf and navigational errors led a high proportion of boats far from assigned beaches. Many crashed against rocky bluffs, drowning troops and destroying equipment. Of the three subtask forces landing on Moroccan shores, suffered the highest loss of landing craft: 57 of 119 boats in the first wave alone, and more in later waves. Since all boats were scheduled to make repeated ship-to-shore runs, these losses delayed offloading, denied troops ashore needed equipment and weapons, and ended any chance for a quick conquest of Casablanca.

The first troops ashore were from 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry (1–7 Battalion Landing Team), reaching Beach 2 at 0500. All other teams landed in daylight. At first light—about 0545—coastal batteries and machine guns began firing on transports offshore and landing craft plowing through the surf. U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers immediately returned the fire. Most landing teams encountered more trouble from high surf and inexperienced boat crews than enemy fire. Some, such as 2–7 Battalion Landing Team, were strewn over two beaches, while others stepped ashore miles from assigned beaches. Rather than take time to realign, most landing teams pursued assigned missions from where they landed or devised new missions based on their new situations.

With the troops ashore, the pace of operations quickened. The companies of 1–7 Team moved inland toward Fedala and quickly captured a surprised contingent of the 6th Senegalese Infantry Regiment and ten Germans fleeing their hotel. By 0600 the town was in American hands. Silencing coastal batteries proved more difficult than capturing the town. Naval gunfire appeared to knock out the larger batteries, located at the mouths of the two rivers, in the first half hour of daylight. But when individual guns resumed intermittent fire, further action became necessary. Against the French battery at the mouth of the Nefifikh River