Ladies, Gents, and Texson, I have had in my possession since I was a boy what I belive is a briefing board with an aerial reconnaisance photo of Fedala, French Morocco, taken September 1942. I will attach some images, but what I'm really posting this for is to get more information on the area and what significance this photo may or may not have. I am aware that we landed at Fedala during Torch, but I'm pretty sure we didn't use any airpower. As such, such a briefing board would have been used by ground force commanders in developing their scheme of maneuver for the assault. I will attach photos momentarily as it takes a while for me to transfer them.
Lip, Nice collectible! I would refer you to "An Army at Dawn" by Atkinson. I read it about a year ago and would need to review my notes and the book to give you any help. I'll look into tonight after work. Here's Fedala or now Mohammedia (?)
Lip, It appears that the USAAC was basically absent as you suspected at the landings for the Fedala landing (largest of all Torch landing btw). Air cover and support all came from the Brit's RAF from planes based in Gibraltar. The only movement of Doolittle's (who reported to Patton) forces appears to be initially (after the landings) movement of HQ sections with some B-24s into the Casablanca area. Other assets fllowed later. I would guess that with Navy bombardment to cover the landings the RAF could have performed interdiction missions to isolate the beach landings. The most intersting thing about Torch were the French. It was a toss up as to whether they would fire on the Allies or welcome them.
THanks for the feedback Tex, I appreciate it. I suppose this must have been a briefing board for some of those executing the landings? It's actually in great shape. The question is whether I keep it or let it go - I'm up to my elbows in stuff right now and the wife says either it goes or I go. With me going on deployment in the spring, I don't want to come home with no militaria!
LOL! You are between a rock and a hard place! There's always one of those rental storage bins! I have some room to maneuver for militaria; the dear wife has a two bad habits: shoes and yarn for knitting. So when I bring home stuff I usually dont hear too much static and/or get flak. She actually likes the Spitfire "First Light" print! Have you had it appraised btw? You might be pleasantly surprised!
Well my wife has too many shoes. But she controls the ticket booth to the love train - so that's the bottom line. If only there were an equivalent in world politics... I haven't a clue where to have it appraised. To whom would I talk about something like that?
Lip, I would first just google.."militaria appraisals" to see what you find. I dont have any recommendations but Skipper, Erich and Slip might be able to recommend a good one or two.
Holy Underpants Batman! I was taking the time to clean the picture and found what appear to be grease pencil markings annotating the landing plan along the beachhead! It shows 5 beaches: R1, R2, R3, B1, and B2. It works in that order (starting with R1) and working West to East (this set of photos demonstrates up as generally South). Each beach also has a set of straight lines to mark the landing zones. R1: (You can barely make it out, because it's written in the black of the water) R2: A bit more visible R3: Plainly visible B1: You can barely make it out in these photos, but its written faintly on the beach, you can also see the lines marking the landing zones. B2: This one basically can't be seen without straining, but if you look closely, you can see it there, faintly written on the beach. Torch Experts - I need your help! I need to find out if this is an accurate representation of the landings that occurred at Fedala. This is truly an exciting find! Maybe I won't be getting rid of this one after all!
Tex, you're a gem! Where did you get this? I need to start citing all references and keeping track of all research related to this photo. This graphic depiction exactly matches my photo. Operation Brushwood. by the way, I tried to give you positive rep, but it won't let me give you any more!
Not a problem about the rep pts, Lip! I was hoping that the grease tracks would match the map features! That is great! Hang on to it! The site below is a great resource BTW for all of WWII: HyperWar: US Army in WWII: Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative In the West
Hello from France ! WWWooow ! nice photos...for completing here is another of pont blondin in 1940/1941 (Taken by Flandrin) with a vue of table Cherqui (pont blondin battery) View attachment 12494
we can see on the photo the 4 x 138,6mm machine guns View attachment 12499 and now View attachment 12495
