10
made by American officers to contact the French authorities in Casaï؟¾blanca for the arrangement of an armistice, but Admiral Michelier
refused to receive them.
Fighting continued throughout the next two days. The American
forces steadily enlarged their beachheads and unloaded equipment
despite a heavy surf which took toll of the landing craft. On 10
November the airfield at Port Lyautey was captured, the first Amerï؟¾ican planes landing on the field at 1100 hours. This completed the
primary mission of the Mehdia force.
In the south, after the capture of Safi on 8 November, elements
of the 2d Armored Division moved eastward to intercept French
reinforcements that were advancing from Marrakech to Casablanca.
These French forces were dispersed on the 10th, and that night the
armor began the march to Casablanca. The 47th Regimental Comï؟¾bat Team remained at Safi to protect the port. When the armored
force received word of the surrender on 11 November, General Harï؟¾mon had obtained the surrender of Mazagan and was continuing
the advance to Casablanca, fifty miles to the north.
The 3d Division troops advancing on Casablanca from Fedala
were held up by stiff resistance, but by the afternoon of the 10th
they had reached an assembly area northeast of Casablanca. That
night they made an encircling movement to the southeast in preparaï؟¾tion for a concerted attack on the city at 0730 hours, 11 November,
but at 0700 the French, acting upon orders from Admiral Darlan,
capitulated.
Center Task Force.—Changing course abruptly during the night,
the Center Task Force arrived off Oran and began its landings at
Arzeu and Les Andalouses at 0135 hours on 8 November. The initial
objectives were airports and the highway system paralleling the
coast. The French commander of the area, after deciding to coï؟¾operate with the American forces, changed his mind and ordered
full resistance. Landing barges were fired on, and some were sunk
as they neared the shore, but the landings were carried out at all
points that had been selected.
A Ranger battalion captured Arzeu, about thirty miles northeast
of Oran, and shortly afterward Allied supply ships commenced unï؟¾loading cargo. Several miles east of Arzeu, Combat Command B,
1st Armored Division, landed and moved southwest to seize the airï؟¾fields at Tafaraoui and La Senia. The 16th and 18th Regimental
Combat Teams from the 1st Infantry Division were brought ashore
near Arzeu and started an advance toward Oran.
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