Casablanca - 1942

Casablanca the movie

Although the Operation Torch landings involved three separate landings over hundreds of miles of coastline, the landings at Casablanca proved to be the most contested. Interestingly, the Casablanca landings are probably the most well-known of the three. In part this is because it was the only All-US part of the operation and therefore got the most attention, but it's also because of the serendipitous release of the classic movie Casablanca  around the same time.

The film, while a classic of art, bears only passing resemblance to the actual location. The hero, Rick, famously remarks that he came to Casablanca "for the waters." When Capt. Renault points out that "There are no waters, we're in a desert" Rick famously retorts "I was misinformed."  It's a great line, but in fact Casablanca isn't in the desert, either.  It actually has a very mild climate and while the summers are dry, it gets enough rainfall annually for agriculture.

The city itself has a long history, being founded sometime before the 7th Century BC. The French took it over by 1910 so by 1942 they had been in control for a generation. Although originally a native city, by 1942 about half the population of over 110,000 was European.

The port was one of the few good ones on the west African coast and it was one of the French navy's major ports in 1942, although still not a first-class naval depot. It appears that smaller ships such as destroyers, could be overhauled there, but the port's shipyard facilities were inadequate to finish fitting out the incomplete battleship Jean Bart. It was, however, a fairly large submarine base, with more than a dozen boats.