Western Task Force - Mehdia-Port-Lyautey

Two hundred twenty miles up the Moroccan coast another Navy convoy debarked three landing teams to take Mehdia-Port-Lyautey and secure the northern flank of the Western Task Force. Maj. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott’s Sub-Task Force GOALPOST consisted of the 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division; the 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 2d Armored Division; elements of the 70th Tank Battalion (Separate); and seven coast artillery batteries. With support units, GOALPOST totaled 9,079 officers and men. Its main objectives were airfields at Port- Lyautey and at Sale, 25 miles south, near Rabat. To reach them the troops would first have to take the coastal village of Mehdia and the town of Port-Lyautey five miles inland on the Sebou River.

The GOALPOST operational plan was more complex than that for BLACKSTONE because of local geographic peculiarities. While the coastline was smooth, the Sebou River meandered sharply in an “S” shape to form two peninsulas. The Port-Lyautey airfield lay in the larger peninsula. An advance straight inland from Mehdia was the most direct route to the airfield, but the troops would have to move through a narrow marsh between the river and a lagoon, and under the guns of a fortress. From bluffs between the towns artillery dominated all points. General Truscott thus decided to land his troops at five beaches along ten miles of shoreline. Two battalion landing teams, going ashore south of the river, would advance on separate axes to the airfield, while a third would move from the north down the other peninsula toward Port-Lyautey. If all went as planned, the airfield and towns would be under American control by sundown on D-day.

Even before H-hour, set for 0400, 8 November 1942, a long succession of problems began. Approaching the coast the previous night, Navy transports lost formation. H-hour was then delayed to allow boat crews to improvise assault waves. Heavy seas further slowed debarkation. As at Sari, all landing teams were to go ashore in darkness, but only the first three waves of the 2d Battalion Landing Team had landed before dawn. Later waves were not only late but off course. The 1st and 3d Battalion Landing Teams missed their assigned beaches by 2,800 yards and 5 miles, respectively.

French opposition, much stronger than at Safi, caused more confusion and delays. At dawn French planes strafed the beaches and bombed transports. A strong coast artillery concentration at a fortress near Mehdia rained a heavy volume of fire on transports offshore. To the south the 1st Battalion Landing Team struggled in the sand for over five hours to regain its beach, to round the lagoon, and to start toward the airfield only to be pinned down by machine-gun fire the rest of the day. To the rear French reinforcements from Rabat were firing on landing team outposts. In the middle the 2d Battalion Landing Team stopped to await naval gunfire support, was then hit hard by a French counterattack, and was pushed back almost to the beach with heavy losses. While the Navy was firing on the Mehdia fortress, troops ashore did not yet have enough artillery to quiet the French batteries, whose fire kept tank lighters from landing and forced transports to move out of range, thus lengthening the route to shore. By nightfall on D-day the Americans occupied precarious positions miles from the airfield they so desperately needed.

The second day’s action brought both success and frustration to the men of GOALPOST. On the south the 1st Battalion Landing Team and several light tanks twice blocked larger French infantry-armor columns. While naval gunfire dispersed the enemy, the troops made good progress toward the airfield. But tragedy stopped the advance: unidentified artillery and U.S. naval aircraft dropped ordnance on the 1st Team. In the middle the 2d Team could do no more than hold position only a mile inland against a French unit reinforced the previous night. To the north the 3d Battalion Landing Team succeeded in placing troops and artillery north and east of the airfield but stalled under fire from Port-Lyautey.

Port-Lyautey airdrome, shielded by the meandering Sebou River.

On the night of 9–10 November a tactical innovation involving the Navy raised American spirits. On the Sebou River the destroyer-transport Dallas pushed aside a barricade and sneaked upstream with a raider detachment to spearhead the assault on the airfield. As the night wore on, some colonial units gave up the fight, but Foreign Legion units continued to resist. Several companies of the 1st and 3d Battalion Landing Teams made progress, though slow, toward the airfield.

In bypassing a French machine-gun position, three companies of the 1st Team became disoriented and unintentionally provided some comic relief to a difficult night. At 0430 the companies reached a building they thought housed the airfield garrison. Intent on maintaining surprise, the troops crept up to doors and windows, weapons at the ready. Bursting in, the embarrassed Americans discovered they had captured a French cafe. Some 75 patrons put down wine glasses and surrendered. Patrols rounded up about 100 more prisoners in the area.

At daylight on 10 November the 1st Team mounted a new drive, this time with tanks, and by 1045 reached the west side of the airfield. On the river the Dallas passed a gauntlet of artillery fire and debarked the raiders on the east side of the airfield. American troops now occupied three sides of their objective.

Serious opposition still came from the Mehdia fortress. Although naval gunfire had silenced the larger batteries earlier, machine-gun and rifle fire continued. Navy dive bombers were called in, and after only one bombing run the garrison quit. After claiming the fort and gathering prisoners, the 2d Battalion Landing Team moved on to close the ring around the airport. By nightfall the American victory was assured, and the local French commander requested a parlay with General Truscott. At 0400 on 11 November a cease-fire went into effect, the terms of which brought all GOALPOST objectives under American control.