It's the evening of November 7th, 1942. In  the moonless night floating in the Western  

Mediterranean the men of the 1st Ranger  Battalion are steaming towards Vichy-held  

Algeria. The U.S. has been at war for almost  a year and is about to make its combat debut  

against the European Axis in North Africa. The  Rangers are under the command of Lieutenant  

Colonel William Darby and have been aboard  three British passenger ferries for two weeks.  

Just part of a 96 ship task force bound for Oran,  Algeria; the central prong of Operation Torch,  

the invasion of Northwest Africa. Fifty  Rangers from across the battalion had been  

attached to the British Commandos and Canadians  during the ill-fated Dieppe raid in August.  

However, the battalion hass yet to undertake its  own independent operation. This is their day. The  

Central Task Force area of operations is centered  on the port city of Oran split into three landing  

sectors. To the west, X Sector will land a part  of the 1st Armored Division's Combat Command  

B while Y Sector lands the 26th Regimental Combat  Team. At Oran's port, a small and ultimately  

unsuccessful anti-sabotage mission codenamed  Operation Reservist will also be attempted by  

two armored infantry companies. But the largest  force will land at Z Sector to the east. The  

3-mile-long beachhead will receive Combat Command  B's Task Force Red, as well as a 16th and 18th  

Regimental Combat Teams (two-thirds of the 1st  Infantry Division). The Rangers will be directly  

supporting the 1st Infantry at Z Sector. Directly  overlooking the beach is the city of Arzew. The  

19th century colonial settlement is home to a navy  seaplane base and multiple barracks. Its harbor is  

enclosed by two jetties with a retractable boom to  close it off from the open ocean. The city sits on  

the harbor's western bank while the northern  bank is occupied mainly by warehouses, docks  

and a rail line. The rail separates the docks from  the Djebel Sicioum heights overlooking the city.  

Arzew was defended by colonial troops from the 1st  Company of the 16th Tunisian Tirailleur Regiment  

as well as one battery of the 68th African  Artillery Regiment. In case of invasion they'd be  

integrated into a battalion task force with units  from throughout the area. But when the Rangers  

land, the French will be caught undeployed. The  5th Torpedo Flotilla's two torpedo squadrons (navy  

units equipped with Latécoère 298 seaplanes) are  also stationed on the southern end of the harbor.  

On the north end, 2 naval coastal  artillery batteries guard the harbor.  

Two 75 millimeter cannons are manned at Fort  de la Pointe, while 500 yards to the northeast  

a 4-piece 105 millimeter battery sits on the high  ground near the block house serving Fort du Nord,  

These two batteries directly threaten the  main landing zones and have to be neutralized.  

That's where the Rangers come in. Their mission  is to seize the key terrain north of the city,  

destroy the batteries and hold them until  relieved by elements of the 1st Infantry Division.  

In order to maintain the element of surprise the  Rangers will land in two elements so they can take  

the objectives in quick succession. Battalion  XO Major Herman Dammer will lead a task force  

directly into the harbor and seize fort de la  pointe. Darby meanwhile will lead a larger force  

in taking out the northern battery. At 12:50  a.m., Task Force Dammer consisting of Able and  

Baker Companies launch from HMS Royal Scotsman and  8 LCAs. Heavily inspired by the british commandos,  

the Ranger Battalion is organized so one company  can be carried in 2 British LCA landing craft.  

But Dammer Force is also reinforced with  HQ elements and naval gunfire liaisons.  

These craft reach the harbor at about 1:30  a.m. catching the French unaware. However,  

the moonless night disorients the pilots and they  enter the harbor incorrectly. They circle around,  

exit and re-enter multiple times, hitting  the jetties along the way. At some point  

the French became suspicious of all the activity  and lowered the boom that closed off the harbor.  

But the craft were eventually able to correct  themselves and land west of fort de la pointe.  

The assault on the fort will be handled  by Able Company, but first Baker Company  

must set up a blocking position to ensure the  French in the city can't reinforce the fort.  

Baker Company's 2nd Platoon under Lieutenant  James Larkin lands first and immediately  

establishes a defensive perimeter across  the rail line and street intersections.  

Meanwhile, 1st Platoon under Lieutenant  Dean Knudson set up a line north of the  

fort running from the eastern coastline through  a cemetery. With this move the fort is completely  

isolated. For the defensive effort Baker  Company has been reinforced with 6 M1919  

belt fed MGs from the battalion weapons pool. The  Rangers take after the British Commandos in having  

a weapons pool for tailoring their otherwise  barebones companies to specific missions.  

Baker's 60 millimeter mortars are also on  standby to support the fort assault if necessary.  

Meanwhile Able Company under Captain Steve Meade  follows up in short order passing through Baker's  

lines towards the fort. The whole landing process  is complete within 10 minutes. Able moves in two  

platoons with Lieutenant Jacob's 1st Platoon  heading for a grassy embankment on the fort's  

northwest corner and Lieutenant Dirks heading  for the front gate. As platoon scouts reach the  

fort they're challenged by a French sentry who  calls out, "Who are you?" The rangers answer,  

"We're your friends," earning safe passage to  the fort. As 2nd Platoon reaches the front gate,  

firing can be heard nearby as Frenchmen attempt  to flee. It's time to go. Second Platoon gives the  

signal to commence the assault, with Jacob's first  section leading the charge over the embankment.  

Moving in two squads first platoon breaks through  the barbed wire and scales the fort walls.  

While the alarm is raised, the dazed fort  garrison surrenders with Able securing a  

bag of 60 prisoners and both howitzers. To signal  their success, Major Dammer launches a red flare  

at 2:15 a.m. A U.S. Navy base unit under  Captain Walter Ansel supported by a Royal  

Navy port party and 12 U.S. Marines are already  at work seizing the crewed vessels in the harbor.  

Shortly after mission success, Dammer  starts sending out patrols to secure  

the oil refinery north of the fort. The  southern attack, wrapped up in 35 minutes,  

remains consistent with today's doctrine for  assaulting a strongpoint. Prior to mission start,  

Darby and Dammer indirectly reconnoitered the  objective via aerial photography and intelligence  

reports and developed the concept. Baker Company  effectively isolated the objective to prevent the  

enemy reinforcement or withdrawal. Able Company  then breached the fort's wire obstacles and  

exploited their foothold before the enemy could  react to clear the objective with no casualties.  

But with some Vichy troops in the city now aware  of the Rangers' presence, Baker Company begins  

taking fire from reinforcements reacting to the  fort siren. At this point Lieutenant Larkin and  

his runner Technician 5th Grade Murray Katzen  advance half a mile forward to scout out for  

snipers. Finding nothing Larkin returns  to the Platoon CP, but Katzen continues.  

With his Thompson and a spare BAR, he sweeps the  French barracks in the cities east. Encountering  

the French Katzen pulls the pin on a grenade and  with it held above his head forces the surrender  

of 42 Vichy marines. For this action he was  retroactively awarded the Bronze Star with a V  

for valor in 1952. Meanwhile Darby Force set off  from the HMS Ulster Monarch and Royal Ulsterman  

about 30 minutes after Dammer. The task force  includes Charlie, Dog, Easy and Fox Companies,  

plus HQ elements. Dog Company has been detailed as  a mortar battery with four 81 millimeter mortars  

for providing indirect fire support on objective.  However, Darby force's journey to shore encounters  

more problems than Dammer. First, one of his LCAs  is lowered into the water asymmetrically, flooding  

it and sending its passengers, radios and flares  for signaling mission success into the drink.  

The rescue effort and darkness causes a great  deal of confusion requiring the Ulster Monarch  

to guide the landing craft in itself. Before  reaching the beach, one of Fox Company's LCAs  

runs aground on the rocks 30 yards from shore,  leaving most of the platoon stranded. But the  

rest of the force makes it ashore behind schedule,  scaling the 15 foot cliffs overlooking the cove.  

After subduing a sentry, they set off on a  3-mile road march towards their objective.  

Following the coastal highway Darby's force  eventually cuts southwest making the slow trek up  

the height to the battery's rear. By this point,  Dammer has already captured Fort de la Pointe.  

As Darby approaches the objective he transitions  into an attack formation with scouts forward.  

Dog Company sets up their 81 millimeter  mortars at the base of a ravine  

500 yards north of the battery. At around 3 a.m.  the force runs into layered bands of barbed wire  

just short of the battery [14 ft tall]. Just  as they're about to break through the final  

layer the French artillerymen unleash a hail  of fire over darby's head. Unable to advance,  

Darby makes a call for fire from Dog Company.  A barrage of at least 50 mortar rounds follow.  

Deadly accurate they adequately suppress  the defenders for the final assault.  

Once taken, Darby silences the cannons by shoving  explosive bangalore torpedoes down their barrels.  

With their objective complete, Darby force moves  down the hill to take Fort du Nord. The breach  

is spearheaded by Easy Company's Edwin Dean who  charges in only to have the drum magazine fall  

from his Thompson. Luckily this is only met with  laughter from the French and the fort commandant  

surrenders in his pajamas. As the convalescence  home for sick and injured foreign legionnaires  

the fort falls with relatively little drama. With  all the 1st Rangers' objectives complete, Darby  

launches green flares at 4 a.m. to signal mission  success. However, this isn't what the navy was  

expecting. They were meant to launch red and green  flares followed by a white star cluster to signal  

the entire mission's completion. However they  lost their white star clusters during the sunken  

landing craft incident earlier in the morning.  With ship-to-shore communications lacking,  

the Royal Navy sent out a party at 5 a.m. to make  contact with Darby and confirm mission success.  

By then elements of the 1st Infantry Division  had already made it ashore. The 3rd Battalion  

of the 18th Regimental Combat Team moved on Arzew  from the south and encountered Vichy resistance at  

4 a.m. They readily captured a barracks taking 62  prisoners as well as the naval station at the base  

of the southern jetty after shelling it with 60  millimeter mortars. The 13 torpedo armed seaplanes  

in the harbor were also captured. By mid-morning  on the 8th the city of Arzew was mostly secure,  

save for some lone snipers and a 75 millimeter  howitzer in the hills that sporadically shelled  

the landing ships that had anchored close  offshore. After two days spent attached to the  

18th RCT containing French forces at Saint Cloud,  the Rangers returned to the city on November 10th.  

There they assumed rear echelon duties and  Colonel Darby was made the town's of mayor.  

Here they'd remain, training amphibious  assaults and urban operations until it was  

time to move out again in February 1943. This time  to Tunisia to conduct raids against the Italians.  

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Consider joining them at our Patreon link in the  description. And if you enjoyed this battle map  

video check out this report on the Battle of  Dompaire where French armored units supported  

by U.S. aviation destroyed a German Panzer  Brigade in one day. We'll see you over there!