Infantrey men in Training near Oran. Training centers for all arms were opened in French Morocco and Algeria soon after the end of hostilities there in November 1942.

Parachute Troops Checking Equipment before boarding planes for practice jump. These troops were essentially infantrymen and were armed with infantry weapons. Their boots, higher than the infantry shoes, were constructed to give ankles a maximum amount of protection when landing.

Paratroopers during Training Jump. Light artillery, food, and light vehicles were dropped separately with different colored parachutes, or came in by glider.

Douglas C-47 Transport Towing a Waco CJ4A Glider. The gliders carried both men and equipment and could be landed in almost any flat pasture. The C–47 aircraft the work horse of the war was similar to the commercial DC–3, a standard type passenger carrier in the United States for some years prior to the war. The C–47, unarmed, was used during the war for carrying personnel and cargo of all sorts, towing gliders, dropping parachute troops, and parachuting supplies to isolated units and equipment to partisans behind enemy lines. The British called it the Dakota

Glider Troops loading a 75-MM pack howitzer into a Waco cargo glider during training. Although this form of air transport was not used during the hostilities in northwest Africa, it was employed in subsequent operations based in North Africa

Testing a Waterproofed Sherman Tank on an African beach. These tanks were intended to go, during an assault, onto the beach with the infantry whenever possible. The main body of tanks would follow on LST’s as soon as the beachhead had been secured. The follow-up tanks, landed from the ship via ponton piers directly to shore, were not normally waterproofed. (Sherman tank M-4A1.)



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