The Beginning of the End.US in Torch - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Port Lyautey (actually Kenytra), 100 km N of Casablanca, French Morocco: [Best played vs. human opponent] This scenario depicts Operation GOALPOST, the northern sector of the US landings near Casablanca during Operation TORCH. The forces that landed in this area had three main objectives: to take the coastal village of Mehdia, the city of Port Lyautey 5 km inland, and the airfield located between the two. These objectives, once taken, were to become the primary logistics hubs for the US 1st Army. The Allies assigned GOALPOST to the 9th US Infantry Division, reinforced by the 66th Light Tank Regiment, the combined force under the command of General Truscott. The area was defended by Vichy French troops, but American officers were fervently hoping that they would embrace the Americans as brothers in a fight against a common enemy. The 9th Infantry Division would eventually earn its nickname of "Hitler's Nemesis", but it did not shine during the landing phase of GOALPOST. The landings of the 60th Infantry Regiment's three battalions were delayed, confused and spread over 15 kilometers. But once ashore, the green Americans gained ground quickly - that is, until bullets from determined French defenders stopped them in their tracks! This was the 9th's, and the US Army's, baptism of fire in World War Two.