On November 8–11, 1942, U.S. and Allied forces executed Operation Torch, the amphibious landings in French North Africa at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers — the first major American offensive operation of World War II in the European theater. The U.S. Navy provided the covering firepower and logistics. Off Casablanca, USS Massachusetts (BB-59) and the Western Naval Task Force engaged Vichy French warships including the unfinished battleship Jean Bart, silencing her main battery with 16-inch gunfire. The January 1943 Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin — the publication later renamed All Hands — covered the Navy's role in opening this crucial second front.
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