Naval Air Facility 214, Port Lyautey and Camp Takala, Morocco during World War Two

Photographs shown on this page were developed by Jerry Zimmerman as part of his tour at Port Lyautey in 1948 but were taken by earlier Army and Navy photographers at NAF Port Lyautey and Camp Takala, one of the encampments for the Army 3rd Infantry Division (3ID). The 3ID official history notes that the division saw its first combat of WW2 at 0445 hours on November 8, 1942. At that hour the first troops of the 7th and 30th Regiments began landing on the beaches north of Fedala, Morocco. By 0900 hours the 30th Regiment had captured Botterio du Pont Blondin, a battery of four 138mm guns located five miles north of Fedala, and was well on its way to securing the crossing of the Qued Nefifikh, a deep gorge which formed a natural defense line on our northeastern flank.

The 7th Regiment was met at the beach by a company of Senegalese riflemen, who promptly surrendered, and were sent back to their barracks in the northeast part of Fedala. The following day, the division began its advance southwest toward Casablanca, meeting little initial resistance. On the night of D plus two, 3ID troops consolidated positions and prepared for a coordinated attack on Casablanca. However, the French asked for an armistice the following morning (November 11), and at 0655 General Patton arrived at Third Division headquarters to call off the attack.

Between November and March, the division occupied bivouac areas in Casablanca, Fedala, Rabat, and Port Lyautey, while the 30th Regiment moved to eastern Morocco to provide security against a possible enemy attack through Spanish Morocco. In April of ’43, the division moved to Port-aux-Poules, near Arzew, Algeria, and began training for an amphibious operation into Tunisia. With the exception of a few photographs on the NAF Base, these photographs show the living conditions of the 3ID troops in the Port Lyautey area during the latter part of 1942 and early 1943.

Copies of these photographs may be obtained in a larger format by contacting Jerry at Jerdadzim@cs.com. Former shipmates of Jerry may also contact him at the same e-mail address.