Operation Torch: WW2’s first Paratrooper Missions Were On One-Way Flights With Drops Into Total Darkness

The December 7, 1941, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor thrust theUnited States into World War II. Just six months later in May 1942,flying new C-47 transport aircraft, the 60th Troop Carrier Group ledthe way as the first U.S. TCG to deploy to England and the EuropeanTheater of Operations in World War II. Leading the way to victory,the 60th TCG’s first mission—dropping U. S. paratroopers outside ofOran, North Africa—was not only the first combat airborne missionin U.S. Army history, but also the longest airborne mission of theentire war. This drop spearheaded Operation TORCH, also known asthe Invasion of North Africa, by taking key Axis airfields just inlandfrom the amphibious landing zones. The 60th TCG went on to fly some of the first combat aeromedical evacuation missions and the first combat mission towing CG-4A “Waco” gliders during Operation HUSKY—the Invasion of Sicily. As the new airborne, air land,aeromedical evacuation, and glider missions matured in World WarII, the 60th TCG continued to play a major role, paying in blood forvaluable lessons learned in the school of hard knocks. The group laterflew dramatic missions into Yugoslavia, supporting Partisans as partof the secret war in the Balkans, an episode of World War II historystill all but unknown today and dropped British paratroops in theairborne invasion of Greece. The Group was inactivated at the end ofthe war. Today’s guest is Col. Mark C. Vlahos, author of “Leading the Way to Victory: A History of the 60th Troop Carrier Group 1940-1945.” We look at the group’s battles, adversity, hardships, and triumphs from inception through the Allied victory in Europe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.