Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.

One of the Key Objectives of Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, was to split Axis forces and weaken their position on the Eastern front where they had invaded Russia
The areas targeted for invasion were held by Vichy French troops who were in effect collaborating with the Germans, The Vichy French were well equped both as an Army, with large numbers of troops, and as a Navy, in the port of Casablanca.
The Planned invasion was portrayed as an American Led operation Supported by Free French Troops, who had escaped capture when Germany invaded France. Secret Diplomatic meetings tried to establish if The Vichy French would actually resist such an invasion, as they would in effect be fighting their own countrymen. The fact that British troops would also be involved was kept from the Vichy as the British had recently attacked the French Naval base at Mers-el-Kébir.
The American Landings of 19,000 troops at Casablanca were initiated without a warning barrage, again in the hope that resistance would be half hearted, however an earlier attempted coup meant the Vichy High Commissioner had his troops on high alert so the landings were hampered by Vichy Naval Vessels, and sniper fire from the town, however the Navy was soon neutralised by Allied ships and the operation was concluded with relatively light casualties.
Similar operations were carried out along the coast at Oran and Algiers, for many of the American troops this was the first taste of combat.
The watches worn by the US army by this time would have been of American manufacture, this issue is probably representative of many similar 'pattern' watches made by companies such as Hamilton and Elgin





Case
Polished case, 34mm across, 37mm at the crown, 9mm deep, 40mm Lug to Lug, 16mm lug width
Case Interior, 29.7mm diameter, 7mm deep. 5mm crown, 29mm glass.
Dial
Black Dial with white printed 'rail-track' minute/second scale, Hours indicated by orange Arabic numbers
Polished Cathedral style minute and hour hands with orange infill, slim polished second hand
Strap
Green Nylon Strap 16mm wide at the lug, 16mm buckle, approx. fitting 170/215mm







The Nylon webbing strap on this issue has gone back to the horrible thick, rough, inflexible style that the early issues had. It’s also a terrible shade of green