Stackpole Military Photo

In November 1942, eleven months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. launched Operation Torch, its first major offensive against the Germans. This photo chronicle covers the initial landings in Morocco and Algeria and the subsequent desert clashes in Tunisia as American forces under Eisenhower and Patton battled the German Afrika Korps of Erwin Rommel, the famous "Desert Fox." Jon Diamond has written extensively on military history topics. In addition to articles for World War II History and Military Heritage, he is also the author of Guadalcanal (978-0-8117-1626-0), New Guinea (978-0-8117-1556-0), Orde Wingate (978-1-84908-323-2), and Archibald Wavell (978-1-84908-737-7). A graduate of Cornell University, Diamond is a medical doctor in private practice and has taught at Harvard and Penn State. He lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The final year of World War II witnessed the decline of the piston-engine fighter and the beginning of the jet age. Taking to the skies were tried-and-true fighters, improved versions of old aircraft, and newly developed jets, including prototypes that flew for the first time just before the war ended.