John Culatto
GIBRALTAR marked 80 years since Operation Torch, when British and US forces retook North Africa from Nazi Germany, with a unique exhibition.
The Gibraltar National Archives helped set up the exhibition from its own material at Orange Bastion, next to the American War Memorial on Line Wall Road.
General Eisenhower, who later became US president, commanded Operation Torch from deep inside Rock tunnels.
The exhibition will now run until November 23.
Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Garcia, who opened the exhibition, said: “The strategic and military value of Gibraltar has been recognised for generations.
“The people of Gibraltar have always enjoyed a close bond with the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and also a special relationship with those of the United States of America.
“It is an enduring and deep bond which continues to this day.”
Garcia said the exhibition was a tribute to the nearly 500 people who died in Operation Torch.
He claimed the hugely successful invasion of Morocco and Algiers was part of Gibraltar’s history and heritage.
The minister thanked Anthony Pitaluga and his team at the archives ‘for their curation of a wonderful finished product’.
Operation Torch led to the defeat of Nazi-backed Vichy France in North Africa providing a launching platform for the invasion of Italy.
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