B landed with the 47th Regimental Combat Team of the 9th Infantry Division at Safi, Morocco in order to secure the port. The port was needed to facilitate unloading the medium tanks of the 2nd Armored Division so they could advance on the primary objective at Casablanca. Meeting only light resistance, the company suffered no casualties and the port was secured by 1530. The company remained in place while a larger force built around the 3rd Infantry Division moved toward Casablanca. Shortly thereafter, Company B moved through Casablanca and rejoined Company C near Port Lyautey. Company C's objective, the all-weather airport at Port Lyautey, was to have been taken on 8 November. However, the company was put ashore at Mehdya Plage, three miles from the intended landing site. Due to this navigational error and the more spirited response from the French defenders than at the other landing sites, the airfield did not fall until 11 November. With their assault role completed, Company C reverted to routine duties near Port Lyautey. After Company B rejoined them, the two companies remained in the area through January 1943. When the tank companies deployed for North Africa, the battalion headquarters and other elements remained in Fort Bragg, North Carolina until 1 January 1943. The remainder of the battalion decamped for New York and boarded the SS Santa Rosa at Staten Island on 13 January. The Santa Rosa docked at Casablanca on 29 January 1943. With most of the battalion (still minus Company A) now reunited, the 70th Tank Battalion moved by rail from Casablanca to Tlemcen, Algeria on 4 February 1943. At Tlemcen, the battalion was made responsible for training Free French soldiers who later formed much of the cadre of the 2nd French Armored Division. It continued in this role until May 1943, when it was ordered to proceed to Arzew, Algeria. There Company A finally caught up with the rest of the battalion, and the unit was all together for the first time since September 1942. Sicily The 70th Tank Battalion was selected to support the 1st Infantry Division in the assault landings in Sicily for Operation Husky in July 1943. The battalion came ashore piecemeal starting on 10 July, with men and equipment offloading separately. Although the first men came ashore in the assault wave, their tanks did not arrive until D+4. They fought for the first time as a battalion