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Memorandum for General Surles

November 23, 1942 [Washington, D.C.]

The following is a tentative draft of a proposed release to be made this morning, the Navy casualties to be OK’d by the Navy. Should they wish to delay, tell them you will omit their casualties and merely state that we have not that data.

“The War Department today released the following report of United States Army and Navy casualties resulting from the initial landings in the North African operation. General Eisenhower reports that it has not been possible as yet to secure a careful confirmation of this list.

United States Army—Killed350

Wounded900

Missing350(it is probable

that most of the

latter were drowned)

United States Navy—Killed10

Wounded 150

Missing 150

“The major Army losses were suffered in the capture of Oran and Casablanca and the fewest losses were suffered in the operations around Algiers.

“General Eisenhower in his last report states that the French in their cooperation with our movement into Tunisia suffered heavy casualties on November 19th.”¹

Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.

Document Format: Typed memorandum.

1. The New York Times cited these data the following day, along with a brief note that Radio Morocco had announced that the French had suffered 490 killed and 969 wounded between November 8 and 10. (New York Times, November 24, 1942, pp. 1, 5.)

Recommended Citation: ThePapers of George Catlett Marshall, ed.Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens(Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981- ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 3, “The Right Man for the Job,” December 7, 1941-May 31, 1943 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), p. 449.