Fires burned more than 338,000 hectares through the province â seven and a half times the normal area charred on average over 20 years. No homes or notable structures were destroyed, but the province more than quadrupled its firefighting budget, spending $266 million.
German armies deep in Russian territory. Thus, Operation TORCH was conceived and. approved. In addition to building an invasion force capable of traveling long distances to reach. objectives in North Africa, the Allies had to cope with political complications.
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor that December, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall called Eisenhower to Washington, D.C. to work as a planning officer. Beginning in November 1942, Eisenhower headed Operation Torch, the successful Allied invasion of North Africa.