Operation Reservist was an Allied military operation during World War II. Part of Operation Torch (the Allied invasion of North Africa), it was an attempted landing of troops directly into the harbour at Oran.[1]
The purpose of Operation Reservist was to capture the valuable facilities and ships at the Vichy French port of Oran before they could be destroyed. The landing of troops directly from ships was extremely risky; however it was hoped that either the French defenders would be taken entirely by surprise, or that they would actually co-operate with the landing forces. Two Banff class sloops, HMS Walney and HMS Hartland were used in landing the troops.
The landing ships in fact came under sustained fire from the defenders once they were inside the harbour boom including 4 shore batteries (from east to west - Mole Ravin Blanc, Mole Millerand, Mole J. Giraud and Mole Centre). There were 31 French ships in the port which did considerable damage to the ships in the British/American fleet. Casualties during Operation Reservist were higher than 90%. Of 393 Allied participants, 183 died and 157 were wounded. Included in the casualty list were 113 Royal Navy dead and 86 wounded as well as five US Navy dead and seven wounded.[2] Walney made it alongside the jetty and succeeded in landing a small number of men. The survivors were captured.
The defenders surrendered two days after the invasion, but the harbour facilities had been destroyed.
A similar operation was carried out at the same time surrounding the port of Oran codenamed Operation Villain, in Morocco at three different landing ports including Mehdia, Casablanca/Fedala and at Algiers, codenamed Operation Terminal.
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Frederick Thornton Peters
HMS Walney