On 8th November 1942, the Allies launched one of the largest co-ordinated land assault offensives of the entire war in order to take control of the North African coast in an attempt to lay the foundations for the invasion of Italy. This massive operation was codenamed "OPERATION TORCH". It was largely assumed that the Vichy French forces' opposition would be relatively minor given the growing ties with Charles de Gaule. Unlike some of the key targets that saw fierce fighting, Constantine saw little resistance following a coup d'état by French resistance fighters.
This map, labelled AFRICA (AIR), has a printing date of September 1942 and was clearly prepared for the coming assault in early November.
It measures 85cm x 60cm and has some very minor damage here and there from usage. Intriguingly, there are some pencil notes including "16.45 ETA 15.15" suggesting an operational context for an "estimated time of arrival" at a given target location on the coast.
I will be posting it as per its existing fold lines.
Please see my other OPERTION TORCH maps which I will be listing today, along with numerous others from a large collection I have just acquired.