Why did British and American planners disagree about where Operation Torch should land?

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Map showing the British and Axis military campaigns in North Africa during World War II, with labeled troop movements, key battles, and shifting front lines from Egypt across Libya to Tunisia along the Mediterranean coast. The map includes arrows and dates marking advances and retreats by both sides, and highlights major turning points and defensive lines. — North Africa campaigns Military drives, defensive lines, and key battles during the North Africa campaigns of World War II, 1940–43.

During the planning of Operation Torch, British and American strategists held conflicting views regarding the optimal landing sites for the invasion of North Africa.

The British advocated for landings directly on the Mediterranean coast, arguing that this position would facilitate a rapid advance into Tunisia. Conversely, U.S. chiefs of staff preferred to restrict the landings to the Casablanca area on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The American planners were concerned that Mediterranean landings would provoke significant opposition from Vichy French forces, potentially trigger a hostile reaction from Francisco Franco’s Spain, and invite a German counterstroke against Gibraltar.1

Ultimately, Dwight D. Eisenhower and his staff brokered a compromise. The final plan involved simultaneous landings both inside and outside the Mediterranean, extending as far east as Algiers, which balanced the British desire for a Mediterranean foothold with American security concerns regarding the Atlantic approach.1