From the close of the Casablanca operation until their departure to Sicily, the 3rd Division was scattered throughout French Morocco and western Algeria. The main staging area preparing to invade Sicily, convoy after convoy of men and equipment arrived at Casablanca harbor in preparation of what was to come.
The famous ‘Truscott Trot’ was a marching pace of five miles per hour over the first mile, thence four miles per hour, much faster than the usual standard of 2.5 miles per hour. The 3rd Infantry Division was considered by many the best-trained, best-led division in the Seventh Army.
