5 Pounds - Elizabeth II Operation Torch

Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa launched in November 1942, was the first large-scale American offensive operation of the war in the Atlantic theater — and a political minefield as much as a military one. Eisenhower had to negotiate the loyalties of Vichy French commanders in Algeria and Morocco simultaneously with the amphibious assault, buying their defection rather than simply fighting through them. Gibraltar served as the operational nerve center: Eisenhower commanded the entire invasion from the tunnels beneath the Rock.

The Gibraltar connection is what makes this issue something other than generic commemorative metal.