Tunisian Campaign

The Tunisian Campaign consisted of a series of battles that took place between November 1942 and May 1943. The Axis forces, often called the German-Italian Panzer Armee, consisted of German and Italian units and were led by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and General Giovanni Messe. In November, Operation Torch brought in 125,000 American and British forces from the 1st Army (under General Kenneth Anderson) in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and joined the attack, with the aim of capturing Tunis and Bizerte before the Germans and Italians could send reinforcements into Tunisia. The Allies consisted of American forces led by Generals Lloyd Fredendal and General George Patton, and British, New Zealand and Free French forces led by General (later Field Marshal) Bernard Montgomery.

Initially, the Axis forces under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel succeeded in defeating the Allies quickly in the Tunisian Campaign, driving Allied forces back 50 miles through the Kasserine Pass and capturing 4,000 Allied soldiersin the attack lead by the Italian Littorio Armoured Division.

With the 9th and 12th Air Forces in the battle, the Allies drove the Germans and Italians back into a pocket around Bizerte and Tunis, where the 5th Panzer Armee surrendered on 9 May.

By 11 May the German forces in the northern pocket had been completely mopped up, while the divisions of the Allied 1st Army then turned to assist in the encirclement of the 1st Italian Army, which they achieved between 11-13 May.

On 13 May, over 250,000 Axis prisoners were in Allied custody, thus bringing and end to the Tunisian Campaign. Thus Tunisia became available for launching Operation Husky, an Allied invasion on Sicily as a preliminary to an assault on mainland Italy.

Maknassy Pass

On 30 January, the Centauro Armoured Division and German units from from the two German panzer divisions, attacked through Maknassy Pass. The Axis attack came as a complete surprise to the U.S. 2nd Army Corps. The U.S. 1st Armored Division, which had established itself in the saddle of the Faid Pass, was overrun. Gafsa was also abandoned.

On 31 January, the U.S. 34th Division and part of the U.S. 1st Armored Division advanced toward Sened Station. The operation was intended to take them as far as Maknassy, but German and Italian tanks, supported by anti-tanki guns, stopped the Americans on 2 February.

Kasseerine Pass

n February 19th, Rommel attacked the U.S. 2nd Army Corps defending Kassarine Pass. The plan was for the German-Italian Panzer Armee to get to Tebessa and Thala. Rommel sent the 5th Bersaglieri Regiment Battalion into the pass to fight Colonel Anderson Moore's 19th Combat Engineer Regiment defending the pass. The Germans were not able to advance through the Sbiba Pass but did manage to exploit Italian success through Kassarine Pass. German battlegroups tried to press on to Thala and Tebessa but were stopped in fierce fighting. Rommel was satisfied that he had managed to cause a significant amount of damage and casualties to the Allied forces, so he decided to withdraw his troops back to their startlines, covered by Bersaglieri. The damage done to the Allies was disastrous, but this was not a complete Axis victory for the Germans were unable to reach Thala and Tebessa.

After the battle, Genral Dwight Eisenhower would send Fredendall back to the United States for a training command. His replacement, General George Patton, would confirm that there was nothing wrong with combat morale in the U.S. 2nd Army Corps that good leadership couldn't fix.

Mareth Line

On 3 March, the 10th Bersaglieri Regiment supported by 30 tanks counterattacked the British, but lost hundreds killed to machine-gun fire.

In mid-March the Allies went back on the offensive. Montgomery's 8th Army hit the Axis southern flank around Mareth with several divisions, breaking the Mareth line on 20 March. In a month-long series of battles, the British, hampered by heavy rains, pushed Axis units over 150 miles north to within 47 miles of Tunis.

El Guettar

While the 8th Army rolled up the German southern flank, Patton's revitalized 2nd Corps drove east into their flank, drawing Axis reinforcments from the south, thereby weakening the opposition to Montgomery's push.

On 28 March, the Free French Forces finally seized El Hamma Ridge and the Axis forces were forced to abandon Gabès. The Raggruppamento Sahariano (under General Alberto Mannerini) had fought stubbornly for several days.

Enfidaville

During the last week of April, the General von Arnim delivered his counter-attacks with the greatest ferocity, but they were met with equally fierce resistance and succeeded only in recovering a little lost ground, though this included the recapture of the important key point of Bou Aoukas. By May 2, both sides had fought themselves to exhaustion; but whereas Von Arnim had expended his reserves, General Alexander had still strong forces in hand, including those of the 8th Army which was still uncommitted to a major attack.

Tunis

The 1st Army's drive towards Tebourba was heavily contested, with several counter-attacks. The Allied attackers, however made good progress, taking Longstop Hill, Jebel Bou Aoukas, threatening to to encircle Pont du Fahs. The attacks convince Von Arnim that the Allied main effort would be made in the south and that he had little to fear from the 8th Army.

The final British offensive began on 5 May with the 5th Corps gaining the hills which dominated the Tunis plain and the 9th Corps advancing on the morning of 6 May. The village of Massicault, which had been prepared for hedgehog defence, fell without resistance. By the afternoon their infantry had gained their objective, and the British 6th and 7th Armoured Divisions, swept forward and entered Tunis on 7 May. On the same day the American 2nd Corps and Free French Corps d'Afrique took Bizerta.

As the U.S. 2nd Corps units pushed on to cut the Bizerte-Tunis road, they found surrendering Axis units clogging the roads, impeding further advance. Several German commanders had already been flown out, and entire German divisions began surrendering on 9 May, including 30,000 German POWs that surrendered to a British armoured car squadron.

The British 50th Black Cat Division and 1st Free French Division took several of the Italian-held peaks in the reqion of Takrouna during the period 6 May 6 to 13 May, 1943, but with severe losses.

Casualties

Allied casualties during the Tunisian Campaign were around 76,020, with U.S. Army casualties of 18,221, including 2,715 dead, 8,978 wounded and 6,528 captured or missing. British Commonwealth losses amounted to 38,360 men, with 6,233 killed, 21,528 wounded and 10,599 captured or missing. French casualties totaled 19,439 with 2,150 killed, 10,276 wounded and 7,007 captured or missing.

Notes

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