Tunisia Campaign Background Axis Buildup The Run For Tunis

Most of the battles in North Africa took place far to the east of the Italian bases and supply depots in Libya. The early part of the desert war was marked primarily by a lack of supplies on both sides, and sweeping battles that ended when one side or the other's supply lines grew too long while the others grew shorter. By 1942 this situation had been addressed by the British; the Royal Navy had finally beat the Italian fleet out of the Mediterranean and allowed their own transports free movement, while the Axis failure to invade Malta allowed the Royal Air Force to interdict an increasing amount of Italian supplies at sea.

With the retreat after Bernard Montgomery's breakout in Egypt following the Second Battle of El Alamein in November 1942, and with his 8th Army no longer short of supplies as in early battles, it would only be a matter of time before the British arrived in Libya. Only days later, Operation TorchOperation Torch (from November 8, 1942) was the Anglo- American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign. The Soviet Union had been putting pressure on the United States and Britain to begin operations in Europe, a landed additional allied forces to the west, potentially trapping the Axis forces between the two allied groups in Libya's poor defensive terrain.

Much better defensive possibilities existed to the west in Tunisia. Most of Tunisia lies on the western edge of the Gulf of SidraThe Gulf of Sidra is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea of the northern coast of Libya. From time to time, Libya has asserted that the entire gulf is Libyan territory, though other countries hold to the international standard of a 12-mile limit from, the inland western border with AlgeriaAlgeria is a country in northern Africa with a coast on the Mediterranean Sea along the north and bordered by Tunisia in the northeast, Libya in the east, Niger in the southeast, Mali and Mauritania in the southwest, and Morocco in the west (the Moroccan being defined by the western line of the roughly triangular Atlas Mountains. The northern tip of the triangle lies on the Gulf, meaning that the northern coast of Tunisia is fairly "open". In the south, however, another chain of hills parallels the coast and the only approach is in the small plain between these Matmata Hills and the coast. The French had earlier constructed a 20km wide and 30km deep series of strong defensive works known as the Mareth Line along this plain, in order to defend against an Italian invasion from Libya.

Generally Tunisia offered an excellent and fairly easily defended base of operations. Defensive lines in the north could deal with the approaching Torch forces, while the Mareth Line made the south rather formidable. In between there were only a few easily defended passes though the Atlas Mountains.

Better yet Tunisia offered two major deepwater ports at TunisTunis is the capital of Tunisia. Population 674,100 ( 1994). Geography The city is located on the Lake of Tunis, and is connected to the Gulf of Tunis, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, by a canal terminating at the port of Halq al Wadi. Economy Products i and BizerteBizerte is a town as well as a state (governorate) in Tunisia. History Bizerte was the last town the French after Tunisia became independent due to its strategic location on the Mediterranean. Geography Bizerte is close to both Sardinia and Sicily. Econom, only a few hundred miles from Italian supply bases on SicilySicily Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. 1 million inhabitants. Towns and Cities Sicily's principal cities include the regional capital Palermo, together with t. Supplies could be run in at night, protecting them from the RAF's patrols, stay during the day, and the return again the next night. Libya was a full-day trip, making supply operations rather dangerous.

In Hitler's view, Tunisia could hold out for months, or years, upsetting Allied plans in Europe.

2 Axis buildup

After Torch, both the Allies and Axis started negotiations with the local Vichy commanders to "come over to their side". The Torch forces, known as the Eastern Task Force, had originally planned on following their landings with Commando and Airborne attacks into Tunisia. However the Algerian commander dithered, and the Allies entered a lengthly negotiation process with them. Throughout this period the Allied post-Torch operations were primarily concerned with moving forward massive amounts of supplies while Eisenhower negotiated. A quick run into Tunisia would have been possible had it been carried out immediately, but it wasn't, and Eisenhower would later write that the American operations violated every recognized principle of war.

Tunisian officials were undecided about who to support, but they did not close access to their airfields. As early as November 10th the Italian Air Force sent a flight of 28 fighters to Tunis. Two days later an airlift began that would bring in over 15,000 men and 581 tons of supplies, backed up with transport ships that added 176 tanks, 131 artillery pieces, 1,152 vehicles, and 13,000 tons of supplies. By the end of the month they had shipped in three German divisions, including the 10th Panzer Division, and two Italian infantry divisions. On November 12th, Walther Nehring was assigned command of the newly formed XC Corps, and flew in on November 17th.

Eventually, on November 22nd, the North African Agreement placed the Vichy on the allied side. By this time the Axis had been able to build up an entire Corps.

3 The Run for Tunis

By the time the Eastern Task Force was ready to move the German forces outnumbered their Allied counterparts in almost all ways. The two forces met for the first time at Djebel Abiod on the 17th, the same day Nehring arrived. He ordered a spoiling retreat; the Eastern Task Force reached Sidi Nsir on the 18th, Medjez el Bab on 19th-20th, and near el Aroussa on the 23rd. When the Vichy came over to the Allied side on the 22nd, all available reinforcements were sent forward from their "guarding" positions in the rear.

The first true Allied offensive started on November 25th. Their plan was to break through the Axis lines, then separate and take Bizerte and Tunis in two separate columns. Once Bizerte was taken Torch would come to an end. The first encounters happened that day, and again Nehring ordered spoiling attacks, and withdrew from Medjez el Bab that night. The next morning the Luftwaffe took over, happy to have local air superiority as the Allied planes set up at new bases in Algeria, and caused serious havoc among the columns moving westward over the next two days.

Nevertheless, the Eastern Task Force moved steadily east following the retreating Axis forces, while Nehring and his XC Corps set up a new defensive line at Djedeida. The Allied forces, Major General Vivian Evelegh's 78th Division, met them on November 28th, and were sent reeling back with 30 men killed, and 86 prisoners of war. A second attempt was made with the help of armor, and they quickly lost five tanks to anti-tank guns positioned within the town.

On December 1st the Axis forces mounted a counterattack. Over the next four days they managed to push the Allies back to their starting points. Finally on the 10th, Allied units held a defensive line just east of Medjez el Bab. The string of defeats in December cost them dearly: over 1,000 missing (prisoners of war), and 73 tanks, 432 other vehicles, and 70 artillery pieces lost.

The Allies started a buildup for another attack, and were ready by late December. The continued but slow buildup had brought Allied force levels up to a total of 20,000 British, 11,800 American, and 7,000 French troops. A hasty intelligence review showed about 25,000 combat and 10,000 service troops, mostly German, in front of them.

On the night of December 16-17, a company of the US 1st Infantry Division made a successful raid on Maknassy, 155 miles south of Tunis, and took twenty-one Italian prisoners. The main attack began the afternoon of December 22nd, despite rain and insufficient air cover, units of the 1st and the British Coldstream Guards made progress up the lower ridges of the 900-foot Longstop Hill that controlled a river corridor to Tunis. But two days later a German counterattack stopped the advance, and by the 26th the Allies had withdrawn with 534 casualties to the line they had set out from two weeks earlier.

The run for Tunis had been stopped.

4 Stalemate

While the battles wound down, factionalism within the French forces again erupted. On 24 December Darlan was assassinated for his collaboration with the Nazis, and Henri Giraud was selected as replacement. Charles de Gaulle was somewhat upset that he was not chosen. Nevertheless, he had hated Darlan and was happy to see him go.

Things were similarily upsetting for the Germans. Nehring, considered by most to be an excellent commander, had continually infuriated his commanders with his outspoken critiques. Over the winter they decided to "replace" him by upgrading the forces to full strength under General Juergen von Arnim 's Fifth Panzer Army. The Army consisting of the composite heavy infantry unit Division von Broich (later Division von Manteuffel) in the Bizerte area, the 10th Panzer Division in the center before Tunis, and the Italian Superga Division on the southern flank. From mid-November through January, 112,000 men and 101,000 tons of supplies and equipment arrived in Tunisia, something that the Allies found terribly frustrating given their overwhelming naval superiority.

Eisenhower, meanwhile, transferred remaining units from Morocco and Algeria eastward into Tunisia. In the north, Anderson's Eastern Task Force was upgraded to the five-division British First Army, with three more divisions soon joining the 6th Armoured and 78th Infantry Divisions already in Tunisia. In the south, the basis of a two-division French corps was being built. In the center was a new US II Corps, to be commanded by Lloyd R. Fredendall, eventually consisting of the majority of of six divisions: the 1st, 3rd, 9th, and 34th Infantry and the 1st and 2nd Armored.

The US also started to build up a complex of logistics bases in Algeria and Tunisia, with the eventual goal of forming a large forward base at Maknassy, on the eastern edge of the Atlas Mountains, in excellent position to cut off Rommel's forces approaching from the south.

5 Rommel vs. the US

Rommel, meanwhile, had made plans to retreat to the Mareth Line as soon as the 8th Army finally caught up. This would leave the Axis forces in control of the two natural entrances into Tunisia in the north and south, with only the easily defended mountain passes between them. On January 23, 1943 the 8th Army took Tripoli, and Rommel was already well on his way west.

By this point elements of the US forces had crossed into Tunisa through passes in the Atlas Mountains from Algeria, controlling the interior of the triangle formed by the mountains. Their position had the potential of cutting the DAK off from von Antrim's forces to the north. Rommel could not let this stand, and formed a plan to attack these forces before they could form much of a threat.

On January 30th, the German 21st Panzer met elements of the French forces near Faïd, the main pass from the eastern arm of the mountains into the coastal plains. They rolled over them, surrounding two US battalions near them that had been positioned too far apart for mutual support. Several counterattacks were organized, including several by the US 1st Armored Division, but all of these were beaten off with ease. After three days the US gave up, and the lines were withdrawn into the interior plains and made a new forward defensive line at the small town of Sbeitla.

The Germans started forward once again the next week to take Sbeitla. The US forces held for two days, but eventually the defense started to collapse on the night of 16 February, and the town lay empty by midday on the 17th. This left the entirety of the interior plains in German hands, and the remaining Allied forces retreated further, back to the two passes on the western arm of the mountains into Algeria, Sbiba and Kasserine. At this point there was some argument in the German camp about what to do next, all of Tunisia was under Axis control, and there was little to do until the 8th Army caught up. Their offensive slowed even as the US forces retreated in disarray.

With this poor show of defense, Rommel eventually decided to simply take the US supplies on the Algerian side of the western arm of the mountains. On February 19th, he launched what would become the Battle of the Kasserine Pass. After two days of rolling over the defenders, the Afrika Korp had suffered few casualies, while the US forces lost 6000 men and 2/3rds of their tanks. On the night of the 21st British troops pulled from the lines facing the Germans in Sbiba arrived to bolster the defense, but the next day opened with much the same results until the arrival of four US artillery battalions evened the odds.

Faced with stiffening defenses and the alarming news that the 8th Army lead elements had reached Medenine, only a few kilometers from the Mareth Line, Rommel decided to call off the attack and return to the lines on the night of the 22nd, hoping that the attack had caused enough damage to upset any actions from the north over the next little while. His forces reached the western end of the line on the 25th, but the British had been on the eastern end since the 17th and launched probes westward on the 26th. On 6 March the majority of Rommel's forces, three German armored divisions, two light divisions, and elements of three Italian divisions, launched a attack southward in the direction of Medenine, the northernmost British strong point. British artillery fire was intense, beating off the attack and knocking out 55 their remaining 150 Axis tanks.

Actions then settled for a time, and both sides studied the results of recent battles. Rommel remained convinced that the US forces posed little threat, while the British were his equal. He held this opinion for far too long, and it would prove very costly in the future. The US likewise studied the battle, and decided a complete overhaul of their forces was required. Tanks were upgraded to the Sherman as soon as they arrived, new communications rules were installed to allow artillery batteries to combine fire across commands, and command was passed, briefly, to the British while these changes were carried out. On 6 March command returned to the US with the arrival of George Patton.

6 Montgomery breaks the Line

Montgomery launched his major attack, Operation Pugilist , against the Mareth Line in the night of 19th/20th March 1943. Elements of the British 50th Division penetrated the Line and established a bridgehead west of Zarat on 20th/21st March, but a determined counterattack by 15 Panzerdivision destroyed the pocket and established the line once again during 22 March.

On 26 March, General Horrock's X Corps drove around the Matmata Hills, crossing the Tebaga Valley and capturing the town of El Hamma at the northern extreme of the line. This flanking movement made most of the Mareth Line untenable. The following day, German and Italian units managed to stop Horrock's advance with well-placed anti-tank guns, in an attempt to gain time for a strategic withdrawal. Within 48 hours the defenders of the Mareth Line marched 60 kilometers northwest and established new defensive positions at Wadi Akarit near Gabes.

With the best defensive works now in British hands, and no sign that the 8th Army was slowing down, Rommel returned to Germany to attempt to convince Hitler to abandon Tunisia and return the DAK to Europe. Hitler refused, and Rommel was placed on sick leave.

7 Gabes

By this point the newly reorganized US II Corp had started out of the passes again, and were in position to the rear of the German lines. The 10th Panzer was tasked with pushing them back into the interior, and the two forces met at El Guettar on 23 March. At first the battle went much as it had before, with the German tanks rolling up lead units of the US forces. However they soon ran into a US minefield, and immediately the US artillery and anti-tank units opened up on them. The 10th lost 30 tanks over a short period, and retreated out of the minefield. A second attack formed up in the late afternoon, this time supported by infantry, but this attack was also beaten off and the 10th returned to Gabes.

The US was unable to take advantage of the German failure however, and spent several frustrating weeks attempting to push Italian infantry off two strategic hills on the road to Gabes. Repeated major attempts would make progess, only to be pushed back by small units of the 10th or 21st Panzer who would drive up the road from Gabes in an hour or so. Better air support would have made this "mobile defense" difficult, but coordination between air and ground forces remained a serious problem for the Allies.

Both the 8th Army and the US II Corps continued their attacks over the next week, and eventually the 8th broke the lines and the DAK was forced to adbandon Gabes and retreat to join the other Axis forces far to the north. The hills in front of the US forces were adbandonded, allowing them to join the British forces in Gabes later that day. From this point on the battle was one of attrition.

8 Endgame

The final drive to clear Tunisia began on April 19th. By this time the German-Italian forces had been pushed into a defensive line on the north-east coast of Tunis, attempting to protect their supply lines, but with little hope of continuing the battle for long. The Allied forces had re-formed, placing the US II Corps at the north, the British First Army in the center, and the 8th Army on south-east.

With the Allies still preparing their next move, the Germans tested the British center in a attack by the Hermann Goering Division the night of 20-21 April. Though they penetrated up to five miles at some points, they could not force a general withdrawal, and eventually returned to their lines. On the 22nd the British 46th Division struck back at the Hermann Goering Division, losses were high on both sides but the British inched ahead. The next day the entire Allied front attacked, and within three days the Axis lines collapsed.

On May 7th British armor entered Tunis, and American infantry entered Bizerte. Six days later the last Axis resistance in Africa ended with the surrender of over 275,000 prisoners of war, many of them newly arrived from Sicily and more needed there. The Axis's desperate gamble had only slowed the inevitable by perhaps a season, and the US loss at Kasserine may have been the best thing that could have happened to them.

With North Africa now in Allied hands, plans quickly turned to the invasion of Sicily, and Italy after it.

9 External links

U.S. army document on Tunisia

North African Campaign

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1 Background