DESERT WAR PART NINE: THE

DATE: NOVEMBER 17 1942 – MAY 13 1943

As fighting ended in and Algeria at the conclusion of Operation Torch, the Eastern Task Force advanced eastward toward , organized as the British under Lt. General Kenneth Anderson. First Army was tasked with targeting the - area, the two important seaports in Tunisia. Far to the east was the British Eighth Army, commanded by Lt. General (later Field Marshal) , moving westward after its important victory at El Alamein. As the Allies had planned, General Field Marshal and his would be caught between the Allied armies advancing from the east and the west.

With the rapidly changing situation in North Africa, German and Italian forces moved into southern . German Army units reached Toulon on the Mediterranean coast on November 27. To counter the Allied advance into Tunisia, the German garrison there was massively reinforced and reorganized as 90th under the command of General Walther Nehring, the former commander of the Afrika Korps. The German buildup went unopposed by the French in Tunisia, whose government under General was in political chaos, leaving airfields and ports open to German use.

FIRST ARMY MOVES EAST INTO TUNISIA

By November 16 1942, First Army had advanced 400 miles from Algiers, and was inside Tunisia approaching Tunis from the west, only 50 miles further on. But an Allied attack on November 24 was repulsed and German counter offensives on November 27 and December 1 forced Anderson to withdraw.

On December 8, General Nehring was replaced by General Juergen von Arnim, recalled from Stalingrad and given command of , expanded by the recent reinforcements. Anderson ordered First Army into defensive positions, recognizing a stalemate. German air superiority in Tunisia was a major factor in their success. An unsuccessful attempt at an offensive between December 22-24 demonstrated that First Army could at best hold its defensive position while building up its forces.

During the last week of 1942 and the first six weeks of 1943, both the Allies and Germans conducted limited attacks, trying to improve positions in central Tunisia. German Fifth Panzer Army air and ground forces hammered away at First Army. Most of the were centered on the road-rail routes leading from eastern ports through mountain passes to the Algerian border on the west. In January 1943, the US II Corps began reinforcing First Army with additional troops, moving into southern Tunisia, adding to the British in the north and the French XIX Corps in the center.

After the fall of to British Eighth Army on January 23 1943, Rommel retreated hastily across to Tunisia, slowing Montgomery by bombing ports of entry, fighting rear-guard actions, and by mining roads. By February 6 all of Rommel's forces were in Tunisia and had linked up with von Arnim. Rommel took over the , a 22-mile long series of French colonial fortifications in southern Tunisia, where the Germans prepared a defense against the approaching British Eighth Army.

Montgomery and the British Eighth Army were delayed by lengthening supply lines while the inexperienced US II Corps did not attack the Germans when they had the opportunity. Taking advantage of the pause, Fifth Panzer Army and the Afrika Korps combined to launch a heavy armored assault against the inexperienced and unprepared US II Corps. Four days of fighting around Sidi Bou Zid and , from -17 cost II Corps 2,546 missing, 103 , 280 vehicles, 18 field guns, 3 antitank guns, and 1 antiaircraft battery lost.

KASSERINE PASS

The humiliating losses at Sidi Bou Zid and Sbeitla were not the final blow. US II Corps scrambled backward to establish a new defensive position, this time at Kasserine Pass, a two-mile wide gap in the Dorsal Chain of the . For Rommel, Kasserine Pass was the gateway to Algeria.

With a series of forceful attacks on February 19-20, the Germans massed armor and infantry against the ineffectively dispersed US II Corps, pushing the Americans back, seizing huge stocks of abandoned equipment, and breaking through the mountains at the Kasserine Pass into the valley beyond - a spectacular success. The Germans hardly paused as they ran over the American defenses. The disastrous series of February defeats was only ended by a shift in German priorities. With the British Eighth Army rapidly approaching from Libya, Rommel could not afford to continue west. The Desert Fox turned his force around, back to the east.

ALLIES SEIZE THE INTIATIVE IN TUNISIA

The disaster at Kasserine Pass confirmed to the Allied commanders that drastic changes were needed. Improvements in logistics, fresh troops, the new M-4 Sherman , and expanded air support increased the fighting power of Allied units. With the British Eighth Army now closing in on the southern flank, the British, French and US commands in Tunisia narrowed their battlefronts and shifted north. Finally, a decisive new commander was named for II Corps: Major General George S. Patton, Jr.

The Axis kept up the while the Allies regrouped. In the north, on February 26 von Arnim launched an offensive against the British in an effort to push his front west in order to give the Germans a larger secure zone around Tunis. The offensive failed after hard fighting. At the same time there was another thrust in the south, Rommel's last in Tunisia. On March 6, Rommel struck the British Eighth Army at Medenine soon after its arrival into Tunisia from Libya. The British blunted the attack with a new Panzer-stopping tactic: massed artillery and antitank fire combined with air strikes.

ALLIED OFFENSIVE

In mid-March the Allies went back on the offensive. Montgomery's Eighth Army hit the Axis’ southern flank around Mareth with a multi- division force, breaking the Mareth line on March 20. 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. While Montgomery rolled up the German southern flank, Patton's revitalized II Corps drove east into their flank, drawing enemy units from the south, thereby weakening the opposition to Montgomery's push.

APPROACHING BIZERTE

By mid-April Axis forces, increasingly hampered by growing Allied success interdicting their supply line from , had been pushed into a perimeter at the northeast corner of Tunisia. After much difficult fighting and slow progress in the last two weeks of April, on the morning of April 30 1943, Patton's II Corps began a general offensive that set in motion the collapse of the remaining German forces. As the British V Corps entered Tunis, the final American battle of the campaign began on May 6 when two American divisions enveloped Bizerte, pushing the Germans out of the city the next day.

As II Corps units pushed on to cut the Bizerte-Tunis road, they found surrendering enemy troops clogging the roads, impeding further advance. Rommel had already been flown out, too ill to continue the battle, but other Axis generals began surrendering on May 9, included in the total of over 275,000 prisoners rounded up that week. The six-month Tunisia Campaign ended on May 13 1943, when the last resistance ended.

The Germans were defeated in Tunisia, but the bickering among the French remained. In the victory parade in Tunis on May 20, Gaullist troops refused to march with those loyal to General Giraud.

THE AFTERMATH

Tunisia was the first time American soldiers confronted well-trained, battle-tested enemy units equipped with the most modern weapons and tactics. The result was painful: five months of almost continuous setbacks with unexpectedly high casualties. At the beginning of the Tunisian Campaign, the Army in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations had almost no experience. A few parts of four divisions had seen four days of combat with light casualties during Operation Torch. The remainder of the force was completely "green." By the time the Tunisian Campaign ended, the Army had five full divisions in the field, four with extensive experience against the best the Germans could hurl at them. Although the cost had been high, much had been learned about use of armor, combined arms operations, and managing the command of Allied forces from different nations.

The victory in Tunisia expelled Axis forces from North Africa, a major step toward victory in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. The cost included 70,000 Allied casualties - the US Army alone lost 2,715 dead, 8,978 wounded, and 6,528 missing. From this experience the Army gained thousands of seasoned officers and soldiers who formed the core of subsequent campaigns, starting two months and 150 miles away with Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily on July 10 1943.

M’44 SCENARIOS FOR THE TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN

Desert War Part Nine: The Tunisian Campaign includes 42 scenarios, including 2 Overlord (OL) and 2 Breakthrough (BT) maps. These scenarios chronicle the major engagements of the Tunisian Campaign, and include only the best available in the Scenarios from the Front (SFTF) files section on the DoW website, as well as 3 official scenarios by Richard Borg, Jacques “jdrommel” David and “kippryon”.

No campaign rules are included; not all M’44 players have access to the Campaign books. Instead, simply tally up the number of medals won in each scenario after playing both sides. This campaign is broken down into 4 smaller campaigns. Separate medal tally tables for each, as well as a final medal tally table are included below.

Scenarios include armies of various nations. Although optional, it is suggested that you use the unofficial Battle of Nations rules when playing the sides of these armies.

TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN PART ONE

1. NOV 17: Djebel Abiod 7. NOV 26: Chouigui Pass 2. NOV 18: Clash at Sidi Nsir 8. DEC 01: Tunisia 3. NOV 20: El Aroussa 9. DEC 01: Raid on Oudna Airfield 4. NOV 21: Sbeitla 10. DEC 14: Back to 5. NOV 22: Action at Gafsa 11. DEC 16: Night Patrol to Maknassy 6. NOV 24: Grenadier Hill

There are a total of 122 medals for the 11 standard scenarios.

SCENARIO (+ total medal count) P1…………. P2…………. 1. Djebel Abiod (12) 2. Clash at Sidi Nsir (10) 3. El Aroussa (12) 4. Sbeitla (10) 5. Action at Gafsa (10) 6. Grenadier Hill (12) 7. Chouigui Pass (10) 8. Tunisia (12) 9. Raid on Oudna Airfield (12) 10. Back to El Agheila (10) 11. Night Patrol to Maknassy (12) TOTAL MEDAL TALLY /122 /122

TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN PART TWO

1. DEC 17: Nofilia ** 7. JAN 18: Djebel Mansour 2. DEC 22: Longstop Hill – Action 1 8. FEB 14: Fruhlingswind – Sidi Bou Zid 3. DEC 24: Longstop Hill 1942 9. FEB 14: Kasserine Pass 1 4. DEC 25: Longstop Hill – Action 2 10. FEB 14: Battle of Kasserine Pass – Left BT ** 5. DEC 27: Oum El Abouab – Action 1 11. FEB 14: Battle of Kasserine Pass – Right BT ** 6. JAN 01 – JAN 08: The Fezzan Campaign ** Scenario notes:

1. Nofilia: all infantry units are New Zealand army. 2. Battle of Kasserine Pass Left/right BT: the Conditions of Victory should read 12 medals.

There are a total of 163 medals if all scenarios are played and 115 medals without the 2 Breakthrough maps.

SCENARIO (+ total medal count) P1…………. P2…………. 1. Nofilia (12) 2. Longstop Hill – Action 1 (14) 3. Longstop Hill 1942 (12) 4. Longstop Hill – Action 2 (14) 5. Oum El Abouab – Action 1 (12) 6. The Fezzan Campaign (12) 7. Djebel Mansour (12) 8. Fruhlingswind – Sidi Bou Zid (12) 9. Kasserine Pass (17) 10. Kasserine Pass – Left (BT) (24) 11. Kasserine Pass – Right (BT) (24) TOTAL MEDAL TALLY

TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN PART THREE

1. FEB 15: Kasserine Pass 2 7. MAR 10: Ksar Rhilane 2. FEB 19 – FEB 22: Kasserine Pass 3 8. MAR 16 – MAR 22: The Mareth Line OL 3. FEB 26: Kef Zilia 9. MAR 16: Breaking the Mareth Line 4. MAR 01 – MAY 07: The Mareth Line ** 10. MAR 19 – APR 06: Operation Pugilist 5. MAR 04: Battle of Sedjenane 11. MAR 23: El Guettar 6. MAR 06: The Battle of Medenine (South)

** Scenario notes:

1. The Mareth Line: if the Allied players wins by Sudden Death score the full 6 medals.

There are a total of 144 medals if all scenarios are played and 120 medals without the Overlord map.

SCENARIO (+ total medal count) P1…………. P2…………. 1. Kasserine Pass 2 (12) 2. Kasserine Pass 3 (12) 3. Kef Zilia (12) 4. The Mareth Line (12) 5. Battle of Sedjenane (12) 6. The Battle of Medenine (South) (12) 7. Ksar Rhilane (12) 8. The Mareth Line (OL) (24) 9. Breaking the Mareth Line (12) 10. Operation Pugilist (12) 11. El Guettar (12) TOTAL MEDAL TALLY

TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN PART FOUR

1. MAR 23: Battle of El Guettar 6. APR 20: Djebel Djaffa – Action 1 2. MAR 23: Breakthrough to El Guettar BT 7. APR 23: Longstop Hill – Action 3 3. APR 05 – APR 06: Wadi Akarit OL 8. APR 27: Hill 609 4. APR 06: Bypassing the Mareth Line 9. MAY 11: Takrouna – Action 2 5. APR 20: Takrouna – Action 1

There are a total of 124 medals if all scenarios are played and 100 medals without the Overlord map.

SCENARIO (+ total medal count) P1…………. P2…………. 1. Battle of El Guettar (10) 2. B/through to El Guettar (BT) (14) 3. Wadi Akarit (OL) (24) 4. Bypassing the Mareth Line (12) 5. Takrouna – Action 1 (12) 6. Djebel Djaffa – Action 1 (12) 7. Longstop Hill – Action 3 (16) 8. Hill 609 (12) 9. Takrouna – Action 2 (12) TOTAL MEDAL TALLY

TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN FINAL MEDAL TALLY

There are a grand total of 553 medals if all scenarios are played, 505 medals without the 2 Overlord maps and 443 medals if only the standard scenarios are played.

THE TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN P1…………. P2…………. 1. Part 1 2. Part 2 3. Part 3 4. Part 4 FINAL MEDAL TALLY

There are 3 additional scenarios for the Tunisian Campaign that you may wish to include in your campaign play:

1. Panzers in the Atlas: Disaster at Dieppe map pack 2. Sbeitla: Through Jungle & Desert map pack 3. St. Joseph’s Farm: Through Jungle & Desert map pack

This Campaign booklet marks the end of Desert War: The Entire .

Acknowledgments to the authors of the scenarios that make up this Desert War Part 9 campaign compilation:

Richard Borg Turboheizer OldBloodandGuts jdrommel nemesszili francaises_libres secret_strategem StridsvagnS T2Paradis LooneyLlama dutch0712 50th kippryon jaa1030

This Desert War Part 9 booklet was compiled by Semba