Tunisia was an
independent republic in North Africa until occupied by the French
Army in
1881. A strong nationalist movement under the leadership of Habib
Bourguiba, emerged in the 1930s. He was imprisoned by the
French authorities in 1934 and after Henri-Philippe
Petain signed
the armistice
with Nazi Germany in
June 1940 he was moved to German-occupied France.
On 8th November 1942, the
US Army,
under the command of General Dwight
D. Eisenhower, invaded Tunisia as part of Operation
Torch. Allied troops were only 80 miles from Tunis when the German
Army counter-attacked and won a victory at Medjez el Bab.
By 25th November 24,000 German troops occupied most of northern Tunisia.
Allied forces led by General
Kenneth Anderson got to within 12 miles
of Tunis before being attacked at Djedeida by General Walther
Nehring and the Deutsches
Afrika Korps. A further attempt by the Allies to
reach Tunis was halted by bad weather on 24th December, 1942.
General Jurgen
von Arnium now arrived to take control of the German forces
in Tunisia. In January 1943 he was joined by General Erwin
Rommel and his army in southern Tunisia. Rommel was in
retreat from Egypt and was being chased
by General Bernard
Montgomery and the 8th Army.
Montgomery now spent several
weeks in Tripoli building up his supplies. Arnium and Rommel decided
to take this opportunity to attack Allied forces led by General Kenneth
Anderson at Faid Pass (14th February) and Kasserine Pass (19th
February). The Deutsches
Afrika Korps then headed for Thala but were forced
to retreat after meeting a large Allied force on 22nd February, 1943.
General
Harold Alexander
was now sent to oversee Allied operations in Tunisia whereas General
Erwin Rommel
was placed in command of the German forces. On 6th March 1943, Rommel
attacked the Allies at Medenine. General Bernard
Montgomery and the 8th Army fought off the attack and the
Germans were forced to withdraw. Rommel now favoured a full retreat
but this was rejected by Adolf Hitler.
On 9th March, Rommel left
Tunisia on health grounds and was replaced by General Jurgen
von Arnium as commander of the Deutsches
Afrika Korps. Arnium now concentrated in defending
a 100 mile arc across north-east Tunisia.
By April 1943 the Allies
had over 300,000 men in Tunisia. This gave them a 6-to-1 advantage
in troops and a 15-to-1 superiority in tanks. The Allied blockade
of the Mediterranean also made it difficult for the German
Army to be supplied with adequate amounts of fuel, ammunition
and food.
The Allies now decided
to make another effort to take Tunis. General Omar
Bradley, who had replaced General George
Patton,
as commander of the 2nd Corps, joined General Bernard
Montgomery for the offensive. On 23rd April the 300,000
man force advanced along a 40 mile front. At the same time there was
a diversionary attack by the 8th Army at Enfidaville.
On 7th May 1943, British
forces took Tunis and the US Army captured
Bizerte. By 13th May all Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered and over
150,000 were taken prisoner.
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