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CMP FH2 Campaign #19: Mare Nostrum Battle #7: Djebel Tahent History "By 26 April the 1st Division had attained its initial objectives and controlled all the high ground south of a line from Hill 575 to Hill 347 (Djebel Sidi Meftah). However, the division now had a long flank on the left, exposed to enemy counterattack from strong positions on high ground. Corps Headquarters saw that any further progress eastward would increase the danger to this flank. The next moves, therefore, were coordinated blows by the 34th and 1st Divisions. The 34th was to attack into the hills east and west of Sidi Nsir, with Hill 609 (Djebel Tahent) as a key objective. Supported on its flank by this attack, the 1st Division was to carry on its offensive eastward and complete the opening of the Tine Valley. The ground facing the 34th Division was as hard to fight through as the area just won by the 1st Division. The German right flank was anchored on Djebel el Hara, west of Sidi Nsir and dominating the highway and railroad from Beja to Mateur. To the east, the enemy held Hills 435, 490, and 609. From these heights, as a result of the retirement forced by the 1st Division, the enemy line now ran slightly south of east to the eastern end of Djebel Sidi Meftah. The attack on the 34th Division was aimed at one of the strongest defensive areas in the German line. The enemy had held this ground for months and had used this time to organize a whole series of positions protecting the valley to Mateur and the road from Sidi Nsir to the Tine Valley. Outstanding in height, Hill 609 was the key fortress in this area, and its approaches were defended by supporting positions on hills almost as difficult. Two of the more important outlying defenses of Hill 609 were the ridge of Djebel el Hara and Hill 375. The key features of the ridges were two high points (407 and 473). Across a wadi to the northeast, Hill 375 was a supporting position. Our capture of these strongly fortified hills would compel the Germans to fall back east of Sidi Nsir. The enemy held on through 3 days of artillery fire and infantry attacks. On 25 April, the 175th Field Artillery Battalion and several battalions of Corps Artillery laid down a heavy fire on Djebel el Hara. The 1st and 3d Battalions of the 168th Regimental Combat Team then began their assault, but enemy machine-gun and mortar fire halted the advance after slight progress. On 25-26 April, the artillery fired numerous concentrations on Hills 407 and 473 to soften enemy positions. On 27 April, after renewed heavy shelling by the artillery, the infantry again attacked. The 2d Battalion moved up from the southeast and obtained a foothold on the southern slopes of Djebel el Hara. On the next day, while the 2d Battalion mopped up Hills 473 and 407, the 1st Battalion went on to capture Hill 375." --- --- ---

CMP FH2 Campaign #19: Mare Nostrum Battle #6: El Guettar History "The Axis army commanders had become aware of the U.S. movements and decided that the 10th Panzer Division should stop them. Rommel had departed Tunisia for Germany on 9 March before the battle, leaving von Arnim in control of the newly named Africa Korps. Von Arnim also held Rommel's opinion on the low quality of the American forces and felt that a spoiling attack would be enough to clear them from the Eastern Dorsals again. At 06:00 on 23 March, 50 tanks of Broich's 10th Panzer emerged from the pass into the El Guettar valley at 34°20′12″N 8°56′53″E. German motorised units in halftracks and motorcycle sidecars broke off from formation and charged the infantry on the top of the hill. The halftracks would move up the hill as far they could and then the infantry they carried would dismount while covered by fire from 88mms. The Germans were maneuvering to hit American artillery anchored on the hill. They quickly overran front-line infantry and artillery positions. Major General Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr.—commanding the U.S. 1st Infantry Division—was threatened when two tanks came near his headquarters, but he shrugged off suggestions of moving, "I will like hell pull out, and I'll shoot the first bastard who does." The German attack lost momentum when it ran into a minefield. When the Germans slowed to reorganise, U.S. artillery and anti-tank guns engaged, including 31 M10 tank destroyers which had recently arrived. Over the next hour, 30 of the 10th Panzer's tanks were destroyed, and by 09:00 they retreated from the valley. A second attempt was made at 16:45, after waiting for the infantry to form up. Once again the U.S. artillery was able to disrupt the attack, eventually breaking the charge and inflicting heavy losses. Realizing that further attacks were hopeless, the rest of the 10th Panzer Division dug in on hills to the east or retreated back to the German headquarters at Gabès." --- --- ---

CMP FH2 Campaign #19: Mare Nostrum Battle #5: Kasserine Pass History "Defending the pass was a force consisting of the U.S. 1st Battalion, 26th Regimental Combat Team, the U.S. 19th Combat Engineer Regiment, the 6th Field Artillery Battalion, a tank destroyer battalion and a battery of French artillery. On the hills to their west was French General Welvert's Task Force Welvert comprising a U.S. Ranger and infantry battalion, three French infantry battalions, two U.S. field artillery battalions, four French artillery batteries and engineer and anti-aircraft detachments. Furthest west was Task Force Bowen (consisting of the 3rd Battalion of the 26th Regimental Combat Team), blocking the track from Feriana towards Tebessa. Between Task Force Bowen and Tebessa to the north was the regrouping 1st Armored Division although only Combat Command B was fit for combat. The positions in the pass had been placed under Colonel Alexander Stark, commander of the 26th RCT, on the night of February 18 and the command named Stark Force. An attempt to surprise the Kasserine defenses by the 33rd Reconnaissance Unit into the pass failed and a battalion of Panzer grenadiers was ordered into the floor of the pass and another onto Djebel Semmama, the hill on its eastern flank and slow progress was made against artillery fire. The tanks of 1/8th Panzer Regiment were committed at noon but little further progress resulted against stubborn defense. Rommel decided to commit his units from the 10th Panzer to the Kasserine Pass the next morning in a coordinated attack with the Afrika Korps Assault Group, which was to be joined by elements of the Italian 131st Armored Division Centauro. British reinforcements from the 26th Armoured Brigade (6th Armoured Division) had been assembling at Thala and Brigadier Dunphie, making forward reconnaissance, decided to intervene. The First Army headquarters restricted him to sending Gore Force, a small combined-arms group of a company of infantry, a squadron of 11 tanks, an artillery battery and an anti-tank troop. Brigadier Cameron Nicholson (6th Armoured Division) was given command of Nickforce, all units north-west of the pass. During the night, the American positions on the two shoulders overlooking the pass were overrun and at 8:30 am German panzer grenadiers and Italian Bersaglieri resumed the attack. At 10:00am Dunphie judged that Stark Force was about to give way and ordered Gore Force to the Thala side of the pass as elements of the Centauro Division launched their attack towards Tebessa and continued it during the afternoon. On February 20th during the opening attack on key American positions of the town of Djebel, the 5th Bersaglieri Regiment made a frontal assault on U.S. positions that lasted most of the morning and finally carried the position, losing the regimental commander Colonel Bonfatti in the process. This action cracked open the allied defenses, opening the road to Thala and Tebessa. By midday the accompanying combined Axis armored units poured through the pass routing U.S. forces with the 1st U.S. armored division into one of the worst U.S. defeats of the Tunisian Campaign. The Italian regiment was complimented by General Bulowius, commander of the DAK assault group who sited their action as the instrumental event of the Axis victory. At 1:00 pm Rommel committed two battalions from 10th Panzer which overcame the defense. Tanks and Bersaglieri from the Centauro Division advanced along Highway 13 and overran the 19th Combat Engineer Regiment. The U.S. survivors made a disorganized retreat up the western exit from the pass to Djebel el Hamra, where Combat Command B of the 1st Armored Division was arriving. On the exit to Thala, Gore Force slowly leapfrogged back, losing all its tanks in the process, to rejoin the 26th Armoured Brigade some 10 miles (16 km) further back." --- --- ---

CMP FH2 Campaign #19: Mare Nostrum Battle #4: Majardah History "The Battle over Majardah river, also known as the Battle of Tebourba, a town on the east of the river, took place on the Tunisian Front after the successful Anglo-American landing on November 8, 1942; and represented the so-called "Race in Tunis" of the Allied troops trying to crush the last efforts of the Axis forces, abruptly sent by Hitler to Tunis and Bizerte. Main objective was to avoid the axis to regroup, form a new stable front and counterattack. However, after some first successful allied attacks, from 1 December, the German forces, reinforced by the arrival of efficient armored units, launched a successful counter-offensive with the Panzertruppen, much more experienced and equipped with the new modern panzer. They inflicted a serious defeat to the inexperienced Anglo-American forces, forcing them to retreat, stabilize a solid front on the Tunisian border and imposing a prolonged stop to the Allied advance. War on Africa wasn't over. " --- ---