The Allied Advance Into Northern Tunisia - May 1943

Major Lueder, commander of sPz.Abt. 501 (right), confers with his intelligence officer. The 501 was an independent Tiger unit.

The Allied forces in the north had reached Cape Serrat and taken it by 1 April. At Heidous, the Free French and Moroccan forces, coupled with elements of the U.S. 1st Armored Division, achieved a penetration in the sector of Manteuffel’s ad hoc division. Hasso von Manteuffel personally led his reserves in a successful effort to seal off the penetration.

On 7 April, the 78th Infantry Division attempted to take “Longstop Hill,” which was being held by the mountain troops of the 334. Infanterie-Division. The Germans were forced to pull back, step-by-step, but they were able to continue controlling the hill.

The fighting in the Tunisian Bridgehead approached the end. From 14 to 16 April, the newly arrived British 4th Infantry Division attacked Kampfgruppe Lang of the 334. Infanterie-Division, which was holding at Sidi Nsir.

During the night of 19/20 April, the 8th Army opened its offensive against the Enfidaville position. The city fell, and Montgomery shifted his attack’s main area to the coastal area, since he estimated that the Germanheld positions from Enfidaville to Zaghouan would cost too many casualties.

On 24 April, “Longstop Hill” finally fell to the 78th Infantry Division. That opened the gates to Tunis.

The final round of fighting started. Divisions from the Allied forces stormed from all sides. Nineteen large formations, including four armored divisions, were advancing on Tunis. The German formations, increasingly burned out, pulled back to Tunis and the Cape Bon Peninsula. Individual pockets of resistance held out until the beginning of May.

Oberst Irkens, in his role as Panzerführer Afrika, threw 70 tanks from all of the armored formations against the enemy. More than 1,000 tanks were rolling forward to break through to Tunis. When he finally disengaged from the enemy, he had 20 tanks left. His men had accounted for 90 of the Allies’ seemingly inexhaustible supply of armor.

During the night of 6/7 May, the remaining tanks of Heeresgruppe Afrika rolled back to the El Aila airfield, west of Tunis. There was a series of smaller engagements, until the last of the ammunition had been fired off and the fuel consumed. The remaining seven operational tanks were driven into a wadi.

The Allies continued their attacks on the morning of 7 May, with the artillery hammering into the ever-shrinking bridgehead. Allied airpower smashed pockets of resistance. They were able to do that without any aerial opposition, since the last Luftwaffe formations had left the continent.

At 1740 hours on that day, the first Allied formations entered Tunis, splitting the forces of Heeresgruppe Afrika into two. By the next morning, all of the city was in the hands of the English.

It was not until 9 May, however, that the Allies were able to break through east of Bizerta Lake and take Fort Farina. The last order of the 5. Panzer-Armee was issued at 1524 hours: “Destroy documents and equipment—Good-bye —Long live Germany!” The next day, the British 6th Armoured Division broke through at Hammanlif. It was followed by the Indian 4th Infantry Division, which then turned in the direction of Cape Bon. By the evening of 12 May, it had completely occupied that northernmost peninsula of Tunisia.

The divisions of the Germans’ “Middle Group” sent their last radio transmissions during the morning of 12 May to Heeresgruppe Afrika. The field-army group’s last command post was at Ste. Marie du Zit. General der Panzertruppe Cramer had been able to get there before the capitulation with the last two armored vehicles of the DAK. Around 1100 hours on that day, von Arnim sent a message to Rome indicating that his command post was surrounded on two sides. Immediately thereafter, he made a surrender offer to the Allies. It was General der Panzertruppe Cramer who sent the final message, however:

To: German Armed Forces High Command
Ammunition expended. Weapons and materiel destroyed. The Deutsches Afrika-Korps has fought to the point where it is no longer capable of fighting.”
Early on the morning of 13 May, General Alexander sent a message to the Prime Minister in London:
Sir, it is my duty to inform you that the Tunisian Campaign is over. All enemy resistance has ceased. All of Africa is ours!

The end in Africa was just as catastrophic as that in Stalingrad. In addition to 130,000 German personnel, some 180,000 Italian personnel were taken captive. What was even more serious: the fighting morale of the Italians had been broken. They had lost the fight for their colonial possessions and were then in fear for their homeland, since the writing was on the wall that the Allies would soon kick open the door to “Fortress Europe.”

In all, one hundred thousand soldiers of all nations lost their lives in the fighting for North Africa.