Tunisia is located in the northernmost country in Africa and is 64,000 square miles in area and proved to be easy to defend by the Germans and Italians in the North African Campaign as part of their Axis powers attempt to take over all of North Africa. The Axis powers, often called the Axis alliance, consisted of Germany, Italy and Japan. The Allies consisted of American, British, Polish, Greek, French and New Zealand forces. Gen. George Patton took over command of the U.S. II Corps on March 6, 1943. Army divisions that fought in Tunisia consisted of 1st, 3rd, 9th, 34th and 1st Armored division. British Field Marshal Montgomery led his troops into the battle from the south. The battle would last from Nov. 17, 1942 until May 13, 1943 and became known as one of the greatest tank battles in World War II. Tunisia was the scene of the first major operations by the Allied Forces against the Axis powers during World War II. It is often forgotten because of the battle of Stalingrad.

Initially, the German and Italian troops succeeded in defeating the Allies quickly at Tunisia, driving Allied Forces back 50 miles through the Kasserine Pass and destroying 100 U.S. tanks in the attack led by German field marshal Erwin Rommel, known as the Desert Fox. During the push back, the Germans seized massive amounts of Allied abandoned equipment. Rommel’s troops were badly defeated by the British Eighth Army at Tripoli, so he moved to Tunisia to join up with German General von Arnim. While the British were reworking their supply lines, U.S. II Corps failed to attack the Germans when they had a chance, and the Germans launched a heavy armored assault, destroying 1-3 tanks, 208 vehicles, 18 field guns, 3 antitank guns, one antiaircraft battery and 2,546 troops missing.

Massive amounts of supplies finally reached the Allies and the tide quickly turned around. Rommel’s 160 tanks now faced more than 400 British tanks and 500 British antitank guns that caused heavy losses on Rommel but not before Rommel took out most of the Allies’ Valentine tanks. The failure of the Allies to defeat Rommel caused the Allies to rethink their strategic plan of attack. The new M-4 Sherman tank was brought in, along with expanded air support and strengthened troop movement into the region. In March 1943, the Allies were back on the offensive. Montgomery and Patton hit the south and east flanks, pushing the Axis forces into the northeast corner. It proved to be too much for the Axis as enemy troops were surrendering in masses. On May 9, over 275,000 prisoners were in Allied custody, thus bringing an end to the Battle of Tunisia.

Allied casualties were around 76,020 as the U.S. Army casualties of 18,221 included 2,715 dead, 8,978 wounded and 6,528 missing. British losses amounted to 38,360 men, with 6,233 killed, 21,528 wounded and 10,599 missing. French casualties totaled 19,439, with 2,150 killed, 10,276 wounded and 7,007 missing. Allies had 849 aircraft destroyed also. The Axis forces had 300,000 casualties, mostly captured after surrendering, 1,045 aircraft were destroyed and 600 aircraft captured.

The Battle of Tunisia played a big part in the North Africa Campaign. The Axis knew if they controlled the Suez Canal, they would also control access to oil coming from the Middle East and raw materials coming from Asia.  Since oil was becoming important to the war efforts, Britain, being the first to use a mechanized army, needed to keep control of the Suez Canal. Hitler’s plan of world dominance was falling apart piece by piece and Tunisia was only the beginning. Thanks to all the brave soldiers of Allied forces, Hitler finally did the world a favor by committing suicide on April 30, 1945 with a cyanide capsule.

Rodney Cress is a Vietnam veteran and longtime advocate on veterans issues.