Rommel's Last Battle in North Africa: Tunisia 1943 (4K WW2 Documentary)

In February 1943, Rommel’s panzers are again on the attack in North Africa.

This time he’s facing untested US troops in the mountains of Tunisia - but the

clock is ticking. As his veterans batter their way through the Kasserine Pass,

the British are steadily advancing behind him. The Desert Fox has a bold plan to defeat the

Allies in Tunisa for good. Little does he know, however, it will be his last battle

in the field - and will soon lead him to total defeat in what some later will call Tunisgrad.

By late 1942, Axis forces in North Africa are on the backfoot. After Rommel’s decisive defeat

at the Battle of El Alamein in November, British General Bernard Montgomery’s Eighth Army chases

the newly renamed German-Italian Panzer Army back across the Libyan desert. Shortly afterwards,

Anglo-American troops under General Dwight D. Eisenhower land in Morocco and Algeria as part

of Operation Torch. The goal for both the Axis and Allied armies is Tunisia – home to

the last major Axis ports of Bizerte and Tunis. For Rommel, the shorter supply lines in Tunisia

offer a chance to replenish his army and perhaps bring it closer to being an effective force. But

2,500 kilometres of non-stop retreat has unsettled the German high command. In Berlin, the general

staff make arrangements for his replacement, and continually ask Rommel to make much needed

sick leave. He refuses for the time being. Luckily for Rommel, Montgomery’s pursuit is

slow. By prioritising fuel deliveries for the best German units, most panzer divisions are

able to limp across the Tunisian border. Italian troops lacking vehicles are not

so lucky, and the British take many prisoner. On January 23, 1943 the British capture Tripoli,

while to the west, the British 1st Army, including the US II Corps and French XIX

Corps approach from the Tunisian-Algerian border. Meanwhile, the Italian navy and the Luftwaffe move

reinforcement into Tunisia, some via the massive Messerschmidt 323 transport planes. There they

join German General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim’s 5. Panzerarmee. Together with Rommel’s panzerarmee,

the Axis have 104,000 German and 74,000 Italian troops in or around Tunisia by late January 1943.

However, both panzer armies are underequipped and Rommel’s force has lost two-t hirds of its tanks

and halftracks and nearly all of its artillery in its retreat. However, around 800 Luftwaffe

aircraft can provide local air superiority. Tunisia promises a different kind of North

African combat than the open deserts of Libya. Here there are mountain ridges, narrow passes

and vast salt marshes, making manoeuvre and rapid advance difficult. Although cornered,

the Axis troops still pose a threat to the spread-out allies and prevent the

rapid capture of the ports in late 1942. So, allied troops set up positions along

the East Dorsale Mountains. Eisenhower requests permission to drive a wedge

between von Arnim and Rommel, but his British colleagues think the plan is too ambitious and

want to wait for Montgomery’s arrival. British officers also have reservations

about the inexperienced Americans. Many US officers have never seen combat,

and major manoeuvres in 1941 showed deficiencies in senior leadership, tactics and infantry

training. Although re-training corrected some issues, Eisenhower himself notes that some of

his officers are complacent. Rommel has already dismissed US troop as "Britain's Italians".

The Axis wants to strike the Allies in the West before Montgomery’s estimated arrival