Mediterranean and North Africa · Germany and Italy vs United States, Britain and France
Battle of Kasserine Pass
14 February 1943 – 25 February 1943
Rommel and von Arnim struck the inexperienced US II Corps in central Tunisia, driving it back more than fifty miles through the Kasserine Pass. The attack ran out of momentum against Allied reserves, but the defeat cost Fredendall his command and led to Patton's appointment.
Explore Battle of Kasserine Pass on the interactive map · Wikipedia
Day by day
— Sidi Bou Zid
Two panzer divisions come through the Faid pass and round the south at first light in a sandstorm. The American armour is parcelled out in penny packets along the Eastern Dorsale and loses 44 tanks in the day; two infantry battalions are left stranded on Djebel Lessouda and Djebel Ksaira and are largely taken. Fredendall's corps headquarters is 130 kilometres back at Tebessa, in a ravine being blasted out by engineers.
— Sbeitla
A counter-attack on the 15th by Combat Command C is made straight across open ground into the anti-tank guns and loses 46 of its 52 tanks in an afternoon. Sbeitla is given up on the 17th, and with it Feriana, Gafsa and the airfields at Thelepte, whose stores are burned and whose aircraft fly out. In three days II Corps has lost 2,500 men, 100 tanks and most of its forward supplies.
— The pass forced
Rommel wants Tebessa and the supply dumps behind it. The Kasserine pass is held by a scratch force of engineers and infantry with no mines laid and no clear commander; German and Italian infantry work along the heights on both sides and the pass is open by the afternoon of the 20th. Beyond it the road forks, one way to Tebessa and one to Thala, and Rommel takes both.
— Thala
The 10th Panzer gets to within three kilometres of Thala on the evening of the 21st, driving a captured Valentine at the head of the column, and the 26th Armoured Brigade and the Leicesters hold the ridge overnight with a dozen tanks. Three battalions of American artillery arrive at dawn after a 1,300-kilometre march from Oran and fire all day. Rommel, with no reserves and Montgomery closing on Mareth behind him, breaks off on the afternoon of the 22nd.
— The pass retaken
The Germans pull back through the pass on the night of the 23rd, mining the road behind them, and Allied patrols find it empty on the 25th. The Americans have lost about 6,000 men and 183 tanks in eleven days and are back where they started. Fredendall is sent home in March and Patton takes the corps.
