The Mareth Line 1943

The end in Africa

The Mareth Line 1943 cover

Description

The battle of El Alamein in World War II saw the shattering of Germany's hopes for victory in North Africa. From this point on the end was inevitable, as Rommel's forces began the long retreat that was to end in Tunisia in May 1943 when, hemmed in by British and American forces on all sides, over 250,000 Axis soldiers filed into prisoner of war camps, a number comparable to those captured at Stalingrad.

In the six months that passed between Alamein and the final surrender there was much hard fighting, as the defeated German and Italian Panzer Army sought to hold off the encroaching Eighth Army in a series of defensive positions across the Western Desert. Rommel, his health suffering from the strains of command, fought a number of major actions during this campaign - at El Agheila, Mersa el Brega, Buerat and Medenine - before his forces settled into the pre-war French defensive position the Mareth Line. All the way he was pursued by an increasingly confident Eighth Army under the command of General Montgomery, but never was Montgomery able to outflank the retreating German and Italian forces decisively, and Rommel was even able to divert forces to inflict a sharp defeat on the newly arrived US forces at Kasserine Pass in February 1943. This was one of Rommel's last acts in the Desert War as his health problems forced his return to Germany shortly afterwards. The stage was now set for the last great battle of the Desert War as the veteran formations of the British Eighth Army took on their foes in the Afrikakorps for one last time in the major set-piece battle for the Mareth Line.

Table of Contents

Origins of the campaign

Chronology
Opposing commanders
Opposing armies
Orders of battle
Opposing plans
The campaign
Aftermath
The battlefields today

Further reading
Index

Product details

Published Oct 23 2012
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 96
ISBN 9781780960937
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 32 b/w
Dimensions 10 x 7 inches
Series Campaign
Short code CAM 250
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Ken Ford

Ken Ford was born in Hampshire in 1943. He trained…

Illustrator

Steve Noon

Steve Noon was born in Kent, UK, and attended art…

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