North African Campaign (in depth III)

The Auck took direct command of the 8th army on the 25th but couldn't stop the Africa cores sweeping aside the defenders at Mersa Matruh. With the resupply depo at Tobruk finally in hand, it seems that the Axis forces were on the verge of winning and for his victory at Tobruk Erwin Rommel was promoted to field marshal. Cairo, the center of power in the regions since the day of Romans, was barely 200 miles away. The Suez Canal, the all important jugular vein of the British Empire was within striking distance. All that remained in the way was a little railroad station by the sea called El Alamein, and the battered British army defending it. The new field marshal shows no reason to let this impediment stand, possibly because his over victorious battles makes him underestimate the defenses. His exhausted army was moving towards the end of the supply line, moreover finally learning from the Germans uses of the 88mm anti aircraft cannon to punch through tanks at long range, the British defenders mustered a massive amount of artillery barrage from every single gun available. Rommel's tanks were especially vulnerable from this kind of bombardment because they had been channeled into a narrow corridor between the sea and a depression. Fighting was brutal but in the end the British managed to hold at the cost of more than 13,000 men. The 9th Australian division counterattacked following the artillery bombardment and pushed the Germans back securing the Auck's last victory in the Desert Campaign. But the Prime minister had become impatient with the Auk's suggested time table for offensive operations, which were set to begin in early September. This was likely due in part to Churchill's knowledge that a new front was about to open up in west africa. Without a swift victory in Egypt and Libya the plan invasion might face disaster. During a handful of meetings in London in July, plans for operation torch, a massive Anglo American landing in north west africa had been finalized. Fearing that any hesitation might have jeopardized the plan, the Prime Minister set the Auck as the commander chief for the middle east and acting commander of the eight army. Taking his place as second in command in the middle east was General Harold Alexander who had commanded the first core at Dunkirk, for command at the 8th army Bernard Law Montgomery was chosen. There will be no more belly-aching and no more retreats. He intended to go on the attack but ironically the meticulous general spent even more time preparing than the Auck had requested. That left the bowl and Rommel's korp. But when he again tried to break through on the night of August 30, this time the Afrika korps was met with heavy landmines and air attacks. On September 2nd, with full yet again being the limited factor, axis forces retreated once more. The Field Marshal Seemingly unstoppable advance had well entruly stumbled. For the next seven weeks, Montgomery gathered strengths and reinforcement. When he launched a massive attack on October 23rd, he had 1,230 medium tanks ready to be deployed. Rommel was down to just 210. Of the Allied tanks 500 were new Americans Sherman and Grand tanks as good or better than anything the axis had except the Panzer IV of which Rommel had only 23. The offensive was crossed and the artillery was fired across tanks on both sides. But Montgomery was able to slowly wedge the 8th army into the German-Italian position. Landmines that Rommel had planted to his rear and the anti-tank guns that now surrounded the British on three sides, yet that the Desert Fox was killing four tanks for everyone that he lost. Nonetheless, his enemies' numerical and logistics advantages was overwhelming on the evening of November 2nd. The Afrika korps had only just 30 tanks in operating conditions. When the Field Marshal signaled a retreat, Adolf Hitler was furious. He told Rommel to hold his position at all cost. But the battle was lost, and the furious anger would not change that. The hurried withdrawal left the allies at a favorable position. The Italian divisions had no motorized support and were practically abandoned when the german started driving back to the desert. Montgomery did not move quickly enough to capture Rommel on his retreat. But, it doesn't matter. American forces began landing from Casablanca to Algiers just four days later on November 8th as part of the long awaited operation Torch. They formed the second half of the massive pincer movement against the axis remaining forces on the continent. Marking the beginning of the end of Rommel's campaign in North Africa. In November 1942, when Rommel and his forces escaped capture of the hand of Bernard Montgomery's 8th army. He was outgunned and outmatched but not out of the fight. The last two months of the year would prove to be dramatic. On November 8th 1942, more than 100,000 allied army troops landed at three points in Morocco and Algeria arriving to the rear of Rommel's in battle afrika korp. The landing sites Casablanca, Oran and Algiers were themself a compromise between two very different divisions on a part of American and British planners. Winston Churchill had favored a more spread out of large scale deployment all over the Mediterranian coast of North Africa. Americans on the other hand were still concerned about the loyalties of the Vichy French forces in the area. Perhaps more significantly Franklin D. Roosevelt joined Chief fear the possibility that such a large movement in the west Meduterranian would provoke a response from the Nationalist Spain which had been nominally neutral so far, but had a strong affinity for the axis power. Ultimately supreme allied commander Dwight Eisenhower decided on a happy medium. Operation Torch included 3 fronts which will reach into the Mediterranian, but only as far as Algiers. The western task force was entirely made of 30,000 american men and was led by George S Patton in their landing, Casablanca. The center task force was made up of 39,000 American ground troops but with a British naval escort who landed in Oran, Algeria. Lastly the Eastern task force made up of 10,000 Americans and 23,000 British troops was also protected by the British navy on it's way towards Algiers. All together the forces involved in the operation torch called the British first army consisted of more than 100,000 men led by British General Kenneth Anderson. When they arrived on November 8th the disposition of Vichy's forces in the area was largely still mysterious since they don't know where the Vichy France was loyal to. Though the Allies were uncertain of Vichy France's allegiance, the US General Mark Clark met with Resident General of France in Tunisia before the invasion as part of an extended campaign to rally support of France in North Africa. However many of the France troops that were stationed had no idea what was coming for them. When the British and American troops set foot in French North Africa, the garrison forces were so confused and hesitant that they did not resist the landings. It did however put up stiff resistance at the cities of Casablanca and Oran. This miscommunication was almost fatal to the operation, since they had not expected meaningful resistance; they had been no naval or air bombardment in advance of the attack and looked like the center and western task forces were in trouble. Eastern task force on the other hand had little difficulties seizing Algiers which they did on the same day they landed. By this time the Resident General of France ordered his men to stand down. Up North Hitler stopped pretending to respect France sovereignty and invaded the freezone that had remained unoccupied after the fall of France back in the 1940s. On November 9th German reinforcement began flying in from their newly captured airfields into Tunisia. By the end of the month, the Germans soldiers in the country numbered 15,000 men bolstered by another 9,000 Italian troops who arrived by road from Tripoli. Both Allies and Axis armies wanted to reach Tunis and fortified it first making the situation even more urgent was the coming of Tunisian wet season. Heavy rains would mean impassible roads and perhaps more than a month of safety for whoever that occupied the city when they began. The war on North Africa was a war with time, logistical delay meant that Kenneth could only begin the offensive on November 25th 1942. They advanced quickly along the coastal road but were checked around the town of Bizerte 10 days later by the 5th panzer division. Among the reinforcement that the 5th army had received were the handful of cutting edge Panzer VI Tiger tanks for field testing. When the new General from Germany came to take control of all Axis forces in Tunisia he brought with him some good toys. With this and the other assets he was able to expand his defensive position in Bizerte and Tunis into one larger defensive line. From this strengthen position he was able to fend off any American's christmas eve offensive thus the infamous Tunisian heavy rain began.