The Battle of North Africa

AFTERMATH

While ending in a German withdrawal, the sequence of battles constituting the Battle of Kasserine Pass is considered one of America’s worst defeats during the Second World War. Pushed back nearly a hundred miles in ten days, American forces suffered some twenty percent casualties, including more than one hundred eighty tanks, while the Germans lost fewer than a thousand men. The Americans learned their lesson well, particularly about mobility in modern warfare, the need for close coordination between combined arms, and the need to fight en masse. Eisenhower replaced Fredendall with Patton as commander of II Corps and relieved other senior tank and infantry officers. The complicated command structure was streamlined. The ensuing fighting proved even costlier in Allied lives, but by May 1943, Allied tanks and infantry entered Tunis and Bizerte.

Soon after, General von Arnim surrendered all Axis forces in North Africa, some 230,000 men. Hitler’s gamble of reinforcing North Africa had delayed Allied plans for attacking southern Europe but ultimately failed, which, combined with the German surrender at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union, marked a turning of the tide in the war against Nazi Germany. After consolidating their gains, the Allies could now invade Fortress Europa, where its tankers and doughs would meet Field Marshal Rommel, the Desert Fox, again.