The Battle of Medenine ( [Operation Capri]) was an Axis spoiling attack at Medenine in Tunisia on 6 March 1943. The operation was intended to delay an attack by the British Eighth Army on the Mareth Line. The British had been forewarned by Ultra decrypts of German wireless communications and rushed reinforcements from Tripoli and Benghazi before the Axis attack, which was a costly failure. General Erwin Rommel, the commander of Army Group Africa , could not afford to lose forces needed for the defence of the Mareth Line and the effort was abandoned at dusk that day.
During the night, the Eighth Army remained alert for the possibility of another Axis attempt and sent forward reconnaissance patrols to keep watch and demolish knocked-out Axis tanks. During the day the and had made a maximum effort with little effect against the Allied anti-aircraft defence and the Desert Air Force (DAF). On 7 March the Axis forces began a withdrawal northwards towards the Mareth Line, the Eighth Army pursuit being slowed by rain. The Battle of Medenine was the last commanded by Rommel in the North African Campaign, who returned to Europe for good soon afterwards.
Background
Axis retreat from El Alamein The retreat of took place from 1943 and on 8 November, Operation Torch began in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The evaded British outflanking moves but traffic jams, fuel shortage, poor weather and air attacks reduced the retreat to per day. in Rome and in Berlin took an optimistic view of the situation and chose the Mersa-el-Brega–El Agheila position as the terminus of the retreat, despite the position having a front long, strong points up to apart, too far for mutual support and being protected by only When the arrived, the had only and deliveries of only of the of supplies needed daily.
Rommel had wanted retreat to Wadi Akarit in the Gabès area, further west, where the non-motorised troops could defend the narrow gap between the Mediterranean and the Chott Djerid. The tanks and motorised infantry could join the 5th Panzer Army (Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim) further north, drive back the First Army from Tunisia into Algeria, then swiftly return to force back the Eighth Army, preparatory to embarkation for Europe. At a meeting with Hitler on 28 November, Rommel discussed the proposal but only received a promise of more supplies. On the night of the British attacked and on the following evening the resumed its retreat and despite the chronic fuel shortage, evaded another outflanking move.
The took up a defensive position at Buerat on 29 December but this was poorly fortified, wide open to an outflanking manoeuvre and vulnerable to being cut off by an attack on Gabès by the First Army from southern Tunisia. The supply situation was little better, with tons of the daily requirement being delivered and 95 per cent of the fuel being used to distribute supplies or for withdrawals. The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) attacked Axis supply lines and hundreds of lorries were stranded along roads for lack of fuel, while the Eighth Army massed petrol and ammunition for its next attack. On 13 January 1943, the infantry of the 21st Panzer Division were sent north to the 5th Panzer Army, to guard against the loss of Gabès.
On 15 January, the Eighth Army attacked with against and tanks; in the evening Rommel ordered another withdrawal. Lack of fuel and apprehension about the threat to Gabès, led to the retreat passing beyond the Tarhuna–Homs line and Tripoli was occupied by the British on 23 January, the Axis retreat from El Alamein having covered . On 13 February, the last Axis soldiers left Libya and on 15 February, the rearguard reached the Mareth Line, inside Tunisia. intended the line to be held indefinitely but Rommel considered it too vulnerable to another flanking move, unlike the Wadi Akarit position, another back.
Operation Torch
On 7 November 1942, Anglo–American troops landed in Morocco and Algeria, the British First Army (Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson) either side of Algiers and the US II Corps (Major-General Lloyd Fredendall) at Casablanca and Oran, against the resistance of Vichy French forces, until an armistice on 10 November. On 14 November, the Allied forces tried to reach Tunis, to the east through mountainous country by a coup de main assisted by parachute landings but poor weather, a rapid German build-up of aircraft and the airlift of troops from Sicily to Tunisia under Case Anton ended the advance on 30 November. The Axis troops were able to form a bridgehead around the ports of Tunis and Bizerta and by December, about troops, fifty Panzer IV and forty Tiger tanks had arrived. The 5th Panzer Army had been formed on 8 December and winter weather began in mid-month, which was further to the advantage of the Axis defenders, as continued its retreat from El Alamein towards southern Tunisia. Having stabilised the Axis position in Tunisia, the 5th Panzer Army undertook several local offensives in the new year, at the Battle of Sidi Bou Zid (14–17 February), the Battle of Kasserine Pass (19–24 February) and Operation Ochsenkopf (26 February – 4 March 1943).
Mareth Line
Southern Tunisia is a region of broken terrain, with rocky ridge lines and desert, which obstruct manoeuvre; opposite a bight where the north–south coast opens to the east, a semi-arid, scrub covered coastal plain is met inland by the Matmata Hills which run south to north. North of Gabès, the road to Sfax passes between the sea and the Chotts, the only route north for the Eighth Army. Across the plain in a line roughly southwest to northeast, lay the Mareth Line, a fortification built by the French in the 1930s.
In the north, the hills and line of forts terminated at the Tebaga Gap, a low pass between the Matmata Hills and the Djebel Tebaga, another line of high ground to the west of the gap running east–west. North and west of this feature is the Chott el Djerid; west of the Matmata Hills, lies dry Jebel Dahar country and then the impassable sand of the Grand Erg Oriental. Gabès is on the coast where the plain meets the route from the Tebaga Gap.
The Mareth Line followed the line of Wadi Zigzaou, a natural tank obstacle, with steep banks rising up to ; the north-west side had been fortified by the French and was reinforced by Axis engineers. The wadi crosses the coastal plain from Zarat to Toujane and into the Matmata Hills beyond. In 1938, the French judged Jebel Dahar to be impassable to motorised transport and had not extended the Mareth Line any further inland but 1943 motor vehicles had much better performance. The Italian 1st Army (General Giovanni Messe) occupied the Mareth Line with the 90th Light Division, 164th Light Afrika Division, and the 10th Panzer Division, 15th Panzer Division and the 21st Panzer Division of the with about and the 80th Infantry Division "La Spezia".
Prelude
Axis preparations
On 28 February, Rommel, Messe and the senior panzer unit commanders met to discuss an attack on Medenine, the junction of several roads and tracks. An attack from three directions was suggested, from Toujane to Metameur on the left, an attack in the centre and an attack on the right from the Hallouf Pass to Medenine. Rommel suggested an attack nearer the coast to create the possibility of attacking from an unexpected direction but the subordinates disagreed because of information from reconnaissance by the that the coastal approaches were difficult, mined and covered by many guns. There was no room for manoeuvre and the tanks would be easy targets for British artillery and aircraft. Rommel gave way and the plan was drawn up by Messe and Lieutenant-General Heinz Ziegler, the temporary commander of the .
The attack was set for 6 March to give time for the units involved in (the Battle of Sidi Bou Zid) to replace casualties and re-organise. Messe planned to encircle the British troops between the Mareth Line and Medenine with the DAK Group ( Hans Cramer) formed from the three panzer divisions, Reconnaissance units 3 and 33, a battalion of the 164th Light Division, a parachute battalion, seven field artillery batteries and two anti-aircraft battalions and Column Bari ( Theodor von Sponeck) a battlegroup with two battalions of Panzergrenadier Regiment 200, two battalions of Panzergrenadier Regiment 361, the and the battle groups with two battalions each, a battery of German field guns and several , seven Italian field batteries and part of three anti-aircraft batteries; both columns had attached anti-tank and engineer units.
Axis plan
The DAK was to capture a line from Hir en Nraa to Ksar Rebounten and then circle north or north-east, the 10th Panzer Division advancing from the Hallouf valley to capture Metameur. The 21st Panzer Division was to emerge from the south end of Djebel Tebaga and attack towards Hir Ksar Koutine. The 15th Panzer Division was to move from Djebel er Remtsia towards Hir en Nraa followed by its infantry and the Reconnaissance units were to cut the Foum Tatahouine–Medenine road to prevent the movement of British reinforcements. Column Bari was to make a frontal attack at Zemlet el Lebene with Battle Group on the right flank, Panzer Grenadier Regiment 200 in the centre and Battle Group on the left. On 5 March, the and were to bomb Allied airfields and cover the assembly of the ground force and on 6 March were to attack British artillery positions east of Zemlet el Lebene, close the forward Allied airfields, provide fighter escorts for the ground attack and reconnoitre from Tatahouine to Ben Gardane.
British preparations Long before the Eighth Army reached the port of Tripoli, thought had been given to an attack on the Mareth Line and the LRDG had been sent to survey the land south of the Matmata Hills. Despite maps and reports indicating that the ground was impossible for tanks and lorries, the LRDG found a route inland southwards and around the hills to the Tebaga Gap, between the Chott el Fejaj salt marsh and the hills. The 7th Armoured Division (Major-General George Erskine) had probed forward from Tripoli, while the 51st (Highland) Division (Major-General Douglas Wimberley) and the 2nd New Zealand Division (Major-General Bernard Freyberg) rested at the port. Winter rains turned the ground into a swamp, until a short lull beginning on 15 February, when the 7th Armoured and 51st (Highland) divisions moved forward and captured airfields at Medenine on 17 February. The next day the Free French Flying Column and the 1st Infantry Battalion Marine and Pacific arrived with General Philippe Leclerc, after a march across the Sand Sea from Lake Chad, to join the Eighth Army. XXX Corps (Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese) brought the 2nd New Zealand Division forward from Tripoli, which had the 8th Armoured Brigade and the 201st Guards Brigade under command.