Tunisia and victory - The North African Campaign

Tunisia and Libya

Following the break-out from El Alamein the New Zealand Division reached the Libyan border by 10 November. It seized Halfaya Pass before being pulled out of the line. After recuperating near Bardia, it moved forward to the front at El Agheila in December. Rommel decided that a stand could not safely be made in this area and withdrew his troops.

When the offensive opened in mid-January 1943, resistance was limited because the Axis high command had already accepted that the stand should be made further east at the Mareth Line on the Tunisia-Libya border. Eighth Army reached Tripoli on 22 January 1943, and sappers and the navy soon cleared the devastated port. Troops from the division helped unload the ships carrying the supplies that 8 Army needed for its continued advance.

After taking part in blunting Rommel's counter-attack at Medenine on 6 March - his last action of the campaign - the New Zealanders prepared to join the Allied assault on the Mareth Line. By reaching the Tebaga Gap, they would threaten with encirclement Axis forces fighting Montgomery's main forces on the Mareth Line. Freyberg did not press home the assault immediately when they arrived at the Gap, and an opportunity was lost. Rapid deployments by the opposing forces then reinforced his caution. The deadlock was finally broken with a carefully planned and well-executed attack in the late afternoon of 26 March - Operation Supercharge II - that shattered the enemy position.

The attack failed to trap the Axis forces on the Mareth Line. They retreated into a relatively small area of Tunisia, and the Allies planned an all-out offensive. The New Zealand Division attacked the area west of Enfidaville with two brigades. 6 Brigade, on the right, achieved its objectives without too much difficulty. On the left, however, 5 Brigade suffered heavy casualties as it pushed forward in an area dominated by Takrouna, a bald outcrop of rock rising steeply from the plain at the end of a ridge. Troops from the Maori and other battalions managed to get onto Takrouna and eventually prevailed after an epic fight.

Victory

The terrain made it impossible for 8 Army to push very far north. By the time the end came on 13 May 1943, more than 200,000 Germans and Italians had laid down their arms. The commander of 1 Italian Army, Marshal Giovanni Messe, and the commander of the German 164 Light Division, Major-General Kurt von Liebenstein, surrendered to Freyberg.

Hitler's belated decision to throw huge resources into holding Tunisia greatly magnified the cost of defeat in North Africa for the Axis, even if those forces had extended the campaign by four or five months. Had Rommel been given these resources in July 1942 he might well have been victorious.

The New Zealanders did not have long to savour the victory in Tunisia. On 15 May the first units began the long trek back to their base in Egypt, reflecting on battles fought and comrades lost. The last of the division reached Cairo on 1 June, cramming into Maadi and Helwan and settling down to await their next assignment. For 6000 of the longest-serving men, there was the prospect of an early return to New Zealand: they learned that they would go home on a three-month furlough.