42
Goubellat plain. Only partial success had been achieved when Axis
antitank guns, strongly posted in the rocky hills, brought the adï؟¾vance to a definite halt.
While the Eighth Army was attacking north from Enfidaville and
the First Army northeast from Medjez el Bab, the II Corps, on 23
April, launched its attack. The main effort was on the right, where
it could best support the First Army's drive.
The II Corps held a front of about forty miles from Cape Serrat
to the heights bordering the left side of the Medjerda valley. A belt
of rugged hills, fifteen to twenty miles in depth, lay between the
Americans and their initial objective, Mateur, a center of enemy
communications as well as the key to Bizerte. The hills and ridges
in this area form a jumbled maze, providing no broad corridors for
an advance.
In the II Corps zone the 1st * and 34th ** Infantry Divisions and
the 1st Armored Division*** made the main attack. The Tine
River valley seemed to offer the only suitable avenue of advance for
an armored striking force, but before it could be used, the high
ground on both sides had to be taken. Hence the 1st Infantry Diviï؟¾sion attacked into the hills north of the Tine River while the 6th
Armored Infantry of the 1st Armored Division (temporarily atï؟¾tached to the 1st Infantry Division) attacked the enemy in the hills
on the southern rim of the valley. The flank north of the Bejaï؟¾Mateur road was covered by a combat team of the 34th Division.
The remaining units of the 1st Armored and 34th Divisions were
held initially in reserve.
By 26 April the 1st Infantry Division had driven five miles into
the positions southeast of Sidi Nsir, wresting the hills from the
enemy in bloody fighting marked by effective use of artillery and
successful night attacks. A strong coordinated attack was then
launched by the 1st and 34th Infantry Divisions with the object of
capturing Hill 609 (Djebel Tahent), the key enemy stronghold that
dominated the highway and railroad from Beja to Mateur. The
34th attacked into the hills overlooking Sidi Nsir, and the 1st conï؟¾tinued its offensive to the northeast. The attack of the 34th was
launched against one of the enemy's strongest centers of resistance.
The Germans had held this ground for months and had organized
the many outlying hills covering the approaches to Hill 609 into a
series of mutually supporting strong points. One by one, these hill
positions were taken, despite heavy and frequent enemy counter-
* Major General Terry de la M. Allen.
** Major General Charles W. Ryder.
*** Major General Ernest N. Harmon.
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