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In its simplest outline the Allied plan provided for a powerful thrust in the center, heavily supported by armor, with secondary attacks on the flanks to hold the enemy in position and to prevent him from concentrating to meet the main attack. The principal effort was to be made by the two corps of the British First Army in the direction Medjez el Bab-Tunis. In their zone of attack lay two natural corridors into the Tunis plain: the valleys of the Medï؟¾jerda and the Miliane. This was terrain where armored units could best maneuver. The American II Corps, with the Corps Franc d’Afrique * on its north flank, was to attack on the left of the First Army, its principal objectives being the high ground southeast of Mateur and the heights in the area north of Jefna and west of Lake Achkel. It was expected that the American attack would endanger the right flank and the rear of the enemy forces facing General Anderson’s divisions. The British Eighth Army, on the eastern end of the front, had the role of maintaining pressure on the Axis forces facing it and of advancing against the enemy's route of escape into the Cape Bon Peninsula. The gap between the First and Eighth Armies was filled by the French XIX Corps, in the Pont du Fahs area. For this final phase of the campaign General Alexander had more than twenty divisions. The line of battle was about 140 miles long. As the Tunisian campaign developed, the attacks of the Strategic Air Force were switched to the transportation facilities and ports of Sicily and southern Italy. At the same time medium bombers and fighters were striking at surface ships and air transports in and over the Sicilian strait. The Tactical Air Force was prepared to support the field armies by bombing and strafing enemy rear installations, roads, and convoys. By the opening date of the battle, 22 April, the Allied air forces had won mastery of the air from the Luftwaffe. Early Operations.—The offensive was launched when the V Corps commenced its drive on the night of 21-22 April. The initial attack was directed at Longstop Hill, which was captured on the 26th after a series of bloody assaults. South of the Medjerda River progress was made in the direction of Djebel Bou Aoukaz. The French XIX Corps did not take part in these attacks, but on its left the British IX Corps pushed east from the Bou Aradaï؟¾Goubellat road in an effort to clear a passage for its 1st and 6th Armored Divisions through the mountain gaps that lead to the * A provisional force that consisted principally of two regiments of “Gowns,” fierce Moroccan highlanders who were expert mountain and night fighters. |
العلامات المرجعية |
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