WAR IN THE DESERT-1943.

War in the Desert!

05/01/1943 US Fifth Army is set up in Tunisia under Lieutenant General Mark Clark. 12/01/1943 Gen. Leclerc drives the last Germans troops out of the Fezzan in Southern Libya with his Free French forces from Chad. 14/01/1943 Roosevelt and Churchill's summit Conference opens near Casablanca in Morocco with the Allied joint staff under General Dwight D. Eisenhower in attendance. 15/01/1943 The Eighth Army begins a new push in Libya. 16/01/1943 The Eighth Army destroys Rommel’s rearguard at Buerat, in Libya and is now just 300 miles from the Tunisian frontier. Iraq enters the war against all three Axis powers. 18/01/1943 The Germans counter attack in Tunisia. They gain ground against the Free French, but are repulsed by British forces. 19/01/1943 The Eighth Army captures Homs and Tarhuna, near Tripoli. 23/01/1943 The Eighth Army triumphantly enters Tripoli. The Vice-Governor of Libya and prefect of Tripolitania offer a formal surrender. 25/01/1943 Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt end the Casablanca Conference with their announcement of the demand for the unconditional surrender of Germany and Italy. 26/01/1943 The Eighth Army takes Zaula in Libya, less than 100 miles from Tunisian frontier. 29/01/1943 Advance units of the Eighth Army cross the Tunisian frontier from Libya. 31/01/1943 Eighth Army takes Zuara, near the Tunisian frontier. 12/02/1943 Rommel and Von Arnim's forces launch a counter attack against the American 2nd Corps in central Tunisia, forcing them back in some disarray. 14/02/1943 The 5th Panzerarmee under von Arnim, forces the retreat of the US 2nd Corps, inflicting very heavy losses in the battle of the Kasserine Pass. 17/02/1943 The Eighth Army occupies Medenine in southern Tunisia. 5th Panzerarmee's advance beyond the Kasserine Pass is temporarily suspended. 20/02/1943 Fierce fighting in continues in central Tunisia after the German breakout through the Kasserine Pass, but further offensive operations by the Afrikakorps are halted in order for them to withdraw to the Mareth line. 25/02/1943 The RAF begins a round the clock bombing campaign in Tunisia, with 2,000 raids in the next 48 hours. 26/02/1943 Von Arnim launches a five-day counter attack in northern Tunisia, gaining some ground. Montgomery issues the plan Operation 'Pugilist', which is to smash the Mareth defensive Line in southern Tunisia. 09/03/1943 Von Arnim replaces Field Marshal Rommel as C-in-C of the Axis forces in Tunisia and Rommel is ordered by Hitler to leave Africa, never to return. 19/03/1943 The British Eighth Army begins its offensive against German and Italian defenders of the Mareth line. 20/03/1943 The Eighth Army continues its attacks against the Mareth line in southern Tunisia. 26/03/1943 The Eighth Army wins the battle of the Mareth line, forcing the axis troops to retreat to the North. 28/03/1943 The British First Army goes onto the offensive in northern Tunisia. 30/03/1943 Elements of the Eighth Army break through at the Gabes Pass, over 100 miles into Tunisia and heads North. 06/04/1943 British and American forces in Tunisia launch an attack against the 5th Panzerarmee. 07/04/1943 Eighth Army joins up with the U.S. 2nd Corps in central Tunisia, while the British First Army makes progress in the North. 10/04/1943 British forces take Sfax, 150 miles South of Tunis. 11/04/1943 The British First Army takes Kalrouan, 100 miles South of Tunis. 12/04/1943 The Eighth Army take Sousse, to the East of Kairan and claim that 20,000 axis prisoners have been taken in Tunisia since the 20th March. 22/04/1943 The British First and Eighth Army's, the U.S. 2nd Corps and Free French forces begin the final offensive to destroy the axis bridgehead in Tunisia. 26/04/1943 Axis losses in Africa for first 3½ months of 1943 are 66,000 killed, wounded and captured. 28/04/1943 British forces repulse a last, desperate Panzer counter blow in Tunisia. 03/05/1943 US troops take Mateur, less than 50 miles Northwest of Tunis. 05/05/1943 British forces break through the defences of the 5th Panzerarmee to the South of Tunis. 07/05/1943 Tunis falls to British First Army. 09/05/1943 The unconditional surrender of all axis troops in Tunisia takes at 11am. 10/05/1943 The British First Army reaches Hammamet. 12/05/1943 Surrender of all German and Italian forces in Tunisia (130,000 German and 120,000 Italian prisoners). General von Arnim and 25 other axis generals are claimed captured, so ending the life of the once mighty 'Afrika Korps' and marking the end of the three-year North African campaign. 13/05/1943 Marshal Messe, the Italian C in C of Tunisia, surrenders to Montgomery. 12/06/1943 King George VI lands in Morocco, only his second sanctioned visit of the war to forces overseas. 09/09/1943 Iran, under pressure from the allies who occupy the country, declares war on Germany. 22/11/1943 The Cairo summit opens between Churchill, Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek. 28/11/1943 The Teheran summit conference opens with Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, who discuss the future of post-war Germany and Poland. 01/12/1943 The Conclusion of the Tehran Conference, with the three Allies in substantial agreement on the division of post-war Germany, the westward movement of the Polish eastern and western frontiers and the summary execution of 50,000 German officers. 04/12/1943 The second Cairo conference opens with Churchill, Roosevelt and the Turkish President Inonu. 07/12/1943 The Cairo conference ends. 20/12/1943 De Lattre de Tassigny meets de Gaulle in Algiers before taking command of ‘Army B’, for liberation of France. 28/12/1943 The British military mission arrives in Turkey to discuss the supply of arms and troops as agreed at Cairo. However, the Turks make surprising new demands, which cannot be met.