Kasserine

The Battle of Kasserine Pass took place during the Tunisian Campaign of World War II in February 1943. Kasserine Pass is a 2 mi (3.2 km) wide gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. The Axis forces led by Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, were primarily from the Afrika Korps Assault Group, elements of the Italian Centauro Armoured Division and two Panzer divisions detached from the 5th Panzer Army against Allied forces of the U.S. Army II Corp (Major General Lloyd Fredendall) and the British 6th Armoured Division (Majo-General Charles Keightley), parts of the BRitish First Army (Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson).

The battle was the first big engagement between American and German forces in World War II; the inexperienced and poorly led American troops suffered heavy casualties and were quickly pushed back over 50 mi (80 km) from their positions west of Faid Pass. After the early defeat, elements of the US II Corps, reinforced by British reserves, rallied and held the exits through mountain passes in western Tunisia, defeating the Axis offensive. The U.S. Army instituted sweeping changes from unit-level organization to the replacing of commanders. When the same combatants next met, in some cases only weeks later, the U.S. forces had recovered and were considerably more effective.