After the Mareth Line in southern Tunisia had been outflanked by the "left-hook" attack through the Tebaga Gap, Axis forces had managed to avoid being trapped and had withdrawn to the Wadi Akarit, north of Gabès. This position had been identified long before by Erwin Rommel as a preferred defensive position; he had unsuccessfully argued with his superiors for a controlled withdrawal to it immediately after the Second Battle of El Alamein. He argued that it was the best opportunity for his forces to hold off the Eighth Army and thus prolong Axis presence in Africa: it had protected flanks and short supply routes to Sicily. He proposed that, with the British held off at Wadi Akarit and needing to bring forward men and materiel, all available troops in Tunisia could repulse the Allied First A
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| - After the Mareth Line in southern Tunisia had been outflanked by the "left-hook" attack through the Tebaga Gap, Axis forces had managed to avoid being trapped and had withdrawn to the Wadi Akarit, north of Gabès. This position had been identified long before by Erwin Rommel as a preferred defensive position; he had unsuccessfully argued with his superiors for a controlled withdrawal to it immediately after the Second Battle of El Alamein. He argued that it was the best opportunity for his forces to hold off the Eighth Army and thus prolong Axis presence in Africa: it had protected flanks and short supply routes to Sicily. He proposed that, with the British held off at Wadi Akarit and needing to bring forward men and materiel, all available troops in Tunisia could repulse the Allied First A
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| Strength
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- 24500(xsd:integer)
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| Partof
| - the Tunisian Campaign of the Second World War
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| Date
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| Commander
| - Bernard Montgomery
- Giovanni Messe
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| abstract
| - After the Mareth Line in southern Tunisia had been outflanked by the "left-hook" attack through the Tebaga Gap, Axis forces had managed to avoid being trapped and had withdrawn to the Wadi Akarit, north of Gabès. This position had been identified long before by Erwin Rommel as a preferred defensive position; he had unsuccessfully argued with his superiors for a controlled withdrawal to it immediately after the Second Battle of El Alamein. He argued that it was the best opportunity for his forces to hold off the Eighth Army and thus prolong Axis presence in Africa: it had protected flanks and short supply routes to Sicily. He proposed that, with the British held off at Wadi Akarit and needing to bring forward men and materiel, all available troops in Tunisia could repulse the Allied First Army to the west before dealing a similar blow to Montgomery. The Gabès Gap was the last readily defensible position before the Eighth Army reached the Tunisian city of Sfax and could form a continuous front with Allied forces advancing from the west.
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