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The Battle of Kasserine Pass took place during the Tunisia Campaign of World War II in February 1943. Kasserine Pass is a wide gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. The Axis forces led by ''Generalfeldmarschall'' 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. II Corps (Major General Lloyd Fredendall) and the British 6th Armoured Division (Major 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 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. ==Background== American and British forces landed at several points along the coast of French Morocco and Algeria on November 8, 1942, during Operation Torch. This came only days after General Bernard Montgomery's breakout in the east following the Second Battle of El Alamein. In response, German and Italian troops were ferried in from Sicily to occupy Tunisia, one of the few easily defended areas of North Africa, and only one night's sail from bases in Sicily. This short passage made it very difficult for Allied naval vessels to intercept Axis transports, while air interdiction proved equally difficult as the nearest Allied airbase to Tunisia, at Malta, was over distant. The Run for Tunis in November and December 1942, was an attempt to reach Tunis before German and Italian reinforcements arrived. Because of the poor road and rail communications, only a small, divisional sized Allied force could be supplied and in excellent defensive terrain, small numbers of German and Italian troops were sufficient to defeat the attempt. The Allied build-up continued, more aircraft became available and new airfields in eastern Algeria and Tunisia became operational, resulting in greater success in stopping the flow from Europe of Axis men and equipment into Tunis and Bizerta but a sizeable force had already come ashore. On January 23, 1943, the Eighth Army took Tripoli, Rommel's main supply base. Rommel had planned for this, switching his line of supply to Tunis and intending to block the southern approach to Tunisia from Tripoli at Gabès. The Mareth Line, which the French had built to protect against an Italian attack from Libya was Allied troops had already crossed the Atlas Mountains and had set up a forward base at Faïd, in the foothills on the eastern arm of the mountains, an excellent position to thrust east to the coast, split the Axis forces in southern Tunisia from the forces further north, and cut the line of supply to Tunis.〔Watson (2007), p.73〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Kasserine Pass」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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