Ambushed by the Afrika Korps:
Battle at Sidi Bou Zid
The tanks of the 1st Armored Division learned a costly lesson at a desert crossroads in Tunisia.
Angry winds from the Sahara lashed the mountains and plains of central Tunisia just before dawn on Sunday, February 14, 1943-St. Valentine's Day. The howling currents and swirling dust cloaked the maneuvers of advancing German armored battle groups. At 0400 hours, with resolute purpose, elements of the crack 10th and 21st Panzer divisions had launched an attack through Faid and Maizila passes. The German tanks were bound for the village of Sidi Bou Zid, where General Dwight D. Eisenhower himself had inspected forward American troop dispositions just three hours earlier.
The panzer groups were implementing a plan personally approved by Adolf Hitler and calculated to relieve the pressure on Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. To the east, British General Bernard L. Montgomery's Eighth Army, which had chased Rommel from Egypt, was gathering strength for a final assault. Rommel's western flank was likewise threatened by imminent Allied incursions through the passes of the Eastern Dorsal, a mountain chain running from the Miliane River to Maknassy. The "Desert Fox" viewed the interminable retreat from Egypt with disdain and longed for an opportunity to resume the offensive. To avoid being trapped in a tightening vise, he turned and struck first. The Kasserine campaign, the first major clash between the American and German armies in World War II, had begun.
The essence of Rommel's plan was to counterthrust through those mountain passes, penetrate deeply to the northwest and completely disrupt the Allied rear. He meant to deal the Americans a resounding defeat that would instill a feeling of inferiority in the green troops and give his hard-pressed army some breathing room. Facing the Germans were fragmented units of the 1st Armored Division, stretched thin to cover a 60-mile front. It was the first American division to engage the Germans in combat, the first to fight in the desert and, ironically, the only one of the 16 U.S. armored divisions in World War II not to receive any desert warfare training.
On that fateful morning, German Panzerkampfwagen Mk.IVs, backed by new, 60-ton Pzkw. MK.VI Tigers, churned over, through and around the American lines. Lieutenant General Heinz Ziegler, the deputy to Col. Gen. Hans von Arnim, led the attacking force.
Spearheading Operation "Spring Wind" was the 591st Tiger Detachment. The 7th Panzer and 86th Panzergrenadier regiments supported that shock force. Spring Wind had four thrust points: Kampfgruppe (KGr.) Gerhardt rolled around the northern edge of Djebel Lessouda, while KGr. Reimann advanced directly along the road from Faid. To the south, units of the 21st Panzer Division poured through Maizila Pass and divided into two groups to encircle Sidi Bou Zid. KGr. Schuette advanced to the north and KGr. Stenkhoff to the west.
Forward elements of the Americans' 168th Regimental Combat Team, divided among the Lessouda, Garet Hadid and Ksaira djebels (hills), were bypassed and quickly marooned. At least 2,000 men were trapped. They had been imprudently placed there by the II Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Lloyd R. Fredendall, who had never even visited the front lines.
Strenuous efforts to hold the line continued through the morning. At midday, 51 M-4 Sherman tanks of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, rolled out to engage the enemy. A fierce fight ensued, resulting in the loss of 44 of the battalion's tanks. The noble sacrifice, brilliantly led by Lt. Col. Louis I. Hightower, temporarily delayed the panzers' progress. But by dusk, the Germans had captured Sidi Bou Zid. Having achieved their objective, they halted, satisfied to consolidate their gains.
At 2320 hours that Sunday, after driving through the night, Lt. Col. James D. Alger arrived at the Tunisian farmhouse that would become the headquarters for Combat Command (CC) C of the U.S. II Corps. "Gentleman Jim" Alger's 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, had raced from its concealed bivouac near Maktar to an assembly area at an outpost south of Hadjeb el Aioun. As his tankers refueled, Alger awaited the arrival of Colonel Robert I. Stack and his party from division headquarters. They were carrying his counterattack orders.
The easygoing Alger had walked into a desperate and fluid situation that evening. The Germans knew that the American infantry forces were trapped on the Lessouda and Ksaira hills, and planned to obliterate them. The American commanders in the rear prepared to counterattack the next morning in order to rescue the isolated infantry, retake Sidi Bou Zid and drive the Germans back.
In the vanguard of the counterattacking force would be Alger's 2nd Battalion. It had never been in combat before. The unit had been conducting reconnaissance forays into Ousseltia Valley to the north when the attack through Faid Pass began. At 1500, the 2nd Battalion was ordered to move immediately to Hadjeb el Aioun, and Alger was directed to report to Stack, who had just been placed in command of the hastily assembled CC C. All Alger knew when he reached the command post was that units on CC A's front had been battered and that an unknown number of Germans had moved through Faid Pass.
Advance towards Sidi Bou Zid
Stack and his entourage arrived at the command post at 0230, Monday, February 15. Alger was only given preliminary information during the initial briefing. An hour later, two lieutenants from the regiment's reconnaissance company gave him a firsthand account of the battle around Lessouda. Despite what they had seen, the two had little knowledge of the German strength and disposition. There were no terrain maps of the area for Alger to review.
The march and counterattack orders for CC C were issued at 0400, from a plan personally drafted by Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward, the 1st Armored Division commander. Ward's plan was based upon an intelligence estimate of 40 German tanks near Sidi Bou Zid. In fact, as he would later learn to his chagrin, there were more than 100 in the village, as well as emplaced 47mm and 88mm anti-tank guns.
Ward's order to Stack read as follows: "Mission to CC C....This force will move south, and by fire and maneuver, destroy the enemy armored forces which have threatened our hold on the Sbeitla area. It will so conduct its maneuver to aid in the withdrawal of our forces in the vicinity of Djebel Ksaira, eventually withdrawing to the area north of Djebel Hamra for further action."
Two German armored divisions and part of a third, plus supporting units, waited near Sidi Bou Zid to obstruct Alger's thrust and foil his mission. Against this formidable force, the Americans were sending an uninitiated tank battalion, reinforced by a tank destroyer company consisting of halftracks mounting 75mm cannons. The frontal movement would be supported by the 68th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, less Battery A, and the 6th Armored Infantry Battalion, riding behind in halftracks.
As the briefing continued, Alger learned that his tank battalion had been ordered to attack in a formation consisting of a column of companies, with the center wing back. Two platoons would be on line in a narrow front to provide depth, with the third platoon of each company toward the center rear in reserve. Each flank was to be covered by a heavy tank destroyer platoon.
The commander of the 1st Armored Regiment, Colonel Peter C. Hains, explained the known geographical contours and features of the area to Alger. He advised him of the deep, irregular wadis in his path and indicated that they were passable at certain points. Only three maps were available, and those were all of a scale that provided little in the way of detail. There were still no terrain maps to work from. Worst of all, there had been no reconnaissance forward from the jump-off point to Sidi Bou Zid itself.
At 0500, Alger returned to the battalion assembly area and issued the march and attack orders to his men. At 0620, his battalion moved out and headed from the jump-off position, three miles south of the road junction later to be known as Kern's Crossroads.
Between 0700 and 1100 hours, the battalion's movement along the road to the jump-off point was repeatedly interrupted by reconnaissance operations. As the battalion closed on the crossroads, Alger ordered his reconnaissance platoon to the right flank. He had selected Captain Province M. Winkler's Company D to lead the attack. Captain John L. Peyton's Company F came next, followed by the battalion assault guns, self-propelled artillery commanded by Lieutenant Leo J. Farber. In reserve, was Company E, under Captain Harris O. Machus and Major William W. Emory. The 3rd Battalion, 6th Armored Infantry, and Companies B and C of the 68th Armored Artillery Battalion backed these forward elements. Tank destroyer platoons were located on each flank.
Two forward artillery observers reported to the battalion at the staging area. Alger sent his own radio operator, Warrant Officer Frank D. Leger, Jr., to attempt to adjust their radios to the battalion net. Due to the rush, however, the radios had not been synchronized by the time the attack began.
Alger met with his officers to verify the direction of the assault and confirm the attack orders. In the absence of terrain maps, he used the north nose of Djebel Ksaira as a reference point for his attack.
Company D moved far to the front and east of the jump-off position. Its two leading platoons, on line, preceded the main group by 500 yards, to act as a covering force. Around noon, Alger climbed to a hilltop with Hains and Hightower, and they scanned the attack route east toward Sidi Bou Zid, 13 miles away.
The village lay across a sun-drenched plain cut by steep ravines and washes. They discussed the terrain, the likely crossing points and the day's objectives. Next, they pointed out the probable locations of anti-tank guns. However, they had only a vague idea of what awaited them near Sidi Bou Zid.
In fact, the Germans had emplaced anti-tank guns and artillery on high ground positions around the village. Others were established in or near it, covered by buildings, walls, wadis and groves. Furthermore, the full extent of the opposing force was disguised by the geographic features.
|
