title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne would then present himself as a candidate for the Pennsylvania Council of Censors and on election day in October 1783, he gathered troops and approached electoral judges, demanding that they would be allowed to vote. He used his position to protect aristocrats. On October 10, 1783, he was promoted to major general. Wayne was elected to serve in the Pennsylvania General Assembly for two years, becoming even more conservative and defending Tories from persecution.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: After living in Pennsylvania, Wayne moved to Georgia and had a career in private business running two rice plantations with a total area of . The plantations, Richmond and Kew, were situated on the Savannah River and had been confiscated from British loyalist Alexander Wright, son of the governor of the Province of Georgia, James Wright. Wayne would mortgage his family's Waynesborough estate for 5,000 pounds and purchase 47 slaves – 9 boys, 12 girls, 11 women and 15 men – from Adam Tunno for 3,300 pounds, paying 990 pounds initially and then 2,310 pounds over a five-year period. A plantation overseer was used by Wayne to direct the actions of his slaves. Letters by Wayne from the time express that he found it difficult to find affordable slaves. Records state that a "number of negroes" were present at the plantations, with the slaves tasked with farming and making various repairs to Wayne's property. The plantations were officially given to Wayne in 1786 and he received loans from Dutch bankers for repairs after years of abandonment during a titling process. Male slaves would clear land while female slaves would plant rice crops. Wayne also had a personal slave named "Caesar" that he named after his favorite historical figure, Julius Caesar.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne quickly fell into debt running the plantations. His plantations were ultimately unsuccessful as he made poor business decisions and acquired a large debt to Tunno following his slave purchase, later begging various acquaintances to assist him with making payments. Wayne approved of slavery and viewed his slaves as passive property. When his Georgia possessions were sold, Wayne's advertisement described his slaves as "a Gang of Fifty Country Born and Seasoned Negroes".


title: Anthony Wayne

text: During his time in Georgia, his wife abandoned him after rumors of a relationship between Wayne and General Nathanael Greene's wife Catherine spread. While Wayne's wife and family maintained their lives in Pennsylvania, Wayne became a citizen of Georgia in November 1788.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: While in Georgia, Wayne engaged in tormenting politicians and electoral fraud to establish his position. He was a delegate to the state convention that ratified the United States Constitution in 1788 and lost an election to the Senate that same year. In late 1790, he was elected into the 2nd United States Congress as a representative of Georgia's 1st congressional district. In what was the first formal complaint of electoral fraud in the United States, Wayne's opponent James Jackson charged that in one county there were less voters than votes counted, Wayne's campaign manager Judge Thomas Gibbons, had prevented voting in another county and that individuals documented as participating in the election later denied voting. It was likely that Wayne was aware of Gibbons' act of electoral fraud. While in Congress, Wayne promoted the increased militarization of the United States and supported an act of 5,000 troops entering the Northwest Territory. A House committee determined that electoral fraud had been committed in the 1790 election and Congress voted Wayne out of office on March 16, 1792, and his seat was formally vacated on March 21. A special election was held on July 9, 1792, sending John Milledge to fill Wayne's vacant seat, and Wayne declined to run for re-election in 1792. As a civilian, Wayne ultimately found himself bankrupt, abandoned by his wife, and removed from office.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: The Northwest Indian War had been a disaster for the United States, as the British refused to leave the ceded land and continued their involvement in Native American politics. Native Americans also sought to make the Ohio River the border with the United States. Lieutenant Colonel James Wilkinson's idea of raids had triggered tribes to unite during St. Clair's defeat against General Arthur St. Clair and his troops. Up until that point, it was "the most decisive defeat in the history of the American military" and its largest defeat ever by Native Americans. The death of Major General Richard Butler during St. Clair's defeat, Wayne's closest friend during the revolution, made Wayne particularly upset. Many Native Americans in the Northwest Territory had sided with the British in the Revolutionary War, but the British had ceded any sovereignty over the land to the United States in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. The British were known for persuading Native Americans to fight for them and continued to do so. Although the British were reluctant to directly engage the United States, historian Reginald Horsman writes of their involvement in organizing Native American support, "The Indian Department at Detroit had done all within its power to bolster northwestern Indian resistance to American expansion. The agents had acted as organizers, advisers, and suppliers of the Indians, and they had made it possible for an Indian army to face Wayne."


title: Anthony Wayne

text: The United States formally organized the region in the Land Ordinance of 1785 and negotiated treaties allowing settlement, but the Northwestern Confederacy refused to acknowledge them. After the treaties, American settlers started to flood the region and set the foundation for manifest destiny. The Native Americans living in the region quickly became embroiled in conflicts after some support from the British while defending their land from American settlers. The skirmishes resulted with 1,500 deaths over a period of seven years.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Interested in maintaining his interests in Georgia, Wayne wrote to President Washington in the spring of 1789 asking to "organize & discipline a Legionary Corps," writing that "Dignity, wealth, & Power" in the United States could only be achieved by the military. United States Secretary of War Henry Knox would agree with Wayne in July 1789 writing "the sword of the Republic only, is adequate to guard a due administration of Justice, and the preservation of the peace," believing that treaties with Native Americans were worthless. At a time of his life when Wayne experienced a shameful political and personal status, President Washington recalled Wayne from civilian life to lead an expedition in the British-led Northwest Indian War, with Wayne's continued bitterness towards Native Americans at the time of his appointment from his previous interactions.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: While historians generally agree that Wayne's negative attitude towards Native Americans impacted his actions during the Northwest Indian War, Wayne was also deeply motivated by his love for a young United States and the need to set the nation up for future success. In May of 1793, Wayne wrote to then Secretary of War Henry Knox, "Knowing the critical situation of our infant nation and feeling for the honor and reputation of the government which I shall support with my latest breath, you may rest assured that I will not commit the legion unnecessarily." Samuel W. Pennypacker, a former governor of Pennsylvania and president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, goes on to elaborate on Wayne's perceived importance of American demonstrations of strength, "Wayne had reached the conclusion that we should never have a permanent peace until the Indians were taught to respect the power of the United States, and until the British were compelled to give up their posts along the shores of the lake.”


title: Anthony Wayne

text: The confederacy achieved major victories in 1790 and 1791 under the leadership of Blue Jacket of the Shawnees and Little Turtle of the Miami tribe. The tribes were encouraged to refuse peace treaties and supported by the British, who also refused to evacuate their own fortifications in the region as stipulated in the Treaty of Paris, citing that the American refusal to pay the debt agreements in the treaty meant that the treaty was not yet in effect, strengthened the tribe's resistance against the United States.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: At the same time, Washington was under congressional investigation and needed to raise a larger army to protect the borders against the British and their allied tribes. He felt his best choice was to recruit country-loyal Wayne to take on this daunting task despite Wayne's recent past. Injured, with swollen legs and recurring malaria, Wayne accepted command of the new Legion of the United States in 1792. Washington would allot an extraordinary budget for Wayne to triple the size of the army, administering $1 million, or about 83% of the federal budget, to establish control of the Northwest territory through 1,280 enlisted soldiers. Under the direction of Washington's policies, Wayne battled the Native Americans he encountered, destroying their villages and food stocks before the winter in order to make them more vulnerable to the elements.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Upon accepting his new position, Wayne said, "I clearly foresee that it is a command which must inevitably be attended with the most anxious care, fatigue, and difficulty, and from which more may be expected than will be in my power to perform." As the new commanding officer for the Legion of the United States, Wayne was first tasked with increasing the number of soldiers in his force. He began his recruiting efforts in the Spring of 1792 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although recruiting proved to be a difficult effort with the failures of past American expeditions still fresh, Wayne eventually was able to successfully boost the number of soldiers in the Legion.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne then established Fort Lafayette on September 4, 1792, as a frontier settlement from Fort Pitt. Based on earlier failures of American generals, it was vital to train new soldiers and prepare them for new conflicts. Wayne established a basic training facility at Legionville to prepare professional soldiers for the reorganized army, stating that the area near Pittsburgh was "a frontier Gomorrah" that distracted troops. Using the "Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States" authored by Prussian military officer Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Wayne began to train his troops. This was the first attempt to provide basic training for regular Army recruits, and Legionville was the first facility established expressly for this purpose. Wayne set up a well-organized structure of sub-legions led by brigadier generals, seen as forerunners of today's brigade combat teams. Wayne was a strict disciplinarian and executed several troops for offenses. Two soldiers were executed for sleeping at their posts. He required his soldiers to adhere to a sharp dress code, with each sub-legion having a distinctive cap and regimental standards with their unit colors. On April 7, 1793, Wayne's troops moved to Fort Washington in Ohio and continued their intense training while also entrenching themselves to repel potential attacks.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Although some experts today are quick to point to the drawbacks of Wayne's severe disciplinary methods, Major John Brooke finds they also helped build confidence among his troops. Each day, he allowed troops to receive half a gill of whiskey with their rations and an extra one for the best shooters. Barrels of rum, whiskey, wine, flour, and rations were stockpiled at various forts and traveled with Wayne's legion. Brooke goes on to write about Wayne's strong relationship with his soldiers, "The winter passed drearily at Greeneville. They were almost in the heart of the Indian country, cut off from communication with the outside world, and surrounded by crafty and treacherous foes. Wayne shared the hardships and privations of his men, and personally saw that discicipline and instruction were kept up. The sentinel on post might know when to expect the conventional visit from the officer of the day, but he never knew at what hour he might see the form of the commander-in-chief emerge from the wintry gloom.” Wayne's support of his soldiers builds on his earlier experiences with his soldiers during the Revolutionary War.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: During his command of the Legion of the United States, Wayne also encountered domestic problems en route to securing the Northwest Territory. On May 5, 1793, Wayne entered Cincinnati in preparation for future conflict further West. Although Kentucky was a newly independent state after breaking away from Virginia, many citizens still believed that the United States federal government did little to protect their economic interests in the region. Historian, Paul David Nelson, writes of the local sentiment,"Thus, a few of Kentucky's citizens continued into 1793 to plot all sorts of schemes, including assisting the French to attack Spanish territory, using Kentucky as a base of operations; taking Kentucky out of the federal union and uniting it with the Spanish Empire; and striking a deal with some Canadian citizens to form a separate nation in the West, free from the control of the United States, Britain, or Spain." After learning of a smaller than originally anticipated military force, Wayne had to turn to recruiting local Kentucky citizens with the help of Kentucky Governor, Isaac Shelby. Although Wayne was able to successfully add Kentucky citizens to the Legion, there were still fewer than expected and many joined too late to have a significant impact. Nelson goes on to write about the ineffectiveness of the Kentucky troops during the Northwest Indian War, "Once the Kentucky soldiers reached Wayne's winter head quarters, moreover, they did not cover themselves with glory. The commander, knowing that the troops were restless and murmuring about returning to their home state, suggested to Scott in late October that the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers be detached for a 'desultory expedition against the Indian Villages at Au Glaize'...To Wayne's utter disgust, one-third of Scott's men — through no fault of Scott — simply decamped for home in mid November without order."


title: Anthony Wayne

text: On December 24, 1793, Wayne dispatched a force to Ohio to establish Fort Recovery at the location of St. Clair's defeat as a base of operations. Friendly Native Americans helped Wayne recover a cannon that had been buried nearby by the attackers, with its redeployment at the fort. The fort became a magnet for military skirmishes in the summer of 1794, with an attack led by Miami chief Little Turtle failing after two days and resulting in Blue Jacket becoming war leader. In response, the British built Fort Miami to block Wayne's advance and to protect Fort Lernoult in Detroit. Wayne's army continued north, building strategically defensive forts ahead of the main force. British officer Alexander McKee provided strategic battle advice to the western confederacy beforehand.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: On August 3, 1794, a tree fell on Wayne's tent at Fort Adams in northern Mercer County. He was knocked unconscious, but he recovered sufficiently to resume the march the next day to the newly built Fort Defiance on August 8, 1794. After observing Wayne's activities for two years, Little Turtle declared that Wayne was "the Chief that does not sleep" and advised fellow Indians to answer calls for peace, though British agents and Blue Jacket were opposed. On August 20, 1794, Wayne mounted an assault on the Indian confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers near modern Maumee, Ohio, which was a decisive victory for the U.S. forces, effectively ending the war. It was later discovered that a British company under Lieutenant Colonel William Caldwell had dressed as Native Americans and participated in the battle. Following the battle, Wayne used Fort Defiance as a base of operations, ordering his troops to destroy all Native American crops, homes and villages within a radius of around the fort. With each Miami village that Wayne's troops approached, the Americans would consume what crops they could and destroy what was not used. During the campaign, Wayne would go on to lead his troops to destroy the fields and homes of thousands of Native Americans as winter approached, using scorched earth tactics as one of his main strategies. Admiring his scorched earth strategy, Wayne would write "their future prospects must naturally be gloomy & unpleasant".


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Native American troops attempted to find refuge at the British Fort Miami, though they were locked out. Wayne then used Fort Deposit as a base of operations because of its proximity to Fort Miami and encamped for three days in sight of Fort Miami. Wayne attempted to provoke the fort's commander, Major William Campbell, by destroying McKee's post as well as Native American crops and villages within sight of Fort Miami before withdrawing. When Campbell asked the meaning of the encampment, Wayne replied that the answer had already been given by the sound of their muskets. The next day, Wayne rode alone to Fort Miami and slowly conducted an inspection of the fort's exterior walls. The British garrison debated whether to engage Wayne, but in the absence of orders and with Britain already being at war with France, Campbell declined to fire the first shot at the United States. Neither Campbell nor Wayne was willing to be the one to start a second war, and the Legion finally departed for Fort Recovery.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne planned for another large battle against the Native Americans and the British while the Legion was at full strength. When Wayne arrived at Kekionga unopposed on September 17, 1794, he razed the Miami capital and then selected it as the site for the new Fort Wayne. Wayne wanted a strong fort, capable of withstanding a possible attack by the British from Fort Detroit. Fort Wayne was finished by October 17 and was capable of withstanding 24-pound cannon. Although the Native Americans did not re-form into a large army, small bands continued to harass the Legion's perimeter, scouts, and supply trains.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne then negotiated the Treaty of Greenville between the tribal confederacy — which had experienced a difficult winter – and the United States, which was signed on August 3, 1795. The U.S. stated the land was already ceded to the French or British in previous wars. The treaty gave most of Ohio to the United States and cleared the way for the state to enter the Union in 1803. At the meetings, Wayne promised the land of "Indiana", the remaining land to the west, to remain Indian forever. Wayne read portions of the Paris treaty, informing them that the British were encouraging them to fight for land and forts the British already ceded to the United States.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne's victory was described by the "Philadelphia Aurora" at the time as an "uncommon slaughter" of Native Americans and is recognized as the turning point that provided the geographical and imaginative base for manifest destiny. In the subsequent decades, settlers would continue pushing natives further westward, with the Miami people later saying that fewer than one hundred adults survived twenty years after the treaty.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: When picking a general to lead the Legion of the United States, President Washington considered a few options, most notably Wayne and James Wilkinson. When thinking of his choices, Washington found Wayne to be, "more active and enterprising than Judicious and cautious," and Wilkinson to be lacking experience, "as he was but a short time in the Service." Throughout the campaign, Wayne's second in command, General James Wilkinson, secretly tried to undermine him. Wilkinson wrote anonymous negative letters to local newspapers about Wayne and spent years writing negative letters to politicians in Washington, D.C. Wayne was unaware as Wilkinson was recorded as being extremely polite to Wayne in person. Wilkinson was also a Spanish spy at the time and even served as an officer. In December 1794, Wilkinson secretly instructed suppliers to delay rations and send just enough to keep the army alive in hopes of preventing progress. Secretary of War Henry Knox eventually alerted Wayne about Wilkinson, and Wayne began an investigation. Eventually, Spanish couriers carrying payments for Wilkinson were intercepted. Wayne's suspicions were confirmed, and he attempted to court-martial Wilkinson for his treachery. However, Wayne developed a stomach ulcer and died on December 15, 1796; there was no court-martial. Instead Wilkinson began his first tenure as Senior Officer of the Army, which lasted for about a year and a half. He continued to pass on intelligence to the Spanish in return for large sums in gold.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne died during a return trip to Pennsylvania from a military post in Detroit. It has been speculated but never proven that Wilkinson had him assassinated. Wilkinson benefited from his death and was made commander. Wayne was buried at Fort Presque Isle, where the modern Wayne Blockhouse stands. His son, Isaac Wayne, disinterred the body in 1809 and had the corpse boiled to remove the remaining flesh from the bones. He then placed the bones into two saddlebags and relocated them to the family plot in the graveyard of St. David's Episcopal Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The other remains were reburied but were rediscovered in 1878, giving Wayne two known grave sites.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: Wayne is not recognized as a strategist and is primarily seen as a reckless battle tactician. He was considered impulsive, bad-tempered and overly aggressive as a military leader and advocated the tactics of Julius Caesar and Maurice de Saxe. President Theodore Roosevelt would later praise Wayne as America's best fighting general. He was also recognized for his grandiose and luxurious tendencies. Contemporary leaders described Wayne in various ways; fellow officer Henry Lee III would say that Wayne "acquired strength from indulgence".


title: Anthony Wayne

text: More recently Wayne's legacy has been criticized due to his actions against Native Americans. During the Northwest Indian War, Wayne's military leadership led to the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans in the Ohio Valley. He was recognized as being racist, with Rob Harper, a historian and professor at University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, describing Wayne as holding beliefs of "racial and cultural chauvinism". Wayne's victory during the Northwest Indian War set a precedent for the treatment of Native Americans by the federal government of the United States. According to "Indian Country Today", "It was General Mad Anthony Wayne who led the first wave" of Indian removal in the United States, writing that the Miami people "maintain that celebrating Wayne glosses over and ignores his role in the genocide of Native Americans".


title: Anthony Wayne

text: At a February 2019 city council meeting in Fort Wayne, Indiana, its members voted to approve Anthony Wayne Day by a vote of 6-3 with the resolution initially being proposed by council member Jason Arp. Of the nine council members of the time, seven were republicans and two were democrats. The two democrats and one more traditional republican voted against the creation of Anthony Wayne Day. The approval was criticized by City Councilman Glynn Hines, who stated Wayne's actions were part of a "genocide of Native Americans," and many local citizens took to social media to express their thoughts. The local press also covered the polarizing debate of Anthony Wayne Day, with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie Savage writing, "An early public sign of dissent over the city’s creation of Wayne Day appeared in the March 8 issue of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, the morning newspaper where I worked as a clerk in high school, and got my start as a summer reporting intern in college. It published a reader letter calling Arp’s account of history a 'victor’s version' and scorning his claim that opposing Wayne Day somehow made Hines unpatriotic." During the 2019 council discussions in Fort Wayne, passages from "Unlikely General" by Mary Stockwell were used by members supporting Wayne, though Harper would describe Stockwell's book as sympathetic towards Wayne, concluding that, "the book's blind spots and errors make it a perilous instrument for correcting the historical record." With the Miami tribe learning of the creation of Anthony Wayne Day and maintaining a strong connection with Fort Wayne, Indiana as part of their ancestral homeland, they objected to many of the facts put forward by Arp and his supporters to champion Wayne as a foundational figure in American history. Savage writes of the Miami's actions, "In a show of respect for Fort Wayne’s own sovereignty, the tribal council came to a decision: It would object to the resolution’s historical errors and omissions, but not to the honoring of Wayne himself, though they privately opposed that, too." With the republicans losing two seats on the city council during the 2020 election, the future of Anthony Wayne Day is unclear with many other cultural issues emerging during the Covid-19 pandemic as well.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: In addition to the destruction and death he caused against the Native Americans, Wayne is remembered for a variety of other faults. First, his open relationships with other women, who were sometimes also married, led to him and wife to become estranged. In later years, his wife and children would go on to live in Pennsylvania with Wayne moving to Georgia to run plantations. Second, Wayne accepted the institution of slavery and also used slaves in an attempt to enrich himself on his plantations. While his plantations would prove unsuccessful, Wayne viewed his slaves as property and would go on to sell them. Third, Wayne and his campaign manager engaged in electoral fraud while Wayne was running for Congress. Congress would then go on to remove Wayne from office.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: On March 5, 1792, the Third United States Infantry was established to protect the borders of the newly formed United States. On November 1, 1796, it became the Third Regiment of Infantry, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Gaither. Until 1800, the Third Regiment protected the Northwest Territory and played a pivotal role in helping Wayne win the Northwest Indian war. Today the Third Regiment is best known for its role in the changing-of-the-guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arlington National Cemetery.


title: Anthony Wayne

text: The door in Senate room 128 features a 19th-century fresco painting by Constantino Brumidi named "Storming at Stonypoint, General Wayne wounded in the head carried to the fort". On September 14, 1929, the U.S. Post Office issued a stamp honoring Wayne which commemorated the 135th anniversary of the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The post office issued a series of stamps often referred to as the "Two Cent Reds" by collectors, most of them issued to commemorate the 150th anniversaries of the many events that occurred during the American Revolution. The stamp shows Bruce Saville's Battle of Fallen Timbers Monument.


title: Bulbourethral gland

text: The bulbourethral glands or Cowper's glands (named for English anatomist William Cowper) are two small exocrine glands in the reproductive system of many male mammals (of all domesticated animals, they are absent only in dogs). They are homologous to Bartholin's glands in females. The bulbouretheral glands are responsible for producing a pre-ejaculate fluid called Cowper's fluid (known colloquially as "pre-ejaculate" or "pre-cum"), which is secreted during sexual arousal, neutralizing the acidity of the urethra in preparation for the passage of sperm cells.


title: Bulbourethral gland

text: Bulbourethral glands are located posterior and lateral to the membranous portion of the urethra at the base of the penis, between the two layers of the fascia of the urogenital diaphragm, in the deep perineal pouch. They are enclosed by transverse fibers of the sphincter urethrae membranaceae muscle.


title: Bulbourethral gland

text: The bulbourethral glands are compound tubulo-alveolar glands, each approximately the size of a pea in humans. In chimpanzees, they are not visible during dissection, but can be found on microscopic examination. In boars, they are up to 18 cm long and 5 cm in diameter. They are composed of several lobules held together by a fibrous covering. Each lobule consists of a number of acini, lined by columnar epithelial cells, opening into a duct that joins with the ducts of other lobules to form a single excretory duct. This duct is approximately 2.5 cm long and opens into the bulbar urethra at the base of the penis. The glands gradually diminish in size with advancing age.


title: Bulbourethral gland

text: The bulbourethral gland contributes up to 4 ml of fluid during sexual arousal. The secretion is a clear fluid rich in mucoproteins that help to lubricate the distal urethra and neutralize acidic urine which remains in the urethra.


title: Bulbourethral gland

text: According to one preliminary study, the bulbourethral gland fluid might not contain any sperm, whereas another study showed some men did leak sperm in potentially significant quantities (in a range from low counts up to 50 million sperm per ml) into the pre-ejaculatory fluid, potentially leading to conception from the introduction of pre-ejaculate. However, the sperm source is a residual or pre-ejaculatory leak from the testicles into the vas deferens, rather than from the bulbourethral gland itself.


title: Free agent

text: In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is allowed to solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules.


title: Free agent

text: Unrestricted free agents are players without a team. They have either been released from their club, had the term of their contract expire without a renewal, or were not chosen in a league's draft of amateur players. These people, generally speaking, are free to entertain offers from all other teams in the player's most recent league and elsewhere and to decide with whom to sign a contract. Players who have been bought out of league standard contracts may have restrictions within that league, such as not being able to sign with the buy-out club for a period of time in the NHL, but are otherwise not restricted.


title: Free agent

text: The specific rules of restricted free agency vary among the major professional sports, but in principle it means that a player is currently signed to one team but is free to solicit contract offers from other teams; however, this player cannot sign with the competing club if the current club matches (or in some leagues, comes within 10% of) the terms of the offered contract. For a restricted free agent, some leagues require the comp team to offer to the original team one or more draft picks, when an offer is not matched, as compensation for losing the player.


title: Free agent

text: Players who are not drafted in a league's annual draft of amateur players are considered to be unrestricted free agents and are free to negotiate contracts with any team. In most American professional sports, players are drafted by sequencing each team from worst to best (according to the teams' winloss records the previous season, sometimes invoking a draft lottery factor to avoid having teams intentionally lose their last games to gain higher draft position) and allowing said teams to claim rights to the top players entering the league that year. Players that pass through an entire draft (usually several rounds) without being selected by any of the league's teams become unrestricted free agents, and these players are sometimes identified simply as an "undrafted free agent" (UDFA) or "undrafted sportsperson" and are free to sign with any team they choose. The term "undrafted free agent" is most common in the National Football League (NFL), where rookies enter directly into the NFL and do not play in a minor league system. It can also occasionally be seen in the National Hockey League (NHL), which increasingly uses college hockey as a source; the NHL Entry Draft usually drafts players during high school age (i.e., junior leagues), which allows overlooked players who excel at the college level or in European professional leagues to bypass the draft and sign directly with the NHL.


title: Free agent

text: In the European Union, the 1995 Bosman ruling by the European Court of Justice established the right of free agency for association football players in all EU member nations. The Bosman ruling has since been extended to cover other professional sports and players from Eastern Europe. Players were still tied to their clubs unless their contract ran out until the Webster ruling allowed players the opportunity to move between nations, though it does not allow free players to move within the national league in which they currently play.


title: Free agent

text: In professional association football, a free agent is either a player that has been released by a professional association football club and now is no longer affiliated with any league, or a player whose contract with his or her current club has expired and is thus free to join any other club under the terms of the Bosman ruling.


title: Free agent

text: Free agents do not have to be signed during the normal transfer window that is implemented in some countries' leagues. If they are signed by a team, the team signing them does not have to pay any fees – sometimes this is known as "a free transfer".


title: Free agent

text: If a player is released from their club when the transfer window is closed, they cannot sign for another team until the window reopens. A notable case of this being Sol Campbell who in September 2009 was released from Notts County, just after a month from signing on a free transfer. He signed for his former club Arsenal in January 2010 during the winter transfer window, after spending a few months training with the team to maintain his fitness.


title: Free agent

text: The Australian Football League introduced free agency at the end of 2012, after having had a brief "ten-year rule" in 1973 (when it was known as the Victorian Football League).


title: Free agent

text: Out-of-contract players who are not within the top 25% paid players at their club will become unrestricted free agents after eight seasons of service at one club. Out-of-contract players who are within the top 25% paid players at their club become restricted free agents after eight seasons, then become unrestricted free agents after ten seasons.


title: Free agent

text: Clubs receive compensation in the form of draft picks for the loss of out-of-contract free agents, but players who are delisted become unrestricted free agents, regardless of length of service, and clubs are not compensated for the transfer of such free agents.


title: Free agent

text: Exclusive-rights free agents (ERFAs) are players with two or fewer seasons of service time and whose contracts have expired. If their team tenders a qualifying offer (a one-year contract usually at league-minimum salary) the player has no negotiating rights with other teams, and must either sign the tender with the team or sit out the season.


title: Free agent

text: Restricted free agents (RFAs) are players who have three accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. RFAs have received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are free to negotiate with any club until a deadline which occurs approximately a week prior to the NFL Draft (for the deadline was April 15), at which time their rights revert to their original club. If a player accepts an offer from a new club, the old club will have the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elects not to match the offer, it may receive draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player.


title: Free agent

text: Unrestricted free agents are players with expired contracts that have completed four or more accrued seasons of service. They are free to sign with any franchise.


title: Free agent

text: Undrafted free agents are players eligible for the NFL Draft but were not selected; they can negotiate and sign with any team.


title: Free agent

text: Plan B free agency was a type of free agency that became active in the National Football League in February 1989 to 1992. Plan B free agency permitted all teams in the NFL to preserve limited rights of no more than 37 total players a season; if a player was a protected Plan B free agent, he was incapable of signing with another team without providing his old team the first opportunity to sign him again. The rest of the players were left unprotected, liberated to negotiate contracts with the rest of the teams in the league.


title: Free agent

text: Eight players sued the NFL in U.S. federal court, stating that Plan B was an unlawful restraint of trade. In 1992, a jury found that Plan B violated antitrust laws and awarded damages to these players.


title: Free agent

text: In the National Hockey League (NHL), between 2005 and 2008, the age of unrestricted free agency declined from 31 to 27. Under the old collective agreement, which expired in 2004, draft picks were awarded as compensation when a team lost an unrestricted free agent; however, under the current CBA teams losing unrestricted free agents do not receive any compensation.


title: Free agent

text: In addition, any player at least 22 years of age who has not been selected in the NHL Entry Draft can sign with any team as a free agent. Any player who is not entry-level, but does not meet the qualifications of unrestricted free agency becomes a restricted free agent when his contract expires.


title: Free agent

text: Players eligible for free agency are 24 years of age and older with five MLS service years and are out of contract or have had their option declined.


title: Free agent

text: In Major League Rugby, a player can be signed by any team as a free agent at 18 years old as long as they don't enroll in college. In case they do, they have to wait for MLR Draft at 21 years old.


title: Free agent

text: In some leagues, free agency has deadlines. For example, under the most recent NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, restricted free agents who do not sign contracts by December 1 of a given year will be ineligible to play in the National Hockey League for the balance of that season. However, other leagues (such as the National Basketball Association) have no such restrictions on signing periods in season, despite having a free agency moratorium in the offseason.


title: Free agent

text: In Europe, players can only move during transfer windows—during the close season and halfway through the league season. There are exceptions for unsigned professional players in the lower divisions.


The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More is a collection of seven short stories written by Roald Dahl. They are generally regarded as being aimed at a slightly older audience than many of his other children's books. The book was first published in London in 1977 by Jonathan Cape.


title: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More

text: The stories were written at varying times throughout his life. Two of the stories are autobiographical in nature; one describes how he first became a writer while the other describes some of Dahl's experiences as a fighter pilot in the Second World War. Another piece in the collection is a non-fiction account of a British farmer finding a legendary haul of ancient Roman treasure.


text: In 2023, a story from the collection, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", will be adapted into a film directed by Wes Anderson with Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular character Henry Sugar.


text: This is a first-person fiction piece of medium-length writing. The narrator, on advice from friends, decides to vacation in Jamaica. One night, a sea turtle, ancient and huge, is caught by a group of fishermen. Rich people want to buy it, while the manager of a nearby hotel wants to make turtle soup and eat him but both plans are foiled when a little boy and his parents appear, and the child screams at the people, calling them "horrible and cruel". His parents reveal that the boy loves animals deeply, and even talks to them. His father pays off the fisherfolk and hotel manager, and the turtle is set free. The next day, the boy is missing, and the fisherfolk reveal that they have seen the child riding on the back of the sea turtle into the distance.


text: This is another fictional first person narrative. The narrator in this case has a brand new BMW 3.3 Li, and is enjoying a trip down the highway when he spots a hitchhiker. He lets the man into his car; the passenger is described as being curiously rat-like, with long, white fingers. They engage in conversation, revealing the man's Cockney accent and attitudes.


text: As they talk, the narrator is urged by the hitchhiker to test the car's engine power by going ever faster. This results in a police motorbike pulling them over for speeding. The police officer who writes the ticket acts particularly cruel, threatening the narrator with a long prison sentence and a huge fine.


text: The narrator is despondent until his new friend challenges the narrator to guess his true profession. As he does, the hitchhiker suddenly reveals various items from the narrator's person, from a wallet to a watch to the narrator's shoelace. The narrator accuses the hitchhiker of being a pickpocket. The hitchhiker disagrees, claiming that he is a "fingersmith" – just as a goldsmith has mastered gold, he has mastered the use of his fingers. He claims that he is never caught due to his "fantastic fingers". He then reveals that he has stolen both the police officer's notebooks, which contain the tickets and details against them. Relieved, the narrator and the hitchhiker then stop on the highway to light a bonfire of the notebooks.


text: This is a non-fiction account of a labourer named Gordon Butcher who uncovered a large quantity of Roman treasure, the Mildenhall Treasure, in a field that he was ploughing for a farmer when he found pure silver and another man tried to deceive him into thinking it was worth nothing.


text: It was first published in the "Saturday Evening Post" magazine in the US in 1946 and was first published in book form in this collection. It was published as a single title edition in 1999 by Jonathan Cape, with illustrations by Ralph Steadman.


text: "The Swan" is a short story about the boys Ernie and his friend Raymond, who like to bully Peter Watson. When Ernie receives a rifle for his fifteenth birthday, they both shoot birds on their way to the rabbit field. They menace Peter with the rifle and tie him to railway tracks, but Peter survives the train by sinking into the ballast.


text: At first in hope of throwing Peter, still tied, into a lake, Ernie shoots a duck instead and sends Peter to obtain it. Later, Ernie shoots a swan against Peter's wishes, and Peter wishes that the swan could come back to life. Ernie, in answer, cuts off both of the swan's wings, ties the wings to Peter's arms, and says: “Look, I have brought the swan back to life!”; then forces Peter to leap from a tree.


text: When shot in the leg, Peter falls off the branch, but grabs onto another; sees a bright light; and jumps off the branch, which creates the image of an enormous swan flying over the village. Peter then falls into his mother's garden, where Mrs. Watson finds him, calls a doctor and an ambulance, and cuts the wings from his arms.


text: Henry Sugar, an independently wealthy man who enjoys gambling, finds and reads a doctor's report on a strange patient the doctor met while stationed at a hospital in India. This patient, who called himself "The Man Who Sees Without Using His Eyes", had the ability to see even after the doctors had medically sealed the man's eyes shut and bandaged his head. The man was part of a circus act and used his ability to make money. When interviewed in more detail by the curious doctors he gave an account which they wrote up. The man claimed he had been interested in magic all his life, and managed to study with Yogi Hardawar in India, by which he develops the ability to see through thin objects such a paper or playing cards, and can see around solid objects such as a wooden door if he is allowed a finger or hand around it. The doctors decide the man could be of great benefit as a teacher of the blind, and return to the circus, only to find the show canceled, when the Man Who Sees Without Using His Eyes has died.


text: Henry realizes that the book contains a detailed description of the meditation method used to gain this ability; he steals the book and then decides to try to master the art described. After only three years, Henry masters the ability to see through playing cards, and can even predict the future. Henry uses these abilities in a casino, where he becomes cognisant of other gamblers' greed. He uses his powers to predict which number will win on a roulette wheel, then later makes a great deal of money at the blackjack tables, and refrains from more feats in fear of publicity.


text: Henry wins enough money to buy a small house or a large automobile but realizes that the thrill of winning or losing has been eradicated by his ease. The next morning Henry has an acute revulsion towards the money, for this reason he throws the money off his balcony. Soon, a near-riot breaks out as the people of London rush to collect the twenty pound notes falling from Henry's apartment. A police officer scolds Henry and suggests that he find a more legal form of charity; whereupon Henry vows to establish the most well-equipped and supportive orphanages on the planet. This plan works well until he reaches Las Vegas, where he unknowingly collects a huge sum from three casinos owned by the same Mafioso, and narrowly escapes the owner's thugs. Thereafter Henry flies to Hollywood, where he enlists the aid of a famous makeup artist to create various disguises and false identities to protect himself. This works successfully, and with the aid of his accountant and the artist he successfully travels the world under a number of names and identities. At the end of the story, the author reveals that he was selected, seemingly at random, by Henry's accountant to write Henry's story, as the man has died. The narrator is shocked to hear all of the events, and also comments that Henry's wish came true—the Henry Sugar Orphanages, established all across the globe, are indeed the best in the world.


text: The story is considered to be mildly satiric of Dahl's critics, who would sometimes nickname him the "Master of Nastiness". Here, he gives a happy ending, and even gives a sweet and rather anodyne name to the protagonist.


text: This is a non-fictional account, similar to Roald Dahl's "Boy" and "Going Solo" albeit in a more concise form. It discusses the events in his life that led him to become a writer, including a meeting with a famous writer, who helped to launch his career. The story is about Dahl's school and all the teachers, until after the publication of his first story.


text: This is an autobiographical account of Dahl's time as a fighter pilot in the Second World War, particularly the details of how Dahl was injured and eventually forced to leave the Mediterranean arena. The original version of the story was written for C. S. Forester so that he could get the gist of Dahl's story and rewrite it in his own words. Forester was so impressed by the story (Dahl at the time did not believe himself a capable writer) that he sent it without modification to his agent, who had it published (as "Shot Down Over Libya") in the "Saturday Evening Post", thereby to initiate Dahl's writing career. This short story was also published in one of Dahl's many collections of short stories "" which was first published in 1946. The traditional English nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons" makes an appearance in the story.


text: In January 2022, it was announced that Wes Anderson would direct an adaptation of "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" with Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular character alongside Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade and Ralph Fiennes. It will be distributed by Netflix.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The Tunisian campaign (also known as the Battle of Tunisia) was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces from 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943. The Allies consisted of British Imperial Forces, including a Greek contingent, with American and French corps. The battle opened with initial success by the German and Italian forces but the massive supply interdiction efforts led to the decisive defeat of the Axis. Over 250,000 German and Italian troops were taken as prisoners of war, including most of the Afrika Korps.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The first two years of the war in North Africa were characterized by chronic supply shortages and transport problems. The North African coast has few natural harbors and the British base at Alexandria on the Nile delta was some by road from the main Italian port at Tripoli in Libya. Smaller ports at Benghazi and Tobruk were and west of Alexandria on the Litoranea Balbo (Via Balbia) running along a narrow corridor along the coast. Control of the central Mediterranean was contested by the British and Italian navies, which were equally matched and exerted a reciprocal constraint supply through Alexandria, Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk, although the British could supply Egypt via the long route through the Atlantic around the Cape of Good Hope and by the Indian Ocean into the Red Sea.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The chronic difficulty in the supply of military forces in the desert led to several indecisive victories by both sides and long fruitless advances along the coast. The Italian invasion of Egypt by the 10th Army in 1940, advanced into Egypt and more than in a straight line from Tripoli, from Benghazi and from Tobruk. The Western Desert Force (WDF) fought a delaying action as it fell back to Mersa Matruh (Matruh), then began Operation Compass, a raid and counter-attack into Libya. The 10th Army was destroyed and the WDF occupied El Agheila, some from Alexandria. With the arrival of the German Afrika Korps, the Axis counter-attacked in Operation Sonnenblume and in April 1941 reached the limit of their supply capacity at the Egyptian border but failed to recapture Tobruk.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: In November 1941 the British Eighth Army recovered, helped by the short supply distance from Alexandria to the front line and launched Operation Crusader, relieving the Siege of Tobruk and again reached El Agheila. The Eighth Army was soon pushed back to Gazala west of Tobruk and at the Battle of Gazala in May 1942, the Axis pushed them all the way back to El Alamein, only from Alexandria. In 1942, the Royal Navy and Italian Navy were still disputing the Mediterranean but the British hold on Malta, and intelligence from Ultra, allowed the Royal Air Force to sink more Italian supply ships. Large quantities of supplies became available to the British from the United States and the supply situation of the Eighth Army eventually resolved. With the Eighth Army no longer constrained, the Axis were driven westwards from Egypt following the Second Battle of El Alamein in November 1942.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: In July 1942, the Allies discussed relatively small-scale amphibious operations to land in northern France during 1942 (Operation Sledgehammer, which was the forerunner of Operation Roundup, the main landings in 1943), but agreed that these operations were impractical and should be deferred. Instead it was agreed that landings would be made to secure the Vichy territories in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) and then to thrust east to take the Axis forces in the Western Desert in their rear. An Allied occupation of the whole of the North African coast would open the Mediterranean to Allied shipping, releasing the huge capacity required to maintain supplies around the circuitous route via the Cape of Good Hope. On 8 November, Operation Torch landed Allied forces in Algeria (at Oran and Algiers) and Morocco (at Casablanca) with the intention that once Vichy forces in Algeria had capitulated, an advance would be made to Tunis some to the east.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Because of the nearness of Sicily to Tunisia, the Allies expected that the Axis would move to occupy the country as soon as they heard of the Torch landings. To forestall this, it would be necessary to occupy Tunisia as quickly as possible after the landings were made. However, there was a limit to how far east the Torch landings could be made because of the increasing proximity of Axis airfields in Sicily and Sardinia which at the end of October held 298 German and 574 Italian aircraft. Algiers was accordingly chosen for the most easterly landings. This would ensure the success of the initial landings in spite of uncertainty as to how the incumbent French forces would react. Once Algiers was secured, a small force, the Eastern Task Force, would be projected as quickly as possible into Tunisia in a race to occupy Tunis, some distant along poor roads in difficult terrain during the winter rainy season, before the Axis could organise.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: However, planners had to assume the worst case regarding the extent of Vichy opposition at Algiers and the invasion convoys were assault-loaded with a preponderance of infantry to meet heavy ground opposition. This meant that at Algiers the disembarkation of mobile forces for an advance to Tunisia would necessarily be delayed. Plans were thus a compromise and the Allies realised that an attempt to reach Bizerte and Tunis overland before the Axis could establish themselves represented a gamble which depended on the ability of the navy and air force to delay the Axis build-up. The Allies, although they had provided for the possibility of strong Vichy opposition to their landings both in terms of infantry and air force allocations, seriously underestimated the Axis appetite for and speed of intervention in Tunisia.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Once operations had commenced and despite clear intelligence reports regarding the Axis reaction, the Allies were slow to respond and it was not until nearly two weeks after the landings that air and naval plans were made to interdict Axis sea transport to Tunis. At the end of November, naval Force K was reformed in Malta with three cruisers and four destroyers and Force Q formed in Bône with three cruisers and two destroyers. No Axis ships sailing to Tunis were sunk in November but the Allied naval forces had some success in early December sinking seven Axis transports. However, this came too late to affect the fighting on land because the armoured elements of 10th "Panzer" Division had already arrived. To counter the surface threat, Axis convoys were switched to daylight when they could be protected by air cover, simultaneously denying the Allies the advantage of using radar in night surface combat. Night convoys resumed on completion of the extension of Axis minefields which severely restricted the activities of Force K and Force Q.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Tunisia is said to be shaped like a pregnant woman, with its northern and much of its eastern boundary (the head and belly) on the Mediterranean coast. Most of the inland western border with Algeria (the back) is astride the eastern line of the Atlas Mountains which run from the Atlantic coast of Morocco, east to Tunis. This portion of the border is easily defensible at the small number of passes through the two north–south lines of the mountains. In the south a lower range of mountains limit the approaches to a narrow gap, facing Libya to the east, between the Matmata Hills and the coast. The French had earlier constructed a wide and deep series of defensive works known as the Mareth Line along the plain, to defend against an Italian invasion from Libya.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Only in the north was the terrain favourable to attack; here the Atlas Mountains stopped near the eastern coast, leaving a large area on the north-west coast unprotected. Defensive lines in the north could deal with approaching forces, while the Mareth Line made the south secure. In between, there were only a few easily defended passes through the Atlas Mountains. Tunisia has two big deep water ports at Tunis and Bizerte, only a few hundred miles from Italian supply bases in Sicily. Ships could deliver supplies at night, safe from RAF patrols and return the next night, while Libya was a full-day trip, making supply operations vulnerable to daylight air attacks. In Hitler's view, Tunisia could be held indefinitely, upsetting Allied plans in Europe.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: By 10 November, French opposition to the "Torch" landings had ceased, creating a military vacuum in Tunisia. The First Army (Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson) was immediately ordered to send the 36th Infantry Brigade Group, which had been the floating reserve for the Algiers landing, eastward by sea to occupy the Algerian ports of Bougie, Philippeville, and Bône and the airfield at Djedjelli, preliminary to advancing into Tunisia. The Combined Chiefs of Staff had decided that with the forces available, "Torch" would not include landings close to Tunisia. Anderson needed to get his limited force east quickly, before the Axis could reinforce Tunisia, but the Allies had only two brigade groups and some additional armour and artillery for the attack.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The French governor in Tunisia, Admiral Esteva, was afraid to support the Allies or oppose the Axis. He did not close airfields to either side; the Germans moved first and by 9 November, there were reports of 40 German aircraft arriving at Tunis and by 10 November, aerial reconnaissance reported 100 aircraft. Two days later, an airlift began that carried over 15,000 men and of supplies and ships brought 176 tanks, 131 artillery pieces, 1,152 vehicles and of supplies. By the end of the month, three German divisions, including the 10th Panzer Division, and two Italian infantry divisions had arrived. Walther Nehring took command of the new XC Corps on 12 November and arrived on 17 November. The French military commander in Tunisia, General Barré, moved troops into the western mountains of Tunisia and formed a defensive line from Tebersouk through Majaz al Bab (Medjez el Bab).


title: Tunisian campaign

text: There were two roads eastwards into Tunisia from Algeria. The Allied plan was to advance along the two roads and take Bizerte and Tunis. On 11 November, the British 36th Infantry Brigade had landed unopposed at Bougie but supply shortages delayed their arrival at Djedjelli until 13 November. Bône airfield was occupied following a parachute drop by British 3rd Parachute Battalion and this was followed by No. 6 Commando seizing the port on 12 November. Advanced guards of the 36th Infantry Brigade reached Tebarka on 15 November and Djebel Abiod on 18 November, where they met Axis forces. Further south, on 15 November, a US parachute battalion made an unopposed drop at Youks-les-Bains, capturing the airfield and advanced to take the airfield at Gafsa on 17 November.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: On 19 November Nehring demanded passage for his forces across the bridge at Medjez and was refused by Barré. The Germans attacked twice and were repulsed, but the French defensive success was costly, and lacking armour and artillery, the French had to withdraw. Some Vichy French forces, such as Barré's, joined the Allies. But the attitude of Vichy forces remained uncertain until on 22 November, when the "Darlan Deal" placed French North Africa on the Allied side. This allowed US and British forces that had been securing Algeria to go to the front. By this time, the Axis had deployed a corps in Tunisia and outnumbered the Allies there in almost all ways.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Two Allied brigade groups advanced toward Djebel Abiod and Béja respectively. The "Luftwaffe", happy to have local air superiority while Allied planes had to fly from relatively distant bases in Algeria, harassed them all the way. On 17 November, the same day Nehring arrived, the leading elements of the British 36th Brigade on the northern road met a mixed force of 17 tanks and 400 paratroops with self-propelled guns at Djebel Abiod. The German paratroopers, with Luftwaffe and Italian fire support from the 1st Infantry Division "Superga", knocked out 11 tanks but their advance was halted while the fight at Djebel Abiod continued for nine days. On 22 November, tanks from the Italian 50th Brigade forced US paratroopers to abandon Gafsa. The two Allied columns concentrated at Djebel Abiod and Béja, preparing for an assault on 24 November. The 36th Brigade was to advance from Djebel Abiod toward Mateur and 11th Brigade was to move down the valley of the River Merjerda to take Majaz al Bab (shown on Allied maps as Medjez el Bab or just 'Medjez') and then to Tebourba, Djedeida and Tunis. "Blade Force", an armoured regimental group made up of 37mm gun M3 Stuart light tanks and 75mm M3 GMC self-propelled anti-tank guns, was to strike across country on minor roads in the gap between the two infantry brigades towards Sidi Nsir and make flanking attacks on Terbourba and Djedeida.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The northern attack did not take place because torrential rain had slowed the build-up. In the south 11th Brigade were halted by stiff resistance at Medjez. Blade Force passed through Sidi Nsir to reach the Chouigui Pass, north of Terbourba part of B Squadron Stuart's from Blade Force infiltrated behind Axis lines to the newly activated airbase at Djedeida in the afternoon and destroyed more than 20 Axis planes but lacking infantry support, withdrew to Chouigui. The understrength tank Squadrons and three M3 GMC French 75s were to hold the pass. A mixed unit of Panzer III and Panzer IVs and a small Italian scouting Force, around 15 tanks all told. Frontal attacks by the GMCs and Stuarts were ineffective losing 12 tanks, but allowed a rear attack by B Squadron firing into the weaker rear armour of the German tanks. The German commander, believing he had encountered a much stronger force, retreated. Blade Force's attack caught Nehring by surprise and he decided to withdraw from Medjez and strengthen Djedeida, only from Tunis. The 36th Brigade's delayed attack began on 26 November but they were ambushed with the leading battalion taking 149 casualties. Further attacks were driven back from cleverly planned interlocking defences.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: 1 Commando landed west of Bizerte on 30 November to outflank the Jefna position, but failed and rejoined 36th Brigade by 3 December. The position remained in German hands until the last days of fighting in Tunisia the following spring.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Early on 26 November, as the Germans withdrew, 11 Brigade were able to enter Medjez unopposed and by late in the day had taken positions in and around Tebourba, which had also been evacuated by the Germans, preparatory to advancing on Djedeida. However, on 27 November the Germans attacked in strength. 11th Brigade tried to regain the initiative in the early hours of 28 November, attacking toward Djedeida airfield with the help of US armour, but failed. On 29 November, Combat Command B of US 1st Armored Division had concentrated forward for an attack in conjunction with Blade Force planned for 2 December. They were forestalled by an Axis counter-attack, led by Major-General Wolfgang Fischer, whose 10th Panzer Division had just arrived in Tunisia. By the evening of 2 December, Blade Force had been withdrawn, leaving 11th Brigade and Combat Command B to deal with the Axis attack. The attack threatened to cut off 11th Brigade and break through into the Allied rear, but desperate fighting over four days delayed the Axis advance and permitted a controlled withdrawal to the high ground on each side of the river west of Terbourba.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The Allied force initially withdrew roughly to the high positions of Longstop Hill (Djebel el Ahmera) and Bou Aoukaz on each side of the river. Concern over the vulnerability to flanking attacks prompted a further withdrawal west. By the end of 10 December, Allied units held a defensive line just east of Medjez el Bab. Here, they started a build up for another attack and were ready by late December 1942. The slow build up had brought Allied force levels up to a total of 54,000 British, 73,800 American and 7,000 French troops. A hasty intelligence review showed about 125,000 combat and 70,000 service troops, mostly Italian, in front of them. The main attack began the afternoon of 22 December. Despite rain and insufficient air cover, progress was made up the lower ridges of the Longstop Hill that controlled the river corridor from Medjez to Tebourba and thence to Tunis. After three days of to-and-fro fighting, with ammunition running low and Axis forces now holding adjacent high ground, the Longstop position became untenable and the Allies were forced to withdraw to Medjez, and by 26 December 1942 the Allies had withdrawn to the line they had set out from two weeks earlier, having suffered 20,743 casualties.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: While the battles wound down, factionalism among the French again erupted. On 24 December, François Darlan was assassinated and Henri Giraud succeeded him as High Commissioner. To the frustration of the Free French, the US government had displayed considerable willingness to make a deal with Darlan and the Vichyists. Consequently, Darlan's death appeared to present an opportunity to bring together the French in North Africa and Charles de Gaulle's Free French. De Gaulle and Giraud met in late January but little progress was made in reconciling their differences or the constituencies they represented. It was not until June 1943 that the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) was formed under the joint chairmanship of Giraud and de Gaulle. De Gaulle quickly eclipsed Giraud, who openly disliked political responsibility and more or less willingly from then on deferred to the Leader of the Free French.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Nehring, considered by most to be an excellent commander, had continually infuriated his superiors with outspoken critiques. He was "replaced" when the command was renamed the 5th Panzer Army and Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim arrived in Tunis unannounced on 8 December, to assume command. The Army consisted of the composite von Broich battlegroup in the Bizerte area, the 10th Panzer Division in the centre before Tunis and the 1st Infantry Division "Superga" on the southern flank, but Hitler had told Arnim that the army would grow to three mechanised and three motorised divisions. The Allies had tried to prevent the Axis build up with substantial air and sea forces but Tunis and Bizerte were only from the ports and airfields of western Sicily, from Palermo and from Naples, making it very difficult to intercept Axis transports which had the benefit of substantial air cover. From mid-November 1942 to January 1943, 243,000 men and of supplies and equipment arrived in Tunisia by sea and air.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: General Eisenhower transferred further units from Morocco and Algeria eastward into Tunisia. In the north, the British First Army, over the next three months, received three more British divisions, the 1st, 4th, and 46th Infantry Divisions, joining the 6th Armoured and 78th Infantry Divisions. By late March the British IX Corps HQ (Lieutenant-General John Crocker) had arrived to join the British V Corps (Lieutenant-General Charles Allfrey) in commanding the expanded army. On their right flank, the basis of a two-division French XIX Corps (General Alphonse Juin) was assembling.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: In the south was the US II Corps (Major General Lloyd Fredendall), consisting of the 1st and 34th Infantry Divisions and the 1st Armored Division (although the 34th Division was attached to the British IX Corps to the north). Giraud refused to have the French XIX Corps under the command of the British First Army and so they, along with the US II Corps, remained under command of Allied Force Headquarters (AFHQ). New forward airfields were built to improve air support. The Americans also began bases in Algeria and Tunisia, to form a large forward base at Maknassy, on the eastern edge of the Atlas Mountains, well placed to cut off the "Panzerarmee" in the south from Tunis and the Fifth Panzer Army in the north.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: During the first half of January, Anderson had with mixed results kept constant pressure through limited attacks and reconnaissance in strength. Arnim did the same and on 18 January, launched Operation " Eilbote I" ("Courier I"). Elements of the 10th Panzer and 334th Infantry divisions attacked from Pont du Fahs to create more space in front of the Superga Division and forestall an Allied thrust east to the coast at Enfidaville, to cut Rommel's line of communication. The westward thrust against the right wing of the British V Corps at Bou Arada had little success but further south his attack against French positions around the "hinge" of the Western and Eastern Dorsals succeeded, advancing south to Ousseltia and south-west to Robaa. The poorly equipped defenders resisted well but were overwhelmed and the equivalent of seven infantry battalions were cut off in the mountains. Anderson sent the 36th Brigade to Robaa and requested Lloyd Fredendall to send Combat Command B from 1st Armored Division to Ousseltia, to come under Juin's orders on arrival. Fierce fighting lasted until 23 January but the front was stabilised.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The obvious lack of Allied co-ordination led Eisenhower to change the command structure. On 21 January Anderson was made responsible for the co-ordination of the whole front, and on 24 January his responsibilities were extended to include "the employment of American troops". That night, Juin accepted the command of Anderson, confirmed by Giraud the next day but with forces spread over a front and poor communication (Anderson motored over in four days to speak to the corps commanders) the practical difficulties remained. Eisenhower appointed an air support commander, Brigadier General Laurence S. Kuter, for the whole front on 21 January.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Erwin Rommel had made plans for forces retreating through Libya to dig-in in front of the defunct French fortifications of the Mareth Line. The Axis forces would control the two natural entrances into Tunisia in the north and south, with only the easily defensible mountain passes between them. In January, those parts of the German-Italian Panzer Army on the Mareth defences were renamed First Italian Army (General Giovanni Messe), separate from the units (including the remains of the "Afrika Korps") he had facing the Western Dorsale. On 23 January 1943, the Eighth Army took Tripoli, by which point the army retreating through Libya was already well on its way to the Mareth position. Part of the II US Corps crossed into Tunisia through passes in the Atlas Mountains from Algeria, controlling the interior of the triangle formed by the mountains. Their position raised the possibility of a thrust eastwards towards Sfax on the coast, to cut off the First Italian Army at Mareth from Arnim's forces to the north around Tunis. Rommel could not allow this and formed a plan for a spoiling attack.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: On 30 January 1943, the German 21st Panzer and three Italian divisions from the 5th Panzer Army met elements of the French forces near Faïd, the main pass from the eastern arm of the mountains into the coastal plains. Fredendall did not respond to the French request to send reinforcements in the form of tanks from 1st Armored Division and after desperate resistance, the under-equipped French defenders were overrun. Several counterattacks were organised, including a belated attack by Combat Command B of the US 1st Armored Division but all of these were beaten off with ease by Arnim's forces which by this time had created strong defensive positions. After three days, the Allied forces had been forced to pull back and were withdrawn into the interior plains to make a new forward defensive line at the small town of Sbeitla.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: In Operation "Frühlingswind" ("spring wind"), Arnim ordered four armoured battle groups forward on 14 February in the area of Sidi Bou Zid held by 34th Infantry Division's 168th Regimental Combat Team and 1st Armored Division's Combat Command A. The defenders' dispositions were poor, with concentrations dispersed so that they were unable to be mutually supportive. By 15 February, CCA had been severely damaged leaving the infantry units isolated on hilltops. Combat Command C was ordered across country to relieve Sidi Bou Zid but were repelled with heavy losses. By the evening of 15 February, three of the Axis battlegroups were able to head toward Sbeitla, to the northwest. Pushing aside the remains of CCA and CCC, the battlegroups were confronted by Combat Command B in front of Sbeitla. With the help of air support, CCB held on through the day. However, the air support could not be sustained and the defenders of Sbeitla were obliged to withdraw and the town lay empty by midday on 17 February.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: To the south, in Operation "Morgenluft" ("morning air"), an Italian First Army battlegroup made up of the remains of the Afrika Korps under Karl Bülowius had advanced toward Gafsa at dusk on 15 February to find the town deserted, part of a withdrawal to shorten the Allied front to facilitate a reorganisation involving the withdrawal of French XIX Corps in order to re-equip. II US Corps withdrew to the line of Dernaia-Kasserine-Gap-Sbiba with XIX Corps on their left flank vacating the Eastern Dorsal to conform with them. By the afternoon of 17 February, Rommel's troops had occupied Feriana and Thelepte (roughly southwest of Kasserine) forcing the evacuation on the morning of 18 February of Thelepte airfield, the main air base in British First Army's southern sector.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: After further discussion, the "Comando Supremo" issued orders on 19 February for Rommel to attack through the Kasserine and Sbiba passes toward Thala and Le Kef to threaten First Army's flank. Rommel's original proposal was for a limited but concentrated attack through Kasserine to confront II Corps' strength at Tébessa and gain vital supplies from the US dumps there. Although he was to have 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions transferred to his command, Rommel was concerned that the new plan would dilute his force concentration and expose his flanks to threat.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: On 19 February 1943, Rommel, having now been given formal control of the 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions, the Afrika Korps battlegroup as well as General Messe's forces on the Mareth defences (renamed Italian First Army), launched what would become the Battle of Kasserine Pass. Hoping to take the inexperienced defenders by surprise, he sent the light armour of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion racing into the pass. Colonel Alexander Stark's "Stark Force", a brigade group made up of US and French units, was responsible for the defence of the pass. It had not had time to organise properly but was able to direct heavy artillery fire from the surrounding heights which brought the leading mechanised units of the "Afrika Korps" batlegroup to a halt. Before they could continue, infantry had to be sent up into the high ground seeking to eliminate the artillery threat. A battlegroup under Hans-Georg Hildebrand including tanks from 21st Panzer were advancing north from Sbeitla toward the Sbiba Gap. In front of the hills east of Sbiba they were brought to a halt by 1st Guards Brigade and 18th Regimental Combat Team which had strong field and anti-tank artillery support and were joined by two infantry regiments from 34th Infantry Division.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: By the morning of 20 February, the bitter hand-to-hand fighting in the hills above Kasserine was continuing while the "Afrika Korps Kampfgruppe" and a battalion from the 131st Armoured Division "Centauro" and more artillery, prepared for another attack through the pass, once it had been joined by a 10th Panzer Division battle group from Sbeitla. The morning attack made slow progress but the intense pressure applied during the renewed attack that afternoon triggered a collapse in the Allied defences.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Having rolled through the Kasserine Pass on the afternoon of 20 February, units of the Centauro Division headed west toward Tébessa, meeting little or no resistance. Following them came the von Broich battlegroup from 10th Panzer, which forked right onto the road to Thala where they were slowed by a regimental armoured group from 26th Armoured Brigade ("Gore Force"). Their tanks outgunned, Gore Force sustained heavy losses but bought time for "Nick Force", a composite force from British 6th Armoured Division with tanks from the 2nd Lothians and Border Horse of the 26th Armoured Brigade with extra infantry and artillery (which Anderson had ordered the previous day to leave the Kesra area to bolster the Thala defences) to prepare defensive positions further up the road. Meanwhile, Fredendall had sent 1st Armored Division's CCB to meet the threat to Tébessa.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: By 1pm on 21 February, Battlegroup von Broich was in contact with the dug-in tanks of B Squadron 2nd Lothians and Border Horse of the 26th Armoured Brigade on the Thala road and making slow progress. Rommel took direct control of the attack and forced the defences by 4pm. However, 26th Armoured Brigade were able to withdraw in reasonable order to the next, final, defensive line in front of Thala. Fighting at this position started at 7pm and continued at close quarters for three hours with neither side able to gain a decisive advantage. "Nick Force" had taken a heavy beating and did not expect to be able to hold out the next day. However, during the night a further 48 artillery pieces from US 9th Infantry Division arrived after a trip from Morocco on poor roads and in bad weather. On the morning of 22 February, as Broich prepared to launch his attack, his front was hit by a devastating artillery barrage. Surprisingly, Rommel told Broich to regroup and assume a defensive posture, so surrendering the initiative.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The 21st Panzer battlegroup at Sbiba was making no progress. Further south, the "Afrika Korps" battlegroup on the road to Tébessa had been halted on 21 February by CCB's armour and artillery dug in on the slopes of Djebel Hamra. An attempt to outflank them during the night of 21 February was a costly failure. A further attack early on 23 February was again beaten back. In a dispirited meeting on 22 February with Kesselring, Rommel argued that faced with stiffening defences and the news that the Eighth Army's lead elements had finally reached Medenine, only a few kilometres from the Mareth Line, he should call off the attack and withdraw to support the Mareth defences, hoping that the Kasserine attack had caused enough damage to deter any offensive action from the west. Kesselring was keen for the offensive to continue but finally agreed that evening, and "Comando Supremo" formally terminated the operation. The Axis forces from Kasserine reached the Mareth line on 25 February.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Action then abated for a time and both sides studied the results of recent battles. Rommel remained convinced that US forces posed little threat, while the British and Commonwealth troops were his equal. He held this opinion for far too long, and it would prove very costly. The Americans likewise studied the battle and relieved several senior commanders while issuing several "lessons learned" publications to improve future performance. Most important, on 6 March 1943 command of the II US Corps passed from Fredendall to George S. Patton, with Omar Bradley as assistant Corps Commander. Commanders were reminded that large units should be kept concentrated to ensure mass on the battlefield, rather than widely dispersed as Fredendall had deployed them. This had the intended side effect of improving the fire control of the already-strong US artillery. Close air support had also been weak (although this had been hampered by the generally poor weather conditions).


title: Tunisian campaign

text: At the Casablanca Conference, it had been decided to appoint General Sir Harold Alexander as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces in French North Africa. This came into effect on 20 February and at the same time, in order better to co-ordinate the activities of his two armies in Tunisia, Eisenhower at AFHQ brought First and Eighth Armies under a new headquarters, 18th Army Group, which Alexander was to command. Shortly after taking up his new appointment, Alexander reported to London,


title: Tunisian campaign

text: and was critical of Anderson although this was later felt to be a little unfair. Once he had been given control of the whole front at the end of January, Anderson's aim had been to reorganise the front into consolidated national sectors and create reserves with which to regain the initiative, the same priorities articulated in Alexander's orders dated 20 February. On 21 February, Alexander declared his objective to destroy all enemy forces in Tunisia by first advancing Eighth Army north of Gabès, while the First Army mounted attacks to draw off reserves which would otherwise be used against the Eighth Army. The armies would gain airfields for the Allied air forces. The co-ordinated land, sea and air power of the Allies would draw a net round the Axis forces in Tunisia by 30 April, to meet the timetable set at the Casablanca Conference to allow Sicily to be invaded during the favourable weather of August.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The Casablanca Conference had agreed to reorganise the air forces in the Mediterranean to integrate them more closely; Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder was made commander of Mediterranean Air Command, responsible for all Allied air activity in the Mediterranean and Major General Carl Spaatz became commander of the Northwest African Air Forces under Tedder, with responsibility for all air operations in Tunisia. By 23 February, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham had succeeded Kuter at the Allied Air Support Command, which became Northwest African Tactical Air Force under Spaatz, with the Desert Air Force supporting Eighth Army, under its operational control.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Coningham found that the air organisation in Tunisia was that of the Western Desert in 1941 when he had first assumed command of the Desert Air Force. The lessons of the Desert Campaign had not been used in planning for Torch, which constrained the ability of the air arm, already short of aircraft and supplies, to provide tactical support to the army during the Run for Tunis. Coningham unified the British and American operational commands and trained them in new operational practices.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The Axis also created a combined command for their two armies. Hitler and the German General Staff (OKH) believed that Arnim should assume command but Kesselring argued for Rommel. Rommel was appointed to command the new Army Group Africa on 23 February.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The Eighth Army had been consolidating in front of the Mareth defences since 17 February, and launched probes westward on 26 February. On 6 March 1943, three German armoured divisions, two light divisions and nine Italian divisions launched Operation Capri, an attack southward in the direction of Medenine, the northernmost British strong point. The Axis attack was repulsed with massed artillery fire; 55 Axis tanks were knocked out. With the failure of Capri, Rommel decided that the only way to save the Axis armies would be to abandon the campaign, and on 9 March he travelled to Italy for discussions with "Comando Supremo" in Rome. Finding no support for his ideas, he travelled on 10 March to see Hitler at his headquarters in Ukraine, to try to convince him to abandon Tunisia and return the Axis armies to Europe. Hitler refused and Rommel was placed, in strict secrecy, on sick leave. Arnim became commander of Army Group Africa.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Montgomery launched Operation Pugilist against the Mareth Line on the night of 19/20 March 1943. XXX Corps of the Eighth Army commenced Operation "Pugilist" along with the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. They penetrated the 136th Armoured Division "Giovani Fascisti"-held line and established a small bridgehead west of Zarat on 20/21 March. The terrain and rain however prevented the deployment of tanks, aircraft and anti-tank guns, which left the infantry isolated. A determined counter-attack by 15th Panzer Division and the Giovani Fascisti Division on 22 March, recaptured much of the bridgehead. XXX Corps prepared a new attack towards Tallouf, in which the 4th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General Francis Tuker) was to make a night attack on around the inland end of the line. This would coincide with the wide left hook manoeuvre Montgomery was planning with a new operation called "Supercharge II".


title: Tunisian campaign

text: On 26 March, X Corps (Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks) drove around the Matmata Hills, capturing the Tebaga Gap and the town of El Hamma at the northern extreme of the line in "Operation Supercharge II", making the Mareth Line untenable. The following day anti-tank guns from German and Italian units checked the advance of X Corps, to gain time for a withdrawal. In the next 48 hours the Axis defenders pulled out of the Mareth Line, establishing a new defensive position to the north-west at Wadi Akarit near Gabès.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The reorganised US II Corps advanced from the passes again and got behind the Axis lines; the 10th Panzer Division counter-attacked at the Battle of El Guettar on 23 March. The German tanks rolling up lead units of the US forces ran into a minefield, and US artillery and anti-tank units opened fire. The 10th Panzer Division rapidly lost 30 tanks and retreated out of the minefield. A second attack supported by infantry in the late afternoon was also repulsed, and the 10th Panzer Division retired to Gabès. The US II Corps was unable to exploit the German failure and each attack was stopped by the 10th Panzer Division or 21st Panzer Division counter-attacks up the road from Gabès; co-ordination of Allied air and ground forces remained unsatisfactory. The Eighth Army and the US II Corps attacked for the next week and on 28 March, the Eighth Army captured El Hamma, forcing the Axis to abandon Gabès and retreat north towards the Fifth Panzer Army. The hills in front of the US forces were abandoned, allowing them to join the British forces in Gabès later that day. The 2nd New Zealand Division and 1st Armoured Division pursued the Germans northwards into defensive positions in the hills west of Enfidaville, which were held until the end of the campaign.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: On 26 February, Arnim, in the mistaken belief that the Kasserine battles had forced the Allies to weaken the north to reinforce the south, launched Operation "Ochsenkopf" ("Ox Head") against V Corps, across a wide front and commanded by General Weber. The main attacks were by Corps Weber which had the 334th Infantry Division, newly arrived elements of the Hermann Göring Division and the part of the 10th Panzer Division not involved in Operation "Frühlingswind" ("Spring Wind"). Weber's force was to advance in three groups: a central group moving west toward Medjez el Bab; a second to the north advancing south-west, on the route from Mateur to Béja (which was some west of Medjez) and the third group pushing west south of Medjez. The northern flank of Weber's corps was to be protected by the Manteuffel Division advancing west (Operation " Ausladung") and forcing the Allies out of their advanced positions opposite Green Hill and the Axis-held Jefna Station.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The aim of Operation "Ausladung" ("Outward thrust") was to gain control of the vital town of Djebel Abiod. This attack by the Manteuffel Division made good progress across the French-held, lightly defended hills between Cap Serrat and the railway town of Sedjenane. Costly counter-attacks on February 27 and 2 March by part of the 139th Infantry Brigade, 46th Infantry Division), No. 1 Commando and supporting artillery delayed the Axis advance. Withdrawals of French battalions in the Medjez area to join XIX Corps, left little opposition to the German occupation of the high ground dominating the town, which was left in a dangerous salient. As a result, Sedjenane was abandoned by the British on 4 March and the 139th Infantry Brigade was pushed slowly back over the next three weeks some toward Djebel Abiod.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The main offensive, "Ochsenkopf" led to fierce fighting - "Kampfgruppe" Lang attacking in the northern sector were held up by a small force of artillery and a battalion of the Hampshire Regiment for a whole day at Sidi Nsir and "Hampshire Farm" before they could be overcome. This delay was critical and as a result the British force was able to prepare a significant killing field at Hunts Gap (an area between Medjez and about north-east of Béja). In the Southern attack "Kampfgruppe" Audorff made some progress west toward Medjez el Bab but a British ad hoc force, Y Division was able to repel the Southern attack; particularly after two Churchill tanks shot up an entire German transport column at a place called 'Steamroller' Farm. The final attack by Lang's battered force was stopped at Hunt's Gap by the 128th Infantry Brigade of the 46th Infantry Division with substantial artillery, RAF air cover and two squadrons of Churchill tanks from the North Irish Horse under command.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Fighting lasted until 5 March and in terrible weather conditions the operation was called off by Arnim. The failure had cost the Axis grievous losses in infantry as well as tanks, particularly the loss of many of the heavy Tiger Tanks. Ochsenkopf was to be the last major Axis offensive by the 5th Panzer Army. On 25 March, Alexander ordered a counter-attack on the V Corps front and on 28 March, Anderson attacked with the 46th Infantry Division, with the 138th Infantry Brigade, 128th Infantry Brigade in reserve and reinforced by the 36th Infantry Brigade, 1st Parachute Brigade and French units including a tabor of specialist mountain Goumiers, the artillery of two divisions plus more from army resources. In four days, it succeeded in recapturing all lost ground and took 850 German and Italian prisoners. On 7 April, Anderson tasked the 78th Infantry Division with clearing the Béja-Medjez road. Supported by artillery and close air support, they methodically advanced through difficult mountain terrain over the next ten days, clearing a front wide. The 4th Infantry Division joined the fighting, taking position on the left of the 78th Division and pushing toward Sidi Nsir.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The salient at Medjez had been relieved and lateral roads in the V Corps area cleared so that Anderson was able to turn his full attention to the orders he had received on 12 April from Alexander to prepare the large-scale attack, scheduled for 22 April, to gain Tunis. By this stage, Allied aircraft had been moved forward to airfields in Tunisia to prevent the aerial supply of Axis troops in North Africa (Operation Flax) and large numbers of German transport aircraft were shot down between Sicily and Tunis. British destroyers operating from Malta prevented marine supply, reinforcement or evacuation of Tunisia by sea (Operation Retribution). Admiral Cunningham, Eisenhower's Naval Task Force commander, issued Nelsonian orders to his ships: ""Sink, burn, capture, destroy. Let nothing pass"" but very few Axis ships even attempted passage. By 18 April, after attacks by Eighth Army from the south and flanking attacks by IX Corps and French XIX Corps, the Axis forces had been pushed into a defensive line on the north-east coast of Tunis, attempting to protect their supply lines but with little hope of continuing the battle for long.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: Alexander planned that while II US Corps would attack on the north towards Bizerte, First Army would attack towards Tunis while Eighth Army attacked north from Enfidaville. Anderson would co-ordinate the actions of First Army and II US Corps, issuing the appropriate orders to achieve this. Anderson's plan was for the main attack to be in the centre of the V Corps front at Medjez, confronting main Axis defences. However, IX Corps on the right would first attack north-east with, by speed of movement, the intention of getting in behind the Medjez position and disrupting their armoured reserves. II US Corps would make a double thrust: one to capture the high ground on V Corps' left flank and a second toward Bizerte. French XIX Corps would be held back until IX Corps and Eighth Army had drawn in the opposition and then advance toward Pont du Fahs.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The Allied forces had reorganised and during the night of 19/20 April, the Eighth Army captured Enfidaville against the Italian 16th Motorized Division "Pistoia", which counter-attacked several times over the next three days and was repulsed and the action at Takrouna also took place. The northward advance of Eighth Army had "pinched out" US II Corps' eastward facing front line, allowing the corps to be withdrawn and switched to the northern end of the Allied front. Arnim knew that an Allied offensive was imminent and launched a spoiling attack on the night of 20/21 April, between Medjez and Goubellat on the IX Corps front. The Hermann Göring Division supported by tanks from 10th Panzer Division penetrated up to at some points but could not force a general withdrawal and eventually returned to their lines. No serious disruption was caused to Allied plans, except that the first attack of the offensive, by IX Corps, was delayed by four hours from 4:00 a.m. on 22 April.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: On the morning of 22 April, the 46th Division attacked on the IX Corps front, creating a gap for the 6th Armoured Division to pass through by nightfall, followed by 1st Armoured Division, striking east for the next two days but not quick enough to forestall the creation of a strong anti-tank screen which halted their progress. The battle had drawn the Axis reserves of armour south, away from the central front. Seeing that no further progress was likely, Anderson withdrew the 6th Armoured Division and most of the 46th Infantry Division into army reserve. The V Corps attack began on the evening of 22 April and the US II Corps launched their offensive in the early hours of 23 April in the Battle of Hill 609, in which the hill was captured, which opened the way to Bizerte. In grim hand-to hand fighting against the Hermann Göring Division, 334th Infantry and 15th Panzer Divisions, it took V Corps with the 1st, 4th and 78th Infantry Divisions, supported by army tanks and heavy artillery concentrations, eight days to penetrate and capture most of the Axis defensive positions.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The fighting was mutually costly but in the Battle of Longstop Hill, Longstop was captured, which opened the way to Tunis and Anderson felt a breakthrough was imminent. On 30 April, after a failed attempt by the 169th Infantry Brigade of the recently arrived 56th (London) Infantry Division, which had just arrived over 3,300 miles from Syria, it had become clear to both Montgomery and Alexander that an Eighth Army attack north from Enfidaville, into strongly-held and difficult terrain, would not succeed. General Alexander gave Montgomery a holding task and transferred the British 7th Armoured Division, the 4th Indian Infantry Division and the 201st Guards Motor Brigade from the Eighth Army to the First Army, joining the British 1st Armoured Division which had been transferred before the main offensive.


title: Tunisian campaign

text: The redeployments were complete by the night of 5 May; Anderson had arranged for a dummy concentration of tanks near Bou Arada on the IX Corps front, to deflect attention from the arrival of the 7th Armoured Division in the Medjez sector and achieved a considerable measure of surprise as to the size of the armoured force when the attack began. The final assault was launched at 3:30 a.m. on 6 May by IX Corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks who had taken over from Lieutenant-General John Crocker, who had been wounded. V Corps, under Lieutenant-General Charles Walter Allfrey, had made a preliminary attack on 5 May, to capture high ground and secure the left flank of IX Corps. The 4th British and 4th Indian Divisions, concentrated on a narrow front and supported by heavy artillery concentrations, broke a hole in the defences for the 6th and 7th Armoured divisions to pass through. On 7 May, British armour entered Tunis and American infantry from II Corps, which had continued its advance in the north, entered Bizerte.