really want to advance is in tunisia though that seems like it might not be in the cards the soil of northern tunisia has a peculiar consistency and overnight it turned into one great soft sea of mud tunisian meyer has a fly paper quality all its own wrote hollywood producer daryl zanuck a colonel in the signal corps there are no puddles and you don't slip or splash you just sink in sort of gentle-like and stay there general eisenhower toured the front before a major attack he had scheduled for christmas eve everywhere he looked the army was bogged down at one point he watched as four soldiers tried to get a single motorcycle out of a mud hole became swamped themselves and finally left the machine mired deeper than when they had begun bitterly disappointed he called off the attack the race for tunis was over but there is still long stop hill to deal with or hills because it actually has two summits separated by a ravine and the allies try to take it this week at NUMBER_TOKEN NUMBER_TOKEN p.m the NUMBER_TOKENnd the artillery barrage begins then the second battalion coldstream guards fights its way up the hill takes the crest in two hours they are relieved by an american battalion however dawn on longstop reeled the full peril of the american battalion half the hog back remained in german hands the cold streams had abandoned several forward positions before american troops arrived and enemy soldiers quickly reoccupied them in fact an entire battalion of panzer grenadiers invested longstock with reinforcements coming then the enemy struck by NUMBER_TOKEN p.m the NUMBER_TOKENrd the germans have retaken all of their original positions the cold streams head up again to assist the beleaguered americans but by nightfall the rains have come and the whole valley is such a quagmire that mules can't even cross it wheeled vehicles cannot get within five kilometers of the hill so the action quiets down until the afternoon of the NUMBER_TOKENth the cold streams attack that day at NUMBER_TOKEN pm and it is only then that they notice the second peak across the ravine they attack down and up the ravine in spite of german shelling eisenhower arrives mid-afternoon that day and meets with british first army commander kenneth anderson and they realize that they will likely not be able to launch any offensive against tunis for up to six weeks not until the ground has dried so it is postponed except for long stop they want to eliminate the german salient the germans have other ideas and counter-attack this morning christmas day at NUMBER_TOKEN NUMBER_TOKEN am and with a couple hours have retaken longstop which they now call vinox hugo christmas hill and there is some more disturbing news for the allies in the region already christmas eve francois darling high commissioner of france for north and west africa meaning in local civilian charge is assassinated by ferdinand bonio de la chapelle a royalist and gallest supporter chappelle is part of a cabal that hopes to install the count of paris on the french throne as king how killing darlang would in some way advance this hope i cannot even begin to tell you on rishi road will replace darlang who has since he was
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