page_title: Battle of the Mareth Line
section_title: Order of battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of the Mareth Line / Order of battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Air Force Operations in the Middle East and North Africa, 1939-1943. Operation PUGILIST. Martin Baltimore Mark IIIAs of No. 232 Wing RAF taxy to the take-off point at Ben Gardane North, Tunisia, to bomb the Mareth Line.
context_page_description: The Battle of the Mareth Line or the Battle of Mareth was an attack in the Second World War by the British Eighth Army in Tunisia, against the Mareth Line held by the Italo-German 1st Army. It was the first big operation by the Eighth Army since the Second Battle of El Alamein ​4 ¹⁄₂ months previously. On 19 March 1943, Operation Pugilist, the first British attack, established a bridgehead but a break-out attempt was defeated by Axis counter-attacks. Pugilist established an alternative route of attack and Operation Supercharge II, an outflanking manoeuvre via the Tebaga Gap was planned. Montgomery reinforced the flanking attack, which from 26 to 31 March, forced the 1st Army to retreat to Wadi Akarit, another 40 mi back in Tunisia.
context_section_description: Eighth Army
  (General Sir Bernard Montgomery)
  XXX Corps (Lieut.-General Oliver Leese)
  50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division
  51st (Highland) Infantry Division
  4th Indian Infantry Division
  201st Guards Brigade
  23rd Armoured Brigade
  New Zealand Corps (Lieut.-General Bernard Freyberg)
  2nd New Zealand Division
  8th Armoured Brigade
  1st King's Dragoon Guards
  64th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery
  57th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery
  One Battery 53rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery
  Leclerc Force (with the Greek Sacred Squadron)
  X Corps (Lieut.-General Brian Horrocks)
  1st Armoured Division
  7th Armoured Division (including 4th Light Armoured Brigade, less King's Dragoon Guards)
  Free French Flying Column
  1st Italian Army
  (General Giovanni Messe)
  Italian XX Corps
  136 Infantry Division Giovani Fascisti
  101 Motorised Division Trieste
  90th Light Afrika Division
  Italian XXI Corps
  80 Infantry Division La Spezia (Airlanding)
  16 Motorised Division Pistoia
  164th Light Afrika Division
  Reserve
  15th Panzer Division
  Tebaga
  Saharan Group
  Uncommitted
  21st Panzer Division
  Gafsa front
  10th Panzer Division
  Centauro Group
  The 19th Flak Division, with sixteen 88 mm batteries and several 20 mm anti-aircraft batteries, was on the coast, the 1st Luftwaffe Brigade, little stronger than a battalion, was behind Giovani Fascisti and Africa Panzer Grenadier Regiment watched the main Gabès–Mareth road. These and the 164 Light Division, were the only mobile infantry groups available.
caption: RAF Martin Baltimores taking off from Ben Gardane to bomb the Mareth Line
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