page_title: Operation Ochsenkopf
section_title: Southern Horn
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Ochsenkopf / Battle / Southern Horn
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Tunisia 1943 A knocked-out German PzKpfw III tank, with the body of one of its crew lying on the hull, 24 February 1943.
context_page_description: Unternehmen Ochsenkopf also known as the Battle of Sidi Nsir and the Battle of Hunts Gap was an Axis offensive operation in Tunisia from 26 February to 4 March 1943, during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The offensive and a subsidiary operation Unternehmen Ausladung, was intended to gain control of Medjez el Bab, Béja, El Aroussa, Djebel Abiod and a position known as Hunt's Gap, between the British First Army and the Axis Army Group Africa. The offensive gained some ground, but none of the more ambitious objectives were achieved before the operation was called off, due to increasing losses of infantry and tanks, particularly the heavy Tigers. Unternehmen Ochsenkopf was the last big Axis offensive by the 5th Panzer Army before the final Allied offensive in April and May in which the Allies occupied Tunisia and took the surviving 250,000 Axis troops into captivity.
context_section_description: The southern horn of the operation was to be conducted by Kampfgruppe Audorff with the Herman Göring Parachute Division, the 334th Infantry Division and supporting panzer battalions. Protecting this area was a British force known as Y Division, an ad hoc force, which had been formed from the 139th (Irish) Brigade, a mixture of commandos, Grenadier and Coldstream Guards, elements of the 1st Parachute Brigade and Churchill tanks of C Squadron 142 (Suffolk) Regiment under command. The kampfgruppe attacked on the evening of 25 February, their first objectives being Tally Ho corner, an important road junction and a knoll nicknamed Fort MacGregor. The Luftwaffe had attacked the British positions and shot up transport behind the front. At Fort MacGregor, D Company of the East Surreys were attacked by the paratroopers of the Herman Göring Division. After two German attacks were repulsed, paratroopers blew holes in the barbed wire and the defenders were soon overwhelmed and destroyed. Djebel Djaffa further west, held by a battalion of French Colonial troops was attacked simultaneously by the paratroopers. The French were surprised and swiftly overrun, most being captured.
  A hasty counter-attack by the Surreys on Fort MacGregor was attempted, but the attack was stopped just forward of the start line and the Surreys withdrew with many casualties. British artillery bombarded the hill for several hours with all the medium and heavy guns and when the Surreys attacked again, it was empty save for six shell-shocked Germans. The paratroopers had been devastated by the shelling and had no choice but to withdraw. The summit was no bigger than a football pitch and was strewn with human remains, mostly German but also the British dead of D Company. Allfrey sent forward the Lancashire fusiliers, 600 men of No. 6 Commando, the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment, Valentine tanks of the 17th/21st Lancers and elements of the 51st Royal Tank Regiment (51st RTR) and the North Irish Horse. The next day almost as soon as they arrived, the Surreys and the Valentines of the 17/21st Lancers counter-attacked Djebel Djaffa, which was recaptured after some resistance.
  The 334th Division struck at Tally Ho corner just before midnight, surprised and overran the commando garrison, whose survivors were rescued by Churchill tanks. The Germans pressed on to a small ridge 6 mi (9.7 km) to the east of El Aroussa, where two battalions of the Herman Göring Division and a supporting panzer company, assaulted a position defended by the Churchill tanks of Suffolk Squadron, 142nd Regiment RAC. Firing from hull down positions, the Churchill tanks knocked out four Panzer IVs, disabled three Panzer IIIs and destroyed an 88 mm gun for the loss of a Churchill. The German infantry suffered many casualties, and the survivors withdrew after determined resistance by the British infantry supported by massed artillery. The British received reinforcements and counter-attacked after another bombardment, pushing the Germans back from Tally Ho corner into the hills east of the Medjez-El-Bab to El-Aroussa road during the night.
  After dark, the British advanced and mopped up halfway along the road to Steamroller Farm, held by about 2,000 men from two battalions of the Hermann Göring Division, elements of a panzergrenadier regiment, 50 mm PAK 38 and 88 mm anti-tank guns. A squadron of the 51st RTR in Churchill MK III tanks and a company of Coldstream Guards set off just before midday on 28 February and by 4:00 p.m. they were in sight of the farm. German artillery fire was directed at them and shortly afterwards they were attacked by Junkers Ju 87 (Stuka) dive bombers, losing five Churchills. The 1st Troop pressed forward into the farm area with the Coldstream Guards, but were pinned down. Another Churchill tank, commanded by Second Lieutenant J. C. Renton, arrived and two tanks made a 1,500 yd (1,400 m) dash across an exposed causeway covered by an 88 mm gun. At 20 yd (18 m) the gun fired and grazed the turret, before the crew fled and the Churchill flattened the gun; the Churchills then reach
caption: Panzer III knocked out by a Churchill during the Southern Horn attack
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