Question: Nickforce was the name of an improvised formation of the British First Army in the Tunisian Campaign of World War II  was hastily formed from elements of the British 6th Armoured Division for the defence of Thala, during the latter stages of the Battle of Kasserine Pass that took place in what year?

Context articles: Combeforce
Battle of Norfolk
9th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)
6th Armoured Division (United Kingdom)
136th Armoured Division Centauro II
32nd Indian Armoured Division
21st Indian Infantry Brigade
8th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom)
Nickforce
Battle of Kasserine Pass

Combeforce or Combe Force (Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. B. Combe), was an "ad hoc" flying column formed from parts of the 7th Armoured Division (Major-General Sir Michael O'Moore Creagh) of the Western Desert Force.
 The rapid British advance during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) forced the Italian 10th Army to evacuate Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya.
 In late January, the British learned that the Italians were retreating along the "Litoranea Balbo" ("Via Balbia") from Benghazi.
 The 7th Armoured Division was dispatched to intercept the remnants of the 10th Army, by moving through the desert, south of the Jebel Akhdar (Green Mountain) via Msus and Antelat, as the 6th Australian Division pursued the Italians along the coast road, north of the jebel.
 The terrain was hard going for the British tanks and Combeforce, with the wheeled vehicles of the 7th Armoured Division, was sent ahead across the chord of the jebel.
The Battle of Norfolk was a tank battle fought on February 27, 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, between armored forces of the United States and United Kingdom, and those of the Ba'athist Iraqi Republican Guard.
 The primary participants were the U.S. 2nd Armored Division (Forward),1st Infantry Division (Mechanized), and the Iraqi 18th Mechanized and 9th Armoured Brigades of the Republican Guard Tawakalna Mechanized Infantry Division along with elements from eleven other Iraqi divisions.
 The 2nd Armored Division(Fwd) was assigned to the American 1st Infantry Division as its 3rd maneuver brigade due to the fact that one of its brigades was not deployed.
 The British 1st Armoured division was responsible for protecting the right flank of VII Corps.
 Its main adversary being the Iraqi 52nd Armored Division and multiple infantry divisions.
 It was the final battle of the war before the unilateral ceasefire took effect.
 Two more battles occurred at Objective Dorset and near the oil field at Rumaila after the ceasefire.
 The Battle of Norfolk has been recognized by some sources as the second largest tank battle in American history and the largest tank battle of the 1st Gulf War.
 No fewer than 12 divisions participated in the Battle of Norfolk along with multiple brigades and elements of a regiment.
 American and British forces destroyed approximately 750 Iraqi tanks and hundreds of other types of combat vehicles.
 This goes without even taking into consideration the destruction of two additional Republican Guard divisions at Objective Dorset by the 3rd Armored Division on 28 February 1991.
 During this action the 3rd Armored Division destroyed 250 enemy vehicles and captured 2,500 Iraqi soldiers.
 Over a decade passed after the conflict before quality references became available on most of the battles that took place during the 1st Gulf War.
 Many of the land battles during Operation Desert Storm were larger than the majority of the battles that took place in southern and western Europe during World War Two, at least as far as the quantity of equipment involved.
The 9th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army, raised during the Second World War.
 The 9th Armoured was created on 1 December 1940 and dispersed and disbanded on 31 July 1944.
 The division never saw active service during the war.
 This formation's only use during the war was either as a training formation or when it was used to experiment with specialised armour.
The 6th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army, created in September 1940 during World War II.
 The unit was initially supplied with Matilda and Valentine tanks, which were replaced by Crusader tanks and then finally with the M4 Sherman tank.
 It participated in the Operation Torch assault landings in Algeria and Morocco in November 1942 and saw its first action as part of V Corps of the British First Army in the Tunisia Campaign.
 After Tunisia, it participated in the Italian Campaign as part of the British Eighth Army and ended the war in Austria, again under the command of V Corps.
The 136th Armoured Division Centauro II was an Armoured Division of the Italian Army during World War II.
 The division had a number of different titles before settling on 136th Armoured Division Centauro II.
 It was formed in 1942 and started as the 1 Blackshirt Armoured Division M was re designated 136th Armoured Division M then 136th Legionary Armoured Division Centauro and finally "Centauro II".
 In September 1943 it was in training near Rome and fought the Germans as part of the Corpo d'Armata Motocorazzato before surrendering.
The 32nd Indian Armoured Division was an armoured division of the Indian Army during World War II.
 It was formed in April 1941 as the 2nd Armoured Division and renamed the 32nd in December.
 It never saw any combat and was broken up to form the 44th Armoured Division in February 1943.
The 21st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II.
 It was converted from the Quetta Brigade in September 1940, and assigned to the 9th Indian Infantry Division.
 In March 1941, it was transferred to the 10th Indian Infantry Division and took part in the Anglo-Iraqi War in May 1941.
 The brigade then moved to Egypt and came under command British Eighth Army between July and November 1942.
 It returned to Iraq, assigned to the 8th Indian Infantry Division, in November 1942 and moved with to Damascus in March 1943.
 In September the division arrived in Taranto in southern Italy and the brigade remained with 8th Indian Division throughout the rest of the Italian Campaign apart from short attachments to the British 78th Infantry Division in November 1943, and the British 6th Armoured Division between April and May 1944.
The 8th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade of the British Army formed in August 1941, during the Second World War and active until 1956.
 The brigade was formed by the renaming of 6th Cavalry Brigade, when the 1st Cavalry Division based in Palestine (of which it was part) converted from a motorised formation (having been horse-mounted until January 1940) to an armoured unit, becoming 10th Armoured Division.
Nickforce was an improvised formation of the British First Army in the Tunisian Campaign of World War II.
 It was hastily formed from elements of the British 6th Armoured Division on 14 February 1943, for the defence of Thala, during the latter stages of the Battle of Kasserine Pass.
 It took its name from the commanding officer, Brigadier Cameron Nicholson.
 In desperate fighting, the force successfully blocked a "Kampfgruppe" of the 10th Panzer Division, under the direct control of "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel, on 21 and 22 February.
The Battle of Kasserine Pass was a battle of the Tunisia Campaign of World War II that took place in February 1943.
 Kasserine Pass is a 2 mi gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia.
 The Axis forces, led by "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel, were primarily from the "Afrika Korps" Assault Group, elements of the Italian "Centauro" Armoured Division and two Panzer divisions detached from the 5th Panzer Army, while the Allied forces consisted of the U.S. II Corps (Major General Lloyd Fredendall), the British 6th Armoured Division (Major-General Charles Keightley) and other parts of the First Army (Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson).