TUNISIA
ITALIAN MEDIUM TANKS LEFT BEHIND AT KASSERINE PASS. This model was the backbone of the Italian armor in Tunisia. By Allied standards it was inferior in practically every respect, but it was the best the Italians had. (Italian medium tank M13/40 with 47-mm. cannon.)
TUNISIA
U. S. LIGHT TANK, captured by the Germans. The main weapon of this tank was the 37-mm. gun. Its armor was light and riveted together as was the armor on the first models of the medium tanks. A glancing shell could rip off the outside heads of the rivets and send the rivets ricocheting through the interior of the tank with the velocity of bullets. Note German markings on this vehicle. (U. S. light tank M3.)
TUNISIA
U. S. TANK DESTROYERS. The combination truck and 37-mm. antitank gun (top) could not stand up against any type of armor the enemy had. The tank destroyer (bottom) was introduced in Tunisia after the Kasserine fight. The chassis was that of the General Sherman tank, the gun having a higher velocity than that of comparable Allied tank guns. The first time it saw action was in the vicinity of Maknassy during the middle of March 1943. The village of Maknassy was occupied by U. S. forces on 22 March 1943.
TUNISIA
U. S. HALF-TRACK USED AS A MOBILE ANTIAIRCRAFT UNIT (top). AA units like this cut down the effectiveness of the Stuka dive bombers. Half-tracks proved practical for many purposes not originally intended. First designed as a cavalry scout car, it became, with modifications, a gun carriage mounting anything from a 37-mm. cannon to a 105-mm. howitzer, a personnel carrier, an ambulance, or just a truck. The standard half-track had armor protecting the crew. Long Tom or 155-mm. rifle towed by standard caterpillar (bottom). This was the heaviest piece of Allied artillery used during the Tunisia Campaign. (Top: multiple-gun motor carriage with 37-mm. cannon and .50-caliber water-cooled Browning machine gun.)
TUNISIA
U. S. ARMOR NEAR EL GUETTAR IN CENTRAL TUNISIA. In foreground is a radio-equipped half-track personnel carrier, in background a 75-mm. gun motor carriage M3. The latter, lightly armored, was an antitank vehicle with great mobility. The enemy developed a healthy respect for the hit-and-run tactics of U. S. forces using this weapon. The vehicle would wait until enemy armor came within range, get off as many shells as possible, and withdraw. U. S. forces pushed eastward from the Gafsa area to draw enemy units from the Mareth Line then under attack by the British. On 23 March 1943 severe fighting broke out southeast of El Guettar and a German armored division was repulsed by U. S. forces with heavy tank losses to the enemy.
TUNISIA
LOADING A HOWITZER. This was the 1918 Schneider model equipped with highspeed carriage. The action shown above took place during the enemy counterattack starting on 23 March 1943 east of El Guettar. Although the enemy attack was stopped, U. S. advance toward the coast halted for several days. During this action Allied fighters and light bombers accounted for much damage done to enemy armor and other vehicles along the Gafsa-Gabès road east of El Guettar. (155-mm. howitzer.)
TUNISIA
INFANTRY NEAR EL GUETTAR. After the enemy attack in this area on 23 March, the front became almost stabilized until the British Eighth Army broke through Oued el Akarit defenses along the coast north of Gabès on the night of 6–7 April. The junction between the forces fighting in Tunisia and the British Eighth Army from the Middle East took place on the Gafsa-Gabès road on 7 April when a U. S. armored reconnaissance unit made contact with elements of the British army. The British Eighth Army had started its drive westward from El Alamein in Egypt on the night of 23–24 October 1942 and when the junction was made had traveled about 1,500 miles.
TUNISIA
THE FAMOUS GERMAN EIGHTY-EIGHT. The original weapon, an Austrian 88-mm. cannon, was used in World War I. Restrictions imposed by the Allies after that war limited German experimentation on conventional offensive artillery but not on defensive artillery such as antiaircraft types (in photograph). With different sets of aiming fire instruments this antiaircraft gun could be used as an antitank gun or a conventional piece of artillery. It was tested as an antiaircraft gun under battle conditions during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Encountered throughout the war in increasing numbers, it was probably the most effective all-around piece of artillery the Germans had. (Left: 8.8-cm. Flak 36; right: 8.8-cm. Flak 18.)
TUNISIA
GERMAN ANTITANK GUNS. These guns, effective against Allied armor, fired armor-piercing shells loaded with high-explosive fillers designed to burst inside the armor and to set the tank on fire. Antitank gun (top) could penetrate the armor of any Allied tank, front, side, or rear. Both U. S. and British armor-piercing shells were solid and did not fire the tanks; thus the Germans were able to salvage damaged armored equipment to a greater extent than were the Allies. It was not until well into the Italian campaign that armor-piercing shells equipped with fuzes and high-explosive fillers became available to Allied forces. (Top: German antitank gun, 7.5-cm. Pak. 40; bottom: German antitank gun, 5-cm. Pak. 38.)
TUNISIA
GERMAN SIX-BARRELED ROCKET LAUNCHER. This weapon fired high-explosive, incendiary or smoke rockets and was light enough to be moved with ease. The screaming sound of the rockets had an adverse psychological effect on troops at the receiving end and the rockets were nicknamed “screaming meemies.” Artillery sound-ranging equipment could not locate the rocket launchers because firing did not cause a report. The enemy used this type of weapon until the end of the war. (15-cm. Nebelwerfer, 41.)
TUNISIA
SHERMAN TANK WITH “SCORPION” ATTACHMENT, detonating mines during a test. The Scorpion was a revolving drum with chains attached (insert); when in motion it acted as a flail and could clear a path through a mine field for infantry and other tanks to follow. It was developed by the British and used extensively by them in desert warfare.
TUNISIA
THE S-MINE. This German antipersonnel mine was used profusely and very effectively in Tunisia. It was nicknamed the Bouncing Betty because when stepped on it would bounce a few feet in the air before a secondary fuze set off the main explosive charge scattering some three hundred steel balls in all directions. The suspected presence of these mines naturally retarded troop movements during an advance. When retreating, the enemy would frequently use this mine to booby-trap buildings, dugouts or equipment left behind.
TUNISIA
DJEBEL TAHENT IN NORTHERN TUNISIA, known as Hill 609. The British Eighth Army advancing northward along the coast replaced the U. S. II Corps in the Gafsa-Gabès area in April 1943. The corps then moved northward about 150 miles and went into position from Béja to Cap Serrat. French forces along this coast came under U. S. II Corps, which advanced in two groups, a northern wing astride the Sedjenane road and a southern wing along the Béja road, both converging on Mateur. The hill shown above was a natural fortress blocking the approach to the plains of Mateur. On 28 April 1943 artillery pounded enemy positions and on the next day the infantry attack started. After a three-day infantry fight, supported by tanks, the hill fell on 1 May.
TUNISIA
JEFNA AREA, LOOKING EAST TO THE PLAINS OF MATEUR. The Jefna position, on the Sedjenane-Mateur road, was one of the strongest German defenses in northern Tunisia and included two heavily fortified hills commanding the road to Mateur: Djebel Azag (Green Hill) on the north and Djebel el Ajred (Bald Hill) on the south. On 13 April 1943, U. S. forces relieved the British and took positions on both sides of the road and the mountains along the valley. The fight for the two hills lasted until 3 May when the Jefna positions were outflanked by U. S. and French forces advancing toward Bizerte and the Mateur plain north of Jefna.
TUNISIA
INFANTRY AND ARMOR ADVANCING ON MATEUR. After the fall of Hill 609 the enemy pulled back leaving the road to Mateur open. This small village in the middle of a plain was the center of enemy road communications in the U. S. zone of attack. Its occupation on 3 May opened the way for the advance on Bizerte, the main objective of the U. S.-French drive. (Bottom: General Sherman M4A1.)
TUNISIA
GERMAN SIEBEL FERRIES. These diesel-powered, ponton-raft ferries were used to transport supplies from Italy and Sicily. They usually traveled in convoys and were often heavily armed with 88-mm. antiaircraft guns when moving toward Tunisia as well as with the lighter protection which they retained for the return trip. Of shallow draft, they could unload directly onto the beach, a factor which became especially important after the Allies had gained control of the air and subjected the Tunisian ports to severe bombing.
TUNISIA
GERMAN TRANSPORT PLANES, JU-52, under fire from Allied aircraft. Toward the end of the Tunisia Campaign, the Germans received reinforcements by air from southern Italy and Sicily, using several hundred transports in daylight flights. The Allies gradually built up a force of planes within striking distance of the Sicilian straits and on 5 April the planned attack on the aerial ferry service started. By the 22d the enemy had lost so many planes that daylight operations were discontinued; however, some key personnel and a limited amount of emergency supplies were flown in by night. (Upper left: medium bomber B-25.)
TUNISIA
LA GOULETTE WITH TUNIS IN DISTANCE. These two cities fell to the British on 7 May. The port of Tunis had been heavily damaged by Allied bombers, but damage in the city itself was small. La Goulette, at the entrance to the channel leading to Tunis, housed oil storage and general ship repair facilities which were put to immediate use by the Allies.
FRENCH MOROCCO
TRANSPORT TAKING OFF from a field in French Morocco for the Middle East. After the conquest of most of North Africa a string of airports became available. While the fighting in Tunisia was still going on, regular flights between the west coast of Africa, the Middle East, and India were being established. (Douglas C-54.)
TUNISIA
BIZERTE, THE MAIN OBJECTIVE of the French and U. S. forces of II Corps, fell on 7 May. Bizerte’s harbor and the important naval repair facilities at near-by Ferryville were to play important parts in future operations in the Mediterranean. The enemy had blocked the channel to the inner harbor by sinking ships at the entrance and had destroyed most of the port facilities not already wrecked by Allied bombings. The port, however, became operational a few days after capture; ships and supplies were assembled here for the invasion of Sicily. Insert shows some of the ships a few days before that invasion.
TUNISIA
ENEMY PRISONERS NEAR MATEUR. Allied troops took 252,415 prisoners, together with large quantities of equipment and supplies, when the enemy surrendered in Tunisia on 13 May 1943. Because of Allied air and naval superiority the enemy was unable to evacuate his troops. Of those captured, the Germans were among the finest and best trained troops the enemy had and he could ill afford to lose them.
EN ROUTE TO NORTH AFRICA
TROOP QUARTERS IN THE HOLD OF A TRANSPORT. After the fall of French Morocco and Algeria and while the fighting in Tunisia continued, men and supplies poured into the Mediterranean for use in Tunisia and in the assaults on Sicily and Italy. Bunks were placed in tiers everywhere possible in the transports. The convoy traveled blacked out, with port holes closed. Because of the overcrowded conditions, seasickness was practically universal during the first few days out of port. The men spent as much time as possible on deck.
ALGERIA
ARMY POST OFFICE AT ORAN. Mail from home was probably the most important of all morale factors and usually had first priority in spite of the fact that it occupied valuable shipping space needed for materials of war. Cargo space was saved with the V-Mail system by which letters were written on a special form, photographed on 16-mm. film at certain centers in the country of origin, then printed overseas. To encourage its use, V-Mail was sent by the fastest means available. Letters from men in the services, other than those by regular air mail, were sent free of charge.
ALGERIA
INFANTRY MEN IN TRAINING NEAR ORAN. Training centers for all arms were opened in French Morocco and Algeria soon after the end of hostilities there in November 1942.
ALGERIA
PARACHUTE TROOPS CHECKING EQUIPMENT before boarding planes for practice jump. These troops were essentially infantrymen and were armed with infantry weapons. Their boots, higher than the infantry shoes, were constructed to give ankles a maximum amount of protection when landing.
ALGERIA
PARATROOPERS DURING TRAINING JUMP. Light artillery, food, and light vehicles were dropped separately with different colored parachutes, or came in by glider.
ALGERIA
DOUGLAS C-47 TRANSPORT TOWING GLIDER. The gliders carried both men and equipment and could be landed in almost any flat pasture. The C-47 aircraft—the work horse of the war—was similar to the commercial DC-3, a standard type passenger carrier in the United States for some years prior to the war. The C-47, unarmed, was used during the war for carrying personnel and cargo of all sorts, towing gliders, dropping parachute troops, and parachuting supplies to isolated units and equipment to partisans behind enemy lines. The British called it the Dakota.
ALGERIA
AIRBORNE TROOPS loading a 75-mm. pack howitzer into a cargo glider during training. Although this form of air transport was not used during the hostilities in northwest Africa, it was employed in subsequent operations based in North Africa.
ALGERIA
TESTING A WATERPROOFED SHERMAN TANK on an African beach. These tanks were intended to go, during an assault, onto the beach with the infantry whenever possible. The main body of tanks would follow on LST’s as soon as the beachhead had been secured. The follow-up tanks, landed from the ship via ponton piers directly to shore, were not normally waterproofed. (Sherman tank M4A1.)
ALGERIA
LEND-LEASE EQUIPMENT FOR THE FRENCH ARMY. Lockheed fighter plane (top) and Sherman tank (bottom). In January 1943, it was agreed that the United States would equip the French divisions formed from units then in North Africa, but comparatively little modern equipment became available for them in Tunisia until the summer of 1943. (P-38; Sherman tank M4.)
ALGERIA
FRENCH TROOPS RECEIVING INSTRUCTIONS ON U. S. EQUIPMENT, in this case on the 105-mm. high-explosive shell. During the summer of 1943 shipments of arms and equipment for the French arrived in North African ports in increasing volume. Training was accelerated and by the end of the year two fully equipped French divisions were fighting side by side with the Americans and British in Italy. As more equipment became available, additional French divisions were sent to the front.
ALGERIA
QUARTERMASTER DUMP AT ORAN. Foodstuffs, stored in the open sometimes for months, suffered very little in spite of the hot African sun.
ALGERIA
FREIGHTER BURNING IN THE HARBOR OF ALGIERS. The cause of the fire was not determined. While air raids on Algiers caused little damage to shipping and military installations, serious accidents and fires, some of which aroused suspicion of sabotage, were not infrequent.
ALGERIA
WAACS WITH FULL FIELD EQUIPMENT arriving at a North African port. The bill establishing the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) became effective on 14 May 1942 and on 1 July 1943 a bill changing the status of the corps from an auxiliary serving with the Army to a component of the Army, Women’s Army Corps (WAC), became law. Most WAC duties in North Africa were of an administrative nature in offices of the various headquarters. Members of the Corps also worked in communications or other activities that could be handled as efficiently by women as by men.
ALGERIA
AIR FORCE MEN AT BREAKFAST IN THE DESERT. The mornings were often cold even in the summer and the men wore their heavy leather jackets.
ALGERIA
REPAIRING MOTOR OF A HEAVY BOMBER, the Boeing Flying Fortress. The sand and dust of the desert were hard on engines of all kinds. On the nose of the plane, swastikas indicate number of enemy aircraft shot down and bombs show number of bombing missions flown. (B-17.)
ALGERIA
CREW OF A HEAVY BOMBER before taking off on a mission. During the first few months after the landings, the Allied air forces were handicapped in their operations from North African bases through lack of suitable airfields. The lack of all-weather facilities such as hard-surfaced runways, taxiways, and hard-stands was particularly serious in the rainy winter season of 1942–43. In the area from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to the Tunisian border, there were only four air bases with any kind of hard-surfaced runways: Port-Lyautey, north of Casablanca; Tafaraoui, near Oran; Maison Blanche at Algiers; and the Bone airfield on the coast near the Tunisian border. (B-24.)
ALGERIA
DIGGING OUT A MIRED FLYING FORTRESS from the mud of a North African bomber base.
ITALY
BOMBING THE RAILROAD YARDS IN ROME on 19 July 1943. Note bombs bursting in railroad area at top of picture. More than 500 heavy and medium bombers from bases in North Africa took part in the first bombing of Rome. The heavy bombers concentrated on the yards in the city and suburbs while the medium bombers attacked airfields on the outskirts. Every precaution was taken to bomb only targets of military significance. The crews had been especially selected and carefully briefed and trained for this mission, with the result that few bombs fell outside the target area.
IRAN
THE PORT OF KHORRAMSHAHR, one of two Iranian ports operated by the United States, the other being Bandar Shahpur. These ports served for entry of lend-lease supplies en route to the USSR. By the fall of 1942, ports, highways, and railroads in Iran were sufficiently ready to handle increased traffic over the route through the Persian Gulf. The U. S. Army also operated the lighterage port of the Cheybassi in Iraq.
IRAN
THE PORT OF BANDAR SHAHPUR on the Persian Gulf. The voyage from New York around South Africa to the Persian Gulf ports averaged 70 days. When the Mediterranean route became available in 1943, the time was shortened to 42 days. This port, built on swampy land where the river Jarrahi empties into the gulf, has a semitropical climate. Both here and at Khorramshahr much of the work was done at night, and even then the temperature was around a hundred degrees Fahrenheit from March until October. The area is subject to torrential rains in winter. Docking space at both ports was often insufficient to accommodate all ships waiting to be unloaded, which necessitated the use of lighters.
IRAN
TRUCK CONVOYS WITH SUPPLIES FOR RUSSIA. From the ports on the Persian Gulf, shipments went to Kazvin and Tehran by road and rail. From these points movements were regulated by the Russians. During the entire period of active operations, from August 1942 to May 1945, more than 5,000,000 long tons of lend-lease cargo were moved through the Persian Corridor to Russia. The greatest monthly movement of freight through the corridor took place in July 1944, when approximately 282,000 long tons were delivered. The bulk of this total was moved by rail, the rest by truck and air.
IRAN
THE MAIN RAILROAD STATION AT TEHRAN (top) and freight train loaded with tanks bound for Tehran (bottom). U. S. troops from early 1943 operated the southern sector of the Iranian State Railway and the two Iranian ports. They constructed additional roads, docks, and other installations, and continued operation of aircraft and motor vehicle assembly plants. Diesel locomotives and rolling stock were brought in from the United States in large numbers.
IRAN
DELOUSING NATIVE WORKERS with DDT powder at Camp Atterbury, Tehran. At the peak as many as 40,000 native workers were employed by the U. S. Army, the majority as unskilled labor. American responsibility for moving supplies to the USSR led to the separation of the Persian Gulf activities of the U. S. Army Forces in the Middle East and the establishment of a separate organization called the Persian Gulf Command.
IRAN
QUALEH MORGEH AIRPORT AT TEHRAN. This was jointly occupied by U. S. and Russian air forces. Top picture shows a Douglas C-47 transport and a B-24 bomber. Bottom picture shows a detachment of Russian soldiers marching past U. S. transport planes.
IRAN
RUSSIAN PILOTS arriving at Abadan Airport, Iran. This airport, on an island in the Shatt al Arab near the head of the Persian Gulf, was the main assembly field for U. S. planes going to the Soviet Union through the Persian Corridor.