Mopping Up DTO (id:#59173)

ASL Digest (ASL Digest # 3.10 ID: PM 1)   [next]   [previous]

East of El Guettar, Tunisia 1943-02-16 (7 others)

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Overview:

During the 15th, Rommel's Afrika Korps rolled through El Guettar in the opening stages of "Operation Morgenluft". Northwest lied the soon-to-be-famed Kasserine pass. East of El Guettar, thought abandoned by the first elements of the DAK, were an American Divisional HQ camp. The staff personnel had already left, but two platoons were left behind to wait for trucks to move them and an AA piece that had arrived there by mistake.  When the first German vehicles appeared the G.I.'s ducked into the foxholes left in hope of not attracting any attention. The only thing that moved was a TD that tried to get into an ambush position behind a hillock. Before it could inflict any damage, two shots from a scout car caused the TD to end up immobilized just behind the hillock while the now warned tanks just moved out of the way. Unable to return fire, the crew abandoned their vehicle and ran for cover. The location of the TD was noted, but once silent, the Germans didn't spend any time investigating the area. It would take a day before they sent some support tanks from a Tiger Batallion to make sure that there were no Americans in the area.

Defender: American (1st Infantry Division and 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion with Anti-Aircraft Detachment)  

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