It was the first major battle between the United States Army and the Wehrmacht. The cast of characters included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lloyd Fredenhall, Orlando Ward, Terry Allen and Theodore Roosevelt for the Americans. Harold Alexander, Bernard Montgomery and Kenneth Strong for the British, and Albert Kesselring, Jurgen von Arnim, and Erwin Rommel for the Germans. When it was over, the U.S Army was bloodied, Fredenhall was relieved [replaced by George Patton] and disunity of command had robbed the Germans of a chance for a major strategic victory.
When the Allies landed in Algeria and Morocco [Operation Torch],it became incumbent on Erwin Rommel and Panzerarmee Afrika to break contact with the British Eighth Army, and move west, and after disobeying Hitler's Stand and Fight to the Last bullet order after the heavy losses at El Alamein, that was precisely what Erwin Rommel did. The only danger was being caught in retreat by 8th Army. Luckily for Rommel, the commander of 8th Army, General Bernard Law Montgomery was just about a guarantee that wouldn't happen. So Rommel withdrew across Libya, heading first for Tripoli, and then, eventually, Tunisia.
Rommel intended to withdraw his Panzerarmee to either Sicily, or Italy. His only concern was saving his veteran troops. His concerns weren't Hitler's. Instead, Hitler began sending reinforcements to Tunisia. First an airborne unit, Luftwaffe assets and some 88s. Then Panzer units [including TIGER tanks], and infantry, plus supplies and fuel. Rommel was ordered to link up with these units, which were designated 5th Panzer Army, and put under the command of Gen. Jurgen von Arnim.
Von Arnim had first contact, and drew first blood, with the Allies in the northern area of western Tunisia. East west movement depended on passes through the western Dorsal mountains, and the first Allied probes ran into a well organized if scant defense and were stooped cold, and then the weather broke. So did Allied momentum, and the action moved further south until the Allies front lines were in open ground in front of the mountains.
Holding the southern part of the front was the U.S II Corps, under the command of Lloyd Fredenhall. Fredenhall had a reputation far in excess of his ability. He did not get along with the commander of his armored division, Orlando Ward, and frequently bypassed him when issuing orders for the division's combat commands [A,B, and C]. Fredenhall had his engineers blasting a Corps headquarters out of a rock formation up a gully- 65 miles behind the lines. He issued no orders for the deployment of mines, or any other defenses, never inspected the fronts, and issued orders in 'Fredenhall code', i.e., almost in clear, over the radio [he referred to 'move the big elephants' when he meant his tanks, for example]. Unfortunately, II Corps was in a very strategic location. And that fact drew the attention of one Erwin Rommel, Field Marshal of the German Army, and commander of Panzerarmee Afrika.
Rommel realized that if he could break through the American lines, and drive northwest to Thala, he could sever the supply line for ALL the Allied forces, and force their retreat. His major problem was the command structure he was working in. For the operation to have any success, he needed the 5th Panzerarmee's 10th Panzer Division, as well as some of the TIGERS. But they were under Von Arnim's command, and Von Arnim was not under Rommel's. And Von Arnim, who had some operations planned for the northern front, refused, at first, to cooperate. It took Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, the overall German commander in the Mediterranean to sort it out, and get Rommel his armor.
The operation started before Valentine's day, with U.S armor attacking a German ambush at Sidi Bouzid. The Americans were beaten to a pulp. A second attack within the week fared no better at Sbteila. And then Rommel rolled forward with the 10th Panzer [parts of it], and his own 21st Panzer and 90th Light infantry. They broke through the Americans at Kasserine Pass on Valentine's Day, and moved to the rear of the Allied line, although now their objective had been changed to Tabessa. The Germans engaged Ward's armor [piecemeal] and mostly destroyed it, and drove back the 1st Infantry Division. But the first rallied and began to hold, the Germans began to take more casualties, and Von Arnim pulled the 10th Panzer. Rommel called off the offensive, withdrew through the Pass, and turned to attack 8th Army, now at the Mareth Line [French fortifications meant for the Italians]. That attack failed [ULTRA intercepts] Rommel then flew to the Wolfschannze to get Hitler's permission to withdraw the Germans and Italians from Africa. Hitler refused, and sent Rommel on sick leave. Rommel never saw Africa again. Kasserine was his last great victory.
When the smoke cleared, Patton took II Corps, Fredenhall was promoted and sent back to the States to some training command. He never saw Africa, or a combat command again. Ward was relieved and sent back to the States as well. Nothing happened to Eisenhower.
In May, 1943, the Axis surrendered in Tunisia. the Allies bagged 325,000 POWs, far more than the Russians captured at Stalingrad. The sun had set on the Afrika Korps.
