BORN IN NORTH AFRICA

HOW THE TUNISIA CAMPAIGN FORGED THE 'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP'

- WORDS LOUIS HARDIMAN

British and American forces united in a major operation during WWII, laying the foundations for an enduring alliance

American and British forces fought side by side in a major campaign for the first time when they landed in French North Africa.

During Operation Torch they swept east towards Tunisia and the Afrika Korps. The campaign forced Erwin Rommel to leave Africa in March 1943, never to return. Army Group Africa, now commanded by Hans-Jürgen von Arnim, surrendered two months later. The Tunisia Campaign (November 1942 to May 1943) became a foundational moment for the 'Special Relationship' that continues to define transatlantic geopolitics over eight decades later. It also secured the US' position as the senior partner in its alliance with Britain.

"We often forget that this was the greatest amphibious operation in the history of warfare at that time," Saul David, author of Tunisgrad: Victory in Africa, tells History of War. The Tunisia Campaign had vast strategic potential alongside its historic significance. Rommel's army was withdrawing from El Alamein in Egypt, through Libya, towards Tunisia. Should Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army pursue from the east and an Anglo-American force land in French North Africa to the west, Rommel would be caught in a Tunisian pincer. After destroying Rommel's forces, the Allies would control the entire North African seaboard, opening up shipping lanes in the Mediterranean and setting up an attack on Sicily.