Kasserine- The Pass

I can just picture the 88 on the hill as the Sherman's come around the corner

I think that sadly it is going to be the Panzer IIIs running into dug in 6pdrs and SP 75mm guns. Remember we're the ones attacking

Amazing how the site has become overgrown over the last few years.

Cheers
Martin

I think that sadly it is going to be the Panzer IIIs running into dug in 6pdrs and SP 75mm guns. Remember we're the ones attacking

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Cheers
Martin

Ah yes but the tactic was to lure enemy tanks onto the 88's

I've just come across this extract in Forgotten Voices Desert Victory and thought it might be of interest and give some insight of what it was like at Kasserine...

Lieutenant Tony Pawson
Platoon Commander, A Company, 10th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade

"The war grew more serious. We were sent in a long move by road to support the Americans who had been driven back at the Kasserine pass. At the end of the long drive we were halted by our company commander some three miles behind the pass. Our CO, Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Gore, decided to go up and make contact with the Americans. Fortunately for him there was an ambulance driving about quarter of a mile ahead, which was suddenly ambushed. His driver had just time to spin round and drive back. But we had no chance now of linking up with the Americans. Obviously, troops had infiltrated behind us. so we set up a defensive position some three miles short of the pass, while our carrier platoon drove off with a small ambush group.

I had the upsetting experience of seeing a Valentine of the Lothian and Border Horse being shot up by our own anti-tank guns. I heard the sergeant in charge starting to give the order to fire, and immediately screamed at him not to do so. I was unable to stop him, and the Valentine was hit. We were then told to withdraw and join the rest of the battalion. The next night one of our positions was overrun by the Germans, who approached it with a captured Valentine tank with gun reversed. The defenders were overrun. I wondered if the sergeant was right, and if the Valentine we had hit was a ruse.

The following night we were ordered to withdraw. I took my platoon back, keeping well away from the road in case there was any follow-up by the German tanks. When I had joined the company I was pleased to see large numbers of Crusaders and Valentines ready to go into battle. We were told to go into reserve behind a strongly held position. We took our positions without any thought that we would soon be in action again with so much strength in front of us.

At first there were no problems, with firing away in the distance, but it got nearer and nearer. By nightfall we suddenly saw tracer bullets and shells crisscrossing the hill in front, and the sound of tanks coming nearer and the scene of tanks and trucks blazing. I was sent forward on my own to recce and see what was happening. I went up to the crest crawling or running in short bursts, passing a tank, which seemed to be very courageously motoring on although it was on fire. I soon realised that it was an illusion, it was merely the wind blowing the flames in streams and giving the impression that it was still moving. I went to the crest and looked down on a sight of total confusion, burning tanks, burning trucks, and a large number of prisoners. All we could do was to prepare for a massive attack the following day. One section situated by the road had a tank pass so close to their slit trenches that a corporal got up and blasted the commander who was well out of his turret. The tank was eventually knocked out by one of our 25-pounder guns close by.

I counted the remaining tanks on our side, drawn up close by, a mere Seventeen Valentines and Crusaders. I was relieved during the day to see the anti-tank platoon drive up, with 17-pounders, which had just been delivered; the only anti-tank gun we had to match the German 88. The guns were sited in an oppressive silence, and waited for the expected onrush. Certainly the Germans could have overrun us without any trouble had it not been for the anti-tank guns. I was sent forward the next morning to find out what was happening as we had ceased to see any tanks. To my surprise I found the whole place deserted on the other side of the hill: just knocked out tanks, knocked-out trucks, and general confusion. But of the Germans, there was no sign."