Decion at Kasserine - Day1 1st Battle

An now we get to the first battle. In this case it is an air raid. The Luftwaffe launched a raid on Sidi bou Zid with the FW 190 of SKG-10 at the very start of the campaign. Something that I will also recreate.

The game will be played using command decision. An unusual choice for a game that involves only aircraft and flak but I have never used this part of the rules. So it will be a good training exercise.

SKG-10 comprises 3 staffel each of three aircraft. Each staffel will arrive from a random direction to allow for some differences in navigation. They will then bomb the town then strafe units they pass on the way back to base.

The defenders are two 40mm bofors from A battery 443rd Coastal Artillery Battalion with the rest of Combat Command A acting as targets.

Now as to what happened from the various airstikes.  
1^st Staffel no effect
2^nd Staffel lost one aircraft but hit 2/17th artillery battalion on it strafing run causing losses of one light truck and two medium trucks
3^rd Staffel lost one aircraft no effect

Well that was interesting. The  airstikes were a complete failure against the town being able to do only morale tests. Of the strafing runs the 2/17 was especially hard hit and probably rendered inoperative for the rest of the command has it has almost no mobility left and the panzers are coming. The loss of two planes for the luftwaffe may have longer term consequences as the campaign unfolds.

Overall it was an interesting introduction to aircarft and they interact with ground operations. I think that there will be some thoughts on this later.

Allied positions around Sidi bou Zid

21st Panzer Division in Tunisia

Okay let us look at the 21st Panzer Division as at the start of the Kasserine battle


The division arrived in Tunisia as part of the withdrawal of the Afrika Korps from Libya after their defeat at the battle of El Alamein. Losses both during the battle and the retreat had reduced the division to shadow of its former self.

Fifth Panzer Army, War Diary (Extract), 24 January 1943

Upon its arrival it began the process of being rebuilt with 5th Panzer Army allocating these three battalions to the division. Panzer battalion 190 was intended to be part of the 90th Light division but had been diverted to Tunisia as part of the build up and had served as an independent battalion. It will eventually be re-badged as the II battalion of the 5th Panzer Regiment.

21st Panzer Division, Division Order for the Cap-
ture of the Faid Strongpoint, 26 January 1943

21st Panzer Division, Division Order for the Cap-
ture of the Faid Strongpoint, 26 January 1943

A brief sidebar it does eventually appear that the T2 battalion is absorbed into the 21st Panzer Division but I sa yet do not know if it ever returned to the Italian Brigade Imeriali .

After a brief respite, the division was given its first orders for an operation in Tunisia. An attack om the Faid pass. It also received some attachments from the Italian army. The above documents also show the task organization of those elements of the division involved in the battle.

The centre group is given an unidentified battalion  of the 104th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. So soon after the allocation of two march battalions to the division is indicative that the 21st is still absorbing replacements and as yet does not know which battalions are ready for action. There are two observations that can be made from this.  The first is that there is a third group within the division made up of either non-combat ready units or those detached from the divisions control. This can be seen later on as other units appear on the divisions roster. The second is that the 1st battalion of the 104th as the only combat ready battalion of the panzer grenadiers is composed of survivors of the retreat from Libya.

Fifth Panzer Army, Operation FRUELINGSWIND, 8 February 1943

Fifth Panzer Army, Operation FRUELINGSWIND, 8 February 1943

At the conclusion of the Faid pass battle new orders are issued in preparation for the the next battle. The reference to the static elements should be read as Kampfgruppe Pfeiffer which is placed under the control of 10th Panzer Division for at least the start of the attack.

21st Panzer Division, Division order for the attack on Sidi Bou Zid, 12 February 1943

21st Panzer Division, Division order for the attack on Sidi Bou Zid, 12 February 1943

We now get orders creating two kampfgruppes for the opening stages of the Kasserine battles. These are not the only elements of the division there are others that are not assigned to the three Kampfgruppes that we know of. They are the 580th Reconnaissance battalions, 609th Flak battalion. 220th Panzer Engineer battalion and the 155th Artillery Regiment.


The war diary of the 21st Panzer provides a comprehensive history of what the division was doing the campaign. Yet there are problems that exist within it.

The first is that it makes extensive use of the various unit titles such as 5th Panzer Regiment interchangeably with the various kampfgruppe title such as Stenkoff who is the Panzer Regiments commander. If you know who commands what and when this will be no problem but it certainly can be confusing at times.

The second is that it follows pretty much all units within the division. In this case it is Kampfgruppe Pfeiffer which starts the battle detached to the 10th Panzer Division. At some stage it returns to the 21st Panzer's control as on the sixteenth it is again attached to the 10th Panzer and does not return to the division until the eighteenth of February. There is also a reference to the kampfgruppe is now composed of a grenadier battalion an armoured battalion and two light batteries.

21st Panzer Division War Diary 14-23 February 1943

Third there are many references to the 104th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, many of these are followed by an A or B. It would appear that while there were for a while four battalions in the regiment they were operating in two separate half regiments.Of course they don't tell which battalions are assigned to each.

21st Panzer Division War Diary 14-23 February 1943

Now while there is no reference to the 104B leaving the divisions control it is recorded as returning. It is probable that it is somehow tied to Kampfgruppe Pfeiffer but there is no evidence of that.

21st Panzer Division War Diary 14-23 February 1943

Well that appears to cover the divisions changes upto the end of the Kasserine battle. I would like to say it is comprehensive and accurate but there are still a few more documents to be checked.

Hopefully there will be some covering the divisions history in the later battles.

Keeping score - one step foward, twelve back

Well a large package arrived with some new toys for my 15mm Soviets. The headline should have been the Russians are coming but I am claiming a stug III finished as well. Hmm, Russian hordes versus one solitary German a metaphor for the great patriotic war perhaps.

• Models purchased 17
• Models completed 11
• 15mm completed 51
• Scores are +6 plus -51 for the 15mm

Keeping score

Three bren carriers and 4 elephant crew

Models purchased 5
Models completed 10
15mm completed 51

Scores are -5 plus -51 for the 15mm 

Decision at Kasserine - plans

So if I am running a campaign what am I planning to do. Well to be correct what are the  Germans going to do? The starting point will be looking at what they wanted to do historically.
Overall the whole campaign in Tunisia, from the axis point of view has been one of reaction to Allied moves. Since the Allied landings in November the Germans and their Italian allies have gathered together a hodge podge of troops to build an army. With that army they have managed to stop the Allies from occupying at least part of French North Africa and from there driving into the rear of PanzerArmee Afrika completing its destruction.
The problem now lies in that the current front line offers little or no strategic depth. The Tunisia position really is a bridgehead with nowhere to hide. So the Germans have been launching a number of big and small attacks in order to improve their position. Immediately prior to this attack they have captured the Faid pass from the Allies.
Further 21st Panzer division from Panzerarmee Afrika has also completed a hasty refit. This gives the Germans two complete panzer divisions plus elements of two others.  This is the strongest force the Germans have had in Tunisia and will the strongest they will ever get.

So there is a strong temptation to strike but at what and where? This was the problem the Germans had and that I am also faced with. Where has been solved as I am recreating this battle. What has two basic options. The first is the narrow hook which will break through the allied line turn right and roll up the allied line until the sea is reached. The second is deeper bypassing the main allied force and striking deep into the Allies rear.
The debate about which plan to adopt caused quite a debate amongst the various axis headquarters. With everybody putting foward their opinion of what was best. Of course nobody was in agreement. Interestingly there does not appear any voice counseling caution among the axis and building up a larger force, everybody seems to favour some form of attack.
Even as the attack began the debate waged causing orders and objectives to change several times during the campaign. So after all this I will be essentially making it up as I go along at least once I take Sbeitla.The Germans will be tempted to pursue any opportunity that presents itself possibly leading to a loss of purpose and perhaps the eventual loss of the campaign.

Some referances on the Tunisian Campaign

Here is a list of some of the references being used. This list is definitely not definitive except of the limits of my knowledge and references. Nor are they presented in any particular order. It will also be updated occasionally.

Rommel' Lost Battalions by Douglas E Nash Army History No. 84 Summer 2012. A history of the various March battalions that formed the basis of musch of the Germans initial response.

CSI Battlebook 4-d  The Battle of Sidi Bou Zid. This is a student paper (albeit by a group of middle ranking officers) that comes with the following warning

CSI BATTLEBOOKS contain information compiled by CGSC student officers as a requirement of the regular course. The contents have not been edited or checked in detail for factual veracity. The views expressed in CSI BATTLEBOOKS are those of the authors and not necessarily those of CSI, CGSC. the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.

So you have been warned. Some of the facts do look definitely dodgy but the analysis looks quite interesting.

Italian Army in Tunisian Theatre Found this file on an unremembered website a while ago and my google-fu has failed me in finding it again. So I cannot vouch for its provenance but I seem to recall it was good.

Some miscellaneous websites

• http://dak.webseiten.cc/
• http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=532
• http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bob_mackenzie/Sidi%20Bou%20Zid.htm

From the Nafizger collection are these OOBs

• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943UEAA.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GMXA.pdf
• 5th Panzer Army, 4 March 1943
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GCMB.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GCMA.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GCDA.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GAMB.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GAAF.pdf

The next links point to the various supporting materials for US Army'S staff ride on the battle.  These are almost the perfect resource containing many important documents about the battle


Background Material

• Volume 1 Part 1
• Volume 1 Part2

Lesson Learned

• http://www.history.army.mil/books/Staff-Rides/kasserine/Vol-II-Part_1.pdf
•  Volume II Part 2
•  Volume 2 Part 3
• Volume 2 Part 4

Maps

http://www.history.army.mil/books/Staff-Rides/kasserine/Maps_Sketches.pdf

Another useful site is the sturmpanazer.com which posts a lot of orginal documents

• T78398_H1_43.pdf. A collection of various documents. So far the highlights are various organizational diagrams and feldpost numbers are 
• T78R406_H1_95_Part1.pdf. More of the above
• NARA_FMS_D174.pdf. A discusion about the commitment of 10th Panzer division to Tunisia

Keeping Score - giving in to temptation

Well the decision to walk into a store that I had not visited for a while resulted in the purchase of two models. Though they are now finished so the balance remains.

Models purchased 5
Models completed 7
15mm completed 47

Scores are -2 plus -47 for the 15mm