The Mareth Line, March 1943. The Afrika Korps is expelled from Libya and forced into Tunisia, pursued by the British 8th Army, fast in pursuit. The retreating Germans and Italians occupy the old French fortifications at the town of Mareth on the Tunisian coast ... and at least in my own accursed universe, not even the vaunted 8th Army could overcome those damn French fortifications.
I tried out a few different strategies for both sides, and neither really came to fruition. I used the last of the German armor in an offensive capacity to apply pressure to the British underbelly as they struck NW on Mareth. I managed to deal a knockout blow to the 2nd New Zealand Division, but I failed to achieve a further breakthrough. The 10th Panzer Division and the 164th Light Division pinned the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and pierced the British line, but their advance was halted by the 1st British Armored Division, held in reserve. Without further supplies, the German strike stalled.
The British nonetheless managed to pierce the first line of Italian defenses, but they couldn't dislodged the mixed units along the road. Their assault parallel to the wadis was repulsed 7-8 times (thanks in part to the presence of the, independent, 47th German Infantry regiment).
The one major victory for the British was their annihilation of the German airbase in Gabes; despite flak losses to their bombers in the initial attempts, the British managed to knock out the Axis base.
First the 7th British Armored (the Desert Rats) and later the 1st Armored Division as well, launched repeated assaults on Mareth after skirting the line around the Axis position on the coast road. Despite the massing of artillery, air strikes, and attrition to the supporting Italian units, the 5th Bersaglieri Regiment, the main anchor at Mareth, managed to hold the line without significant loss.
Next up: Scandinavia.
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