Wartime History
After the Allied success at El Alamein, the German and Italian forces had conducted a fighting retreat across northern Libya and into Tunisia. General Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army paused at Medenine to prepare for the difficult assault on the Mareth Line and the Italian First Army (comprising the remnants of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps and the Italian armies), now commanded by General Giovanni Messe, attempted a pre-emptive attack (Operation Capri). When this failed, the axis troops withdrew to the Mareth Line and awaited the British attack.
Read more about this topic: Mareth Line
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