The battle I chose to write my Battle Analysis Evaluation on is, The Battle of El Guettar. You may be wondering what could be so amazing about this particular battle that I chose it and here are my reasons. First and foremost, one of my favorite Generals to ever take command was none other than, General George S. Patton also known as Old Blood and Guts. Secondly, the Americans really proved to the Germans what they were made of and that they had heart.
At this time, the Americans were fairly new to the war and the Germans weren’t expecting the Americans to be such successful fighters as they were, with the minimal experience they had by comparison.
The Battle of Guettar took place in Gafsa, Tunisia which is located in North Africa during World War II (WWII). It began on March 17, 1943 and lasted until April 7, 1943. The Battle was fought between the 1st Ranger Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, and the 9th Infantry Division ,which was led by General Patton, and the 11 Corp and the 10th Panzer Division, which was led by German General Jurgen von Armin in addition to help from Italian forces.
The campaign being fought at the time of the Battle of El Guettar during WWII was the North African Campain. Initially war in Africa started in 1940 when Italy had declared war with the help of Germany, against the British. The British later received assistance from the United States following Operation Torch in the later part of 1942.
The Germans were equipped with Tiger I tanks and half tracks armed with the very successful 88M L56 gun. This equipment was particularly successful because of the fact that it was capable of piercing the armor of Allied equipment. Speaking of Allies equipment, the Allies had half tracks, smaller tanks, artillery, and anit-tank weapons. What made the Axis forces dominant was that they had been used to fighting in Africa two years prior