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Mareth Line
Mareth Line, pre-war French defensive system in southern Tunisia designed to prevent Italian incursions from Libya. Situated a few kilometres south-east of Mareth, it ran from the sea 35 km. (22 mi.) inland to the Matmata Hills. On 19 March 1943, with the North African campaign in its final phase, the British and Commonwealth Eighth Army, commanded by Montgomery, began a frontal assault on it from the south while a specially formed New Zealand Corps, under Freyberg, struck inland to try to outflank it. Defending the line was Rommel's old German–Italian Panzer Army, now renamed the First Italian Army and commanded by Messe. When this drove off the frontal assault by Montgomery's 30th Corps, Montgomery, aided by Long Range Desert Group intelligence that the line could be outflanked inland, reinforced Freyberg. Supported by the Western Desert Air Force and artillery fire this strengthened left hook broke through the Tebaga Gap on 27 March. It threatened to surround Messe's forces which only escaped when Freyberg was held up outside El Hamma.
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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Mareth Line." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Mareth Line." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-MarethLine.html I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "Mareth Line." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-MarethLine.html |
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Mareth Line
MARETH LINE
The Mareth Line was designed by the French to protect Tunisia's southeastern flank against an Italian invasion from Libya. Twenty-two miles (35 km) long, it was named for Mareth, a small town southeast of Gabès. In November 1942, following the defeat of Gen. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps at al-Alamayn by British forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the Germans rushed reinforcements and equipment to Tunisia. The Mareth Line was the southern key to German defenses. Breaking through the Mareth Line became a major objective of Allied forces. In March 1943, the British Eighth Army—together with forces from France and New Zealand—assaulted the Mareth Line. An outflanking maneuver by New Zealand troops forced General Jürgen von Armin to withdraw his forces to Enfidaville, near the Cape Bon peninsula. BibliographyNelson, Harold D., ed. Tunisia: A Country Study, 3d edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988. larry a. barrie |
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Cite this article
Barrie, Larry A.. "Mareth Line." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Barrie, Larry A.. "Mareth Line." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424601768.html Barrie, Larry A.. "Mareth Line." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2004. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424601768.html |
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