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| 05/01/1943 |
US Fifth Army is set up
in Tunisia under Lieutenant General Mark Clark. |
| 12/01/1943 |
Gen. Leclerc drives the last Germans
troops out of the Fezzan in Southern Libya with his Free French
forces from Chad. |
| 14/01/1943 |
Roosevelt and Churchill's summit Conference
opens near Casablanca in Morocco with the Allied joint staff
under General Dwight D. Eisenhower in attendance. |
| 15/01/1943 |
The Eighth Army begins a new push in
Libya. |
| 16/01/1943 |
The Eighth Army destroys Rommel’s
rearguard at Buerat, in Libya and is now just 300 miles from
the Tunisian frontier. Iraq enters the war against all three
Axis powers. |
| 18/01/1943 |
The Germans counter attack in Tunisia.
They gain ground against the Free French, but are repulsed by
British forces. |
| 19/01/1943 |
The Eighth Army captures Homs and Tarhuna,
near Tripoli. |
| 23/01/1943 |
The Eighth Army triumphantly enters
Tripoli. The Vice-Governor of Libya and prefect of Tripolitania
offer a formal surrender. |
| 25/01/1943 |
Prime Minister Churchill and President
Roosevelt end the Casablanca Conference with their announcement
of the demand for the unconditional surrender of Germany and
Italy. |
| 26/01/1943 |
The Eighth Army takes Zaula in Libya,
less than 100 miles from Tunisian frontier. |
| 29/01/1943 |
Advance units of the Eighth Army cross
the Tunisian frontier from Libya. |
| 31/01/1943 |
Eighth Army takes Zuara, near the Tunisian
frontier. |
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| 12/02/1943 |
Rommel and Von Arnim's
forces launch a counter attack against the American 2nd Corps
in central Tunisia, forcing them back in some disarray. |
| 14/02/1943 |
The 5th Panzerarmee under von Arnim,
forces the retreat of the US 2nd Corps, inflicting very heavy
losses in the battle of the Kasserine Pass. |
| 17/02/1943 |
The Eighth Army occupies Medenine in
southern Tunisia. 5th Panzerarmee's advance beyond the Kasserine
Pass is temporarily suspended. |
| 20/02/1943 |
Fierce fighting in continues in central
Tunisia after the German breakout through the Kasserine Pass,
but further offensive operations by the Afrikakorps are halted
in order for them to withdraw to the Mareth line. |
| 25/02/1943 |
The RAF begins a round the clock bombing
campaign in Tunisia, with 2,000 raids in the next 48 hours. |
| 26/02/1943 |
Von Arnim launches a five-day counter
attack in northern Tunisia, gaining some ground. Montgomery
issues the plan Operation 'Pugilist', which is to smash the
Mareth defensive Line in southern Tunisia. |
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| 09/03/1943 |
Von Arnim replaces Field
Marshal Rommel as C-in-C of the Axis forces in Tunisia and Rommel
is ordered by Hitler to leave Africa, never to return. |
| 19/03/1943 |
The British Eighth Army begins its
offensive against German and Italian defenders of the Mareth
line. |
| 20/03/1943 |
The Eighth Army continues its attacks
against the Mareth line in southern Tunisia. |
| 26/03/1943 |
The Eighth Army wins the battle of
the Mareth line, forcing the axis troops to retreat to the North. |
| 28/03/1943 |
The British First Army goes onto the
offensive in northern Tunisia. |
| 30/03/1943 |
Elements of the Eighth Army break through
at the Gabes Pass, over 100 miles into Tunisia and heads North. |
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| 06/04/1943 |
British and American forces
in Tunisia launch an attack against the 5th Panzerarmee. |
| 07/04/1943 |
Eighth Army joins up with the U.S.
2nd Corps in central Tunisia, while the British First Army makes
progress in the North. |
| 10/04/1943 |
British forces take Sfax, 150 miles
South of Tunis. |
| 11/04/1943 |
The British First Army takes Kalrouan,
100 miles South of Tunis. |
| 12/04/1943 |
The Eighth Army take Sousse, to the
East of Kairan and claim that 20,000 axis prisoners have been
taken in Tunisia since the 20th March. |
| 22/04/1943 |
The British First and Eighth Army's,
the U.S. 2nd Corps and Free French forces begin the final offensive
to destroy the axis bridgehead in Tunisia. |
| 26/04/1943 |
Axis losses in Africa for first 3½
months of 1943 are 66,000 killed, wounded and captured. |
| 28/04/1943 |
British forces repulse a last, desperate
Panzer counter blow in Tunisia. |
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| 03/05/1943 |
US troops take Mateur,
less than 50 miles Northwest of Tunis. |
| 05/05/1943 |
British forces break through the defences
of the 5th Panzerarmee to the South of Tunis. |
| 07/05/1943 |
Tunis falls to British First Army. |
| 09/05/1943 |
The unconditional surrender of all
axis troops in Tunisia takes at 11am. |
| 10/05/1943 |
The British First Army reaches Hammamet. |
| 12/05/1943 |
Surrender of all German and Italian
forces in Tunisia (130,000 German and 120,000 Italian prisoners).
General von Arnim and 25 other axis generals are claimed captured,
so ending the life of the once mighty 'Afrika Korps' and marking
the end of the three-year North African campaign. |
| 13/05/1943 |
Marshal Messe, the Italian C in C of
Tunisia, surrenders to Montgomery. |
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| 12/06/1943 |
King George VI lands in
Morocco, only his second sanctioned visit of the war to forces
overseas. |
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| 09/09/1943 |
Iran, under pressure from
the allies who occupy the country, declares war on Germany. |
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| 22/11/1943 |
The Cairo summit opens
between Churchill, Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek. |
| 28/11/1943 |
The Teheran summit conference opens
with Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, who discuss the future
of post-war Germany and Poland. |
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| 01/12/1943 |
The Conclusion of the Tehran
Conference, with the three Allies in substantial agreement on
the division of post-war Germany, the westward movement of the
Polish eastern and western frontiers and the summary execution
of 50,000 German officers. |
| 04/12/1943 |
The second Cairo conference
opens with Churchill, Roosevelt and the Turkish President Inonu. |
| 07/12/1943 |
The Cairo conference ends. |
| 20/12/1943 |
De Lattre de Tassigny meets de Gaulle
in Algiers before taking command of ‘Army B’, for
liberation of France. |
| 28/12/1943 |
The British military mission arrives
in Turkey to discuss the supply of arms and troops as agreed
at Cairo. However, the Turks make surprising new demands, which
cannot be met. |
