#OTD 31 March 1943, Tunisia. Tomorrow, Hans von Luck will leave for Germany to persuade Hitler to accept an evacuation plan for Axis troops from Tunisia. That evening, squatting with fellow officers under the palms everything appeared 'so peaceful and unreal.' p. 156 tinyurl.com/c5reurbb

#OTD 31 March 1943. Dublin. To prepare for his dinner with Irish PM last night, Archbishop Spellman had a briefing about the the man described as a 'mystic... obsessed with the wrongs done to Ireland over the centuries'. It didn't help De Valera 'sat in stony silence'. p.131. tinyurl.com/2evjuv5u

#OTD 31 March 1943. Americans read that Pittsburgh journalist, Al Gough, was killed in action. In a recent letter to his colleagues back home, Gough had written, 'I am the happiest man in the world. You have no idea of the wallop a guy can get out of a thing like this.' 'Times Leader', p 6

#OTD31 March 1943. #WW2. USA. Through the press and its maps, most American citizens KNOW where North Africa is: many can even point to Kasserine / Mareth Line on a map. And they know it rains [This clip comes from Minnesota. In 2026 even as a Brit, I know where that is, and that it snows.]

Last night, for research purposes, I watched the Patton movie. It has a similar scene .. Patton visits hospital, pins a medal for wounded soldier. Tears. Unlike Monty, Patton then slaps a shaking traumatised patient, accuses him of cowardice, and orders him to the front. Leadership styles.

I love this. TODAY, at the Ennejma Ezzahra Palace in Tunisia we will photograph some objects left behind after Axis and Allied forces were in occupation. Neglected and ignored, these items might form the heart of a small display to reawaken lost memories of World War II in North Africa. ‘a suivre’.

#OTD 30 March 1943. Dublin. Roosevelt has sent bishop Spellman to 'ease Ireland hostility towards England'. The job was practically impossible, 'but Spellman undertook it anyway'. Tonight dinner with US Minister to Ireland David Gray. Irish PM de Valera will be there. p 131, tinyurl.com/39hu6mr9

#OTD 30 March '43. Tunis. General von Arnim instructs Colonel Hans von Luck to fly to Hitler's HQ and lay before him a plan for evacuation of 130,000 men from Can Bon. Luck asks: 'How how should I, an insignificant frontline soldier, get anywhere with Hitler?' p 155 tinyurl.com/2ajck4db

#OTD 29 March 1943. #WW2 Andre Gide in occupied Tunis: 'Events seem to be about to take a precipitous turn.The famous Mareth Line” fell to the Eighth Army the day before yesterday, six thousand prisoners already and a large amount of equipment. 'Gide Diaries' Vol. IV: p 196. tinyurl.com/5mxadysk

I'm of course just dipping my toes back into the model-making world after many years so I'm getting ahead of myself, but I feel like this much-photographed "Now entering Germany" sign erected by the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division in Neu-Lauterbourg would be an excellent #histscalemodels diorama prop

#OTD 28 March 1943 #WW2 Tunisia. With the 8th Army during their attack and capture of the Mareth Line. Image NA 1456 'Mareth Shower bath. It may be crude but it's one way of keeping clean.' Photo: Capt. Keating IWM tinyurl.com/yzjm5u5z

#OTD Sunday 28 March 1943.TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN. Label: Thanks giving Service and Holy Communion for an RHA battery within sight of the Mareth Forts. For the faithful, just being alive is a lot to thank God for. Photo: Captain Keating No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section IWM tinyurl.com/39972hh3

#OTD 28 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisia. The breakthrough ... Allied tanks advance through El Hamma. 'Crusader tanks are going by as they push on after the retreating enemy forces.' Photo: Sgt Johnny Silverside No. 2 Army Film and Photo Section (wrong date transcribed) IWM photo: tinyurl.com/4nh25tkd

#OTD 28 March 1943. Tunisia near the Mareth Line. Neil McCallum's morning was quiet. 'Nothing fell near us. Our own guns were silent ... there was nothing but the strange native silence of the Tunisian morning, and the sun grew stronger in a peaceful Sabbatical calm.' He takes off his socks

i write about Rodolphe d’Erlanger who built Ennejma Ezzahra in Sidi Bou Said. The man who commissioned these boats was his grandfather John Slidell, Confederate envoy to France. The banker who raised the money to pay for them was his father Emile d’Erlanger who married Slidell’s daughter Mathilda.

#OTD 28 March 1943, long before he became President of the USA, Eisenhower was directing the Tunisian Campaign and finally had just seen his troops blast through the Mareth Line and meet up with the Brits. A fitting memorial moment.

#ODT 28 March 1943 in Tunisia the US and British forces finally met up after breaking through the Mareth Line: the start of a genuine Allied army, able to fight together. This picture below is the end result. Love it.

#ODT 28 March 2026, Carthage Tunisia. I have failed to report #OTD 28 March 1943 #WW2 Tunisian Campaign. Largely because I was drafting a funding proposal to raise awareness of those very issues. So instead, here’s the kind of nitty gritty debate about protocols I am having to learn.

#OTD in 1943, Gafsa, Tunisia. British 1 and 8 Army link up. #WW2 #HISTORY

Im not one to promote the military / hardware side of war but through enthusiasts like @rgpoulussen.bsky.social i recently got hooked on Valentine tanks … and since they also feature in Tunisia … I have to repost.

#OTD 27 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisia...the Mareth Line ... '4.5 Medium guns bombarding the Mareth line' One of many images shot today... The Allies are breaking through... tinyurl.com/ej6hyznh

#OTD 26 March '43. #WW2, Tunisia. Andre Gide reports news that 'The battle is raging in the south... Germans prepare to exit via Cap Bon.. .they expect Tunis to be bombarded..,.Trenches are dug along avenue Jules Ferry...' 'we shall certainly be in the thick of it!' p 193, tinyurl.com/bddfv3xd

#OTD 26 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisia: Mareth Line. Correspondent Philip Jordan is at General Terry Allen's HQ some miles east of Gafsa. 'a ravishing oasis ... a hidden world ... hot sunlight ... a garden ... rich earth ... peach blossom.. fig trees ... little carrots.' p.214. tinyurl.com/4j685ydp

#OTD 26 March 1943. #WW2 Mareth Line with Alan Moorehead, feeling guilty about 'Bill' the young lad they sent to his death that morning. By dusk they have still not broken through to Gabes. When will it end? As they drive back to camp it starts to rain. Again. p.137 tinyurl.com/4cvjsatm

Yesterday in 1943. Tunisia: Mareth Line. British Army Dental Mechanics at work in the open air, checking patients, setting up, finishing and polishing dentures. For many soldiers, this is the FIRST time they have accessed free dental care. Dentures are a miracle! IWM, tinyurl.com/2v2huu7w

#OTD 25 March 1943. #WW2 Near Mareth Line. "Back to nature' a party of Jocks made a dash for the showers. Credit: Alex McClaren of the No 2 Army Film & Photo Section IWM NA1489 tinyurl.com/443ayv9x

#OTD 26 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisia: Tne Allies are breaking through the Mareth Line... 'We make Camp within Sight of the Medenine Hills : the assembly point for our attack on the Mareth Line, March 1943 Alex Ingram painted this a few days ago... Art.IWM ART LD 5891 tinyurl.com/ms96uk8w

#OTD 25 March 1943. Tunisian Campaign. After a day's fighting Heinz Schmidt hunkers down for the night. He sends an ambulance man to tend to the wounded and collect identity tags off the dead. The Americans see his Red Cross armband and do not fire. 'Chivalry in Warfare' p.232 tinyurl.com/4562c8b6

#OTD 25 March 1943. #WW2 Gafsa Tunisia: Heinz Schmidt, having found Italians cowering in a cave, is now shocked to see fellow Germans fleeing from the enemy. He comments: 'This would never have happened in Rommel's old Afrika Corps. We are facing defeat in Africa.' p 232. tinyurl.com/4562c8b6

#OTD 25 March 1943, Algeria. Ines Robb' article describes a visit to the home of the Caid Bendali. A 'jolly roll-poly man' and 'an important, powerful and staunch ally' the Caid spotted Robb in muddy army pants - a 'sensational event' - and invited her in for mid-morning coffee and honey cakes.

#OTD 25 March 1943: El Guettar with Lt Schmidt, former aide to Rommel, who has advanced, but cannot yet see the enemy. He discovers a cave in which Italians are hiding. They have no water, but offer to share their 'buono vino rosso' with Schmidt and his men. p.230 tinyurl.com/42cubc7e

In January 1943, Margaret Bourke White was on a bombing raid over Tunisia for LIFE magazine. In September this same year, she will be back in Tunisia, staying at the Ennejma Ezzahra Palace, while Captain Sally Bagby is there. Women in Uniform in #WorldWar2

#OTD 25 March '43. El Guettar. 10th Panzer Commander von Broich orders Lt. Hans Werner Schmidt to advance and 'stop the Americans at all cost.' 'If the line is broken it will be the end of all Rommel's forces. Do your best'. Schmidt orders his men: 'Upload weapons!' p.229 tinyurl.com/42cubc7e

#OTD 25 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisia. Reporter Philip Jordan near Gafsa, writes his diary by candlelight in a half-bombed house where he is living 'in greater comfort than it sounds.' 'A glorious hot day: I was 'made drowsy by the perfume of miles of wild narcissi.' p.212 tinyurl.com/4j685ydp

Around this day in 1943, Mareth Line, Tunisia. "Fritz and Tommy". #WW2 #HISTORY

#OTD 24 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisia near Nabeul. Bombadier Spike Milligan and his mate are making music. Edgington is banging out popular tunes on an old piano. Spike, noting the floor looks unsafe, stands in the doorway blowing his trumpet. The inevitable disaster. p. 122 tinyurl.com/5392kncr

#OTd 24 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisian. Alan Moorehead at El Guettar. The artillery major tells the commander of his battery to look for targets for his tanks. 'Get Bill to run out after them in his jeep' But the enemy sees Bill in his jeep. The day end badly for Bill. p. 135 tinyurl.com/bdjzykdm

#OTD 24 March 1943. Ralph Ingersoll, reporter-turned-soldier. has survived El Guettar with the US Rangers. He watches Italians soldiers, dressed in patched rags, being interviewed by a British padre in Italian. They are 'anxious to please'. Ingersoll, 'Battle' p. 165 tinyurl.com/4bub974a

#OTD 24 March 1943. Maknassy southern Tunisia. Omar Bradley's account of Patton instructing Ward to take the lead in the attack on Djebel Naemia. Ward survives the day, though slightly wounded. Later, Patton decorates him with a Silver Star. D'Este 'Patton' p 477. tinyurl.com/2zv554wv

#OTD 24 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisia. Orlando Ward's men below Djebel Naemia, picked off by Germans snipers like ducks in a shooting gallery. By phone, Patton instructs Ward to lead his men from the front and 'get that hill'. 'Don't come back till you've got it.' Atkinson, 'Army at Dawn' p 638

#OTD 23 march 1943. #WW2 Tunisian Campaign. Battle for El Guettar and Sened Station. Such is the power of the photographs taken by Eliot Elisofon for LIFE magazine that his work features in an exhibition 'Tunisian Triumph' held at MoMA in New York four months later. MoMA tinyurl.com/dvcerum4

#OTD 23 March, 1943. 'New Yorker' writer Jo Liebling is also in El Guettar, at the Battle for Sened Station He hears about legendary Mollie / Molotov who captured several hundred Italian soldiers. Liebling dedicated 18 pages to writing Mollie's story. Starts page 24. tinyurl.com/mux4rtk8

#OTD 23 March '43. Tunisia, El Guettar. Patton Diary 'Went to bed in full pack except shoes and coat. Nothing happened. At 6.30 Terry Allen phoned that he was being attacked by 100 tanks - actually there were 50.' 'The Lord helped me a lot today.' Patton Diary 42/78 tinyurl.com/4fmhccva

#OTD 23 March 1943. London. Roosevelt sent Archbishop Spellman to confront 'prima donna' de Gaulle and read him the riot act'. In this account, de Gaulle was 'noticeably affected'. p.130, tinyurl.com/39hu6mr9 de Gaulle describes the encounter very differently! p.107, tinyurl.com/yzwpd7pe

#OTD 23 March '43. London. Archbishop Spellman threatens de Gaulle he will be 'condemned to remain in England ... while France is liberated without him'. De Gaulle counters that 'It's not 'Liberation' if the Allies impose their will on the French people.' Touché p. 107 tinyurl.com/yzwpd7pe

#OTD 23 March 1943. London. De Gaulle agrees to meet with Archbishop Spellman - an emissary of President Roosevelt no less. The 'eminently pious bishop' proceeds to lecture de Gaulle on the importance of 'Liberty, equality and charity'. Next post: de Gaulle's response. p.106. tinyurl.com/yzwpd7pe

#OTD 23 March 1943. Algiers. Reporter Philip Jordan gets the good news 'The Eighth has cracked Mareth Line'. He predicts the war might soon be over. It's interesting to note that nobody on the Allied side is aware that Rommel left the country almost two weeks ago. P.211, tinyurl.com/5n7w3p8b

#OTD 23 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisian Campaign: The battle for El Guettar. Reporter Ralph Ingersoll is so impressed by his experience here he covers it at length in this work: 'The Battle is the Payoff' (1943) Vivid writing, fresh in his memory. page 100 onwards. tinyurl.com/4dvx9rd6

#OTD 23 March 1943. #WW2 Tunisian campaign El Guettar. By the end of the day Patton in better spirits. One participant commented 'probably the greatest training benefit of the Battle of El Guettar was learning that the opponent was not ten feet tall.' p. 474 tinyurl.com/hk4mufzh

#OTD 23 March 1943. El Guettar. Reporters and photographers fighting their own battles to capture the essence of war: Rare colour photos from Eliot Elisofon in el Guettar World War pictures on Facebook: LIFE Magazine Archives - Eliot Elisofon Photographer tinyurl.com/3zxhfv4z