Chapter 4 Summary and Analysis

Hitler had decided that North Africa had to be held at all costs. He wanted Tunisia to be the staging ground for his offensive. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was the Luftwaffe Commander in charge of all Axis air and ground units in North Africa. He planned to mount an attack to push the newly arrived Allied forces back to the sea. On November 9, German Luftwaffe fighters began landing at the airfield northeast of Tunis. Transport planes followed. The French forces surrounded the field but did not attack and eventually let the Germans leave the field. As more German troops arrived, they moved north to the port at Bizerte where the French "defenders" stood down and let the Germans take the city. Only one French commander (General Barre) remained loyal to the Allies and took his 9,000 troops out of the area to...