What was the cause of the Battle of Kesselring Pass?

What was the cause of the Battle of Kesselring Pass?

According to Rommel's instructions, the Germans began to scout the Kesselring Pass on February 1943. This situation led the US military to believe that the Germans would attack soon. Colonel Alexander N. Stark, head of the 26th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, was ordered to command the neighboring troops. This is the famous "Stark Force".

19 In February, the Germans attacked Stark's troops in an attempt to seize and control the Kesselring Pass. The Germans launched an unusually fierce attack on the American troops who had no actual combat experience. At 10 the next morning, the American defense line began to collapse and had to retreat to Chamra Mountain. A large number of idle weapons and equipment fell into German hands.

Faced with these victories of the Germans, the Allies were worried about their situation. At that time, due to bad weather conditions, allied planes could not take off to support the defense line. On February 2 1 day, the Germans headed for Talai and Chamra Mountain, only to be stopped by the Allied B armored battle group at Chamra Mountain. However, the 26th British Tank Brigade was repelled to 4 miles south of Talai.

At about 22 o'clock that night, the Germans finally began to retreat. The Allies immediately made a temporary defense plan, which included organizing the artillery units of the British and American armies into one unit. At that time, the whole battlefield situation was extremely critical, but in fact, this tension will soon ease.

The Germans gradually realized that it was almost impossible to break through the allied lines. By the afternoon of February 22nd, Rommel made it clear that he thought it meaningless to continue attacking. Mainly based on the following reasons:

First of all, Rommel was convinced that the allied forces suffered heavy losses and could not attack again in a certain period of time; Second, Rommel thinks that Kesselring Pass is not suitable for more mobile operations (especially because of the bad weather and very bad road conditions). Thirdly, he thought that the best solution was to suspend the attack on Kesselring Pass and turn his attention to southern Tunisia and attack the British Eighth Army. Finally, Rommel ordered the Germans to return to the starting point. In this way,1on the morning of February 24th, 943, Kesselring Pass returned to the allied hands again.

After the defeat of El Alamein, Rommel led African troops to retreat westward. After several clever escapes from Montgomery's pursuit, it gradually approached Tunisia's Fifth Armored Army, led by General Hans von Anim, the reinforcements of the African army.

In others' eyes, the African legion is already a candle in the sunset, and it is only a matter of time before it is finally eliminated by the allies. However, the "desert fox" never thought so. When the two allies are moving towards the center and their own forces are shrinking and getting closer, they actually enjoy the strategic advantage of being in the center-they can concentrate on attacking any opponent.

Marshal Rommel became a patient because of overwork at this time, but as an offensive general, he absolutely didn't want to close his trip to Africa for several months. In addition, Rommel also learned that Hitler, the Fuehrer, was considering replacing the command of German troops fighting in Africa with General Anim. So, in any case, he urgently needs a victory to prove that he is a "desert fox".