Battle for Sbiba (Feb 16-22, 1943)

As mentiond in my other post, this is the second problem i'm facing in my african 1943 research. I know quite a bit more about this battle so rather then just ask random questions I thought i'd contribute a bit more to the board by putting in what I know.

I'd very much like to know more, especially from the other forces involved, especially british tanks perspectives (including who they were) and to see if I can find any further personal accounts of the action from that day from other perspectives. From the article posted below by J.P Elliott, I think they were Churchil tanks; so this might be one for Gerry.

Setting:
As part of the surprise 2 pronged attack by the Africa Corps on Kasserine/Sbitla the germans moved north through Sbitla to attack Sbiba; as panic began to set in across the allied lines, the "plumbers" (british 1st guards brigade) were rushed in to stop to leak. Upon finding the pulmbers and the 18th USA RCT heavily dug in, the germans probed the defences, but finding the going too tough compared to the gains already made in the south west, turned their attention instead to Thala and Tbessa. Whilst the Kasserine prong of the battle was initially successful, the attack on Sbiba was turned back.

WIKI MAP (courtesty of hyperwar) Google Map: 2nd Bn

War Diary: (2nd Bn Coldstream Guards)

Feb 16th. (sic)
1000. Bn Commander met the Bde Comd.
1430. Bn starts to exchange posns with 8 A&SH 2 miles west. Bn relinquished all responsibility of defence of area. Bn at 2 hrs notice with TCVs standing by.
1945. Last Coy in position.

Feb 17th.
0815. Commander went to bde and then on to recce Bn defensive posn 2 miles south of SBIBA.
1130. Bn column departed and arrived 1815 hours. 1st Gds Bde on the right of SBIBA – SBEITLA Rd. 18 CT on left. 3 Gren Gds held rt of line.

Feb 18th.
Bn positioned and dug in by noon.

Feb 19th.
0830. Tanks reported then came into view in front of FDLs. They were engaged by arty.
1300. Tanks approx 30 moved round to left of Bn posn in front of 18 Ct. Heavily engaged. 5 tanks were destroyed incl one by fwd 2pndr
No other A/t guns opened up.

Feb 20th.
0800. Tanks reported but not seen.
1100. Inf retreated up the Speilta – Sbiba Rd.
1000. Debussing. Engaged by arty.
1200. A Bn of Inf advanced into axis Speita – Sbiba Rd coming to within 800x of Btns FDLS then crossed to 15 CT front.
1300. Arty engaged Inf and did tremendous damage. Also Btns 3” mortars

Feb 21st.
0900. Direct on 1 Coy HQ by enemy arty which was lightly shelling Bn 7 D.L.S. 9 casualties. Two fatalities incl CSM. Considerable arty activity. Enemy seems to have withdrawn most of its forces.
1700. Recce on force by 7 A Tanks & 14 pl towards feature 3 miles along the road. A/Tk & inf resistance encountered. 3 A Tanks knocked out. 1 man wounded.

Feb 22nd.
2200. Withdrawal of defensive line. Bn moved to shorten front.

Personal Account of the Battle: John Elliot (Source: Wartime news)

 

Hi Adam,

The key to the successful outcome of the battle was the capture of 'Steamroller Farm' following which two Churchills of 51st Battalion Royal Tank Regiment successfully climbed to the top of the overlooking Djebel Kralled.
Dominating the valley these two tanks inflicted great damage on the Germans.

Here's the relevant appendix to 51st RTR's war diary:
51st RTR

For an excellent map of the area go to refernce 45/35
Tunisia

Cheers,

Gerry

 

Hi Gerry -
I shall be in the UK in May - where will you be ?
Cheers

 

Hi Gerry; thanks very much for getting back to me on this one. I'm actually inquiring regarding the defence of Sbiba on Feb 19th-21st; not the battle of steamroller farm which took place on the 28th Feb. The guards were whisked round to the defence of Thala after this conflict so the two followed on from one another quite quickly.

John elliots account mentions churchills (from the source above) on the 19th/20th/21st:

"A thick early mist had given the 21st Panzer Division excellent cover as they moved across the mile-long plain in front of us. By some act of God, the mist lifted when they were barely half way. They were now in an ideal killing ground situation. Carrying my boots and socks, I hobbled to the top of our ridge. From here I could see a number of German tanks - I stopped counting after twenty - and supporting infantry advancing towards us. I could hear the excited, though precise, words of command by the 25 pounder gunners. Their remarkable team work had me spellbound. Shell after shell was rammed into the breach-block, fired, then ejected. I cannot speak too highly of British gunners. They came to my rescue on many occasions in Tunisia and Italy.
The Churchill tanks then opened up behind us with their six pounders, as did our battalion with their antiquated two pounders. Shells whined, hissed and exploded around us. Bullets whispered over our heads from both directions. From well behind us, American ‘Long Toms’ opened up with 7" shells. Their first salvo fell on 14 Platoon positions, killing a Guardsman who had the same name as me. Many thought that I had been killed. The ‘Long Toms’ quickly adjusted the range and along with the guns of the RHA, Churchills and others, soon had several Panzers on fire. Suddenly one of the Churchills behind us was badly hit, severely wounding the driver in the legs. Cpl Spencer and I went to his assistance after his mates had pulled him clear. He died shortly later.

 

The account goes on:


"The battle continued through the early hours and we quickly took up firing positions. We opened up on a solitary German running up the ridge in front of us. He stumbled short, picked himself up and disappeared over the ridge. All of our tanks were now going hell for leather towards the ridge. To my amazement, they rattled to the top, stopped, and were silhouetted against the skyline, against all military orders that said, “never stand on a skyline”. Horrified, I watched as all four were hit and set on fire."

And the MO's personal diary on the 19th:

"We gradually got the better of them, with very low casualties on our side . The only real tradgedy was two of our tanks getting hit - four casualties from this, all very badly wounded. Ghastly wounds. Two of the 16/5th officer who were on our ship."

Note that the casualty lists of the tanks aren't automatically wrong: they could just be recounting different days. I suspect John (first quote) is talking about the counter attack on the 21st.

What makes this more interesting from a churchil point of view is that on the 21st the MO writes that:

"I believe this was the first occasion on which the new churchill tanks were ever used in action."


And this is not the first time I have read this statement (i.e. that this was the first use of the new churchill).

 

Casualties on Geoff's Search Engine suggest 142nd Regt RAC. This was formed from 7 Bn Suffolk Regt and there are ~40 pages devoted to them in Nicholson's History of the Suffolk Regiment 1928-1946. (NMP have reprinted it and there's still a day to go on there current 20% off sale.)
Now to read it...

 

It's them:

 

Also interesting is the claim in "The Coldstream Guards" (Howard & Sparrow) that 17 pounder ATG's were used.

(page 119)
"At once the battalion had to dig positions a few miles south of Sbiba, to the right of the Sbitla road. American troops held the other side of the valley and the grenadiers were on the high ground to the right. The valley was wide, sandy and dotted with tent dwellingsand clumps of cactus. As an approach for the tanks it was perfect and the Lord Levinson sited his anti-tank guns with great care. The 12th R.H.A was in support and a few 17-pndrs had also appeared. These however were still on the secret list; they were only to be fired in an emergency."

(on page 120)
"No attack came of the 21st so in the evening Lt Hyde's platoon rode out on churchill tanks- the first occasion on which these were used in action- to see what had happened to the enemy. They were met by heavy fire from strong German positions and quickly returned to their own lines. Although three churchills were destroyed, only one guardsman was hurt."

Its great to have identified the 142nd RAC as being the churchills: The war diary I want is WO 175/282.

 

That's really interesting, what's the story behind the Pheasant in North Africa? I take it 17pndrs weren't introduced en masse for another few months?

The thing is that the only claim to their involvement seems to be the aforementioned book, and I have no idea of their source for the statement.

 

The 17 Pdr Mk1 on Carriage Mk2 (25pdr) was a stopgap to get the gun into the field to counter the Tiger. The gun was in production but they were still tinkering with the proper carriage. edit: not quite - more here.

As to who got them, when and how many, I think it would be necessary to pull the WDs of the anti-tank regiments in First Army.

From the NZ 25 Battalion's history:
On the 22nd [February], to prepare for the arrival of two six-pounder anti-tank guns, due about the end of the month, Captain Stevens, Lieutenant R. S. Webb, one WO, nine NCOs, and nine men were attached for a ten-days' course to 33 Anti-Tank Battery, and while there were very interested to see the famed 17-pounder anti-tank gun, the ‘Pheasant’, a very powerful weapon at least the equal as an anti-tank weapon of the obnoxious German 88-millimetre gun.

 

I was in two minds whether to post this or not, but here's a further first hand account of the attack by Derrick Jackon.

Now; I don't doubt Derrick story as a primary source. Derrick himself passed away a few years ago and is keen to mention that these events are as he saw them at the time; but a lot of the events are out of order and a lot of facts remain at the best part unsubstantiated. (That's all i'll say on the matter. Of course this does not devalue the story; its hard enough for me to remember last week compared to what veterans are asked to recall from 50+ years aho. So i've posted it here anyway).

 

]I'm actually inquiring regarding the defence of Sbiba on Feb 19th-21st; not the battle of steamroller farm which took place on the 28th Feb.

Sorry I did not may attention to the dates. The Churchill unit involved was the 142nd Regiment Royal Amoured Corps. The location of the defence became known as "Tallyho Corner".

I photographed the war diaries when last at Kew - will reproduce the relevant pages soonest possible.

Gerry

 

That's a really nice collection of articles; it gave me the idea to try and find some more from the US point of view in the NY times, however sadly they've changed the system from when I lives there and its now pay as you go as opposed to completely free, which it was a few years ago. (I particularally liked the story about the italian POW's who broke out of their prison camp to climb Mt Killimanjaro; then broke back in again when they came back!!).

I'm also really looking forward to reading the 142nd war diary; tank diaries seem hell of a lot better then the 2nd Bn ones at this stage of the war. 2 coldstream diaries only get better/more detailed after the tunisian campaign.

 

Hi Adam,

As promised here are the relevant pages of 142nd RAC's War Diary:
142nd RAC War Diaries Index

In you pm you asked whether I was there - the answer is no - the diaries indicate that the North Irish was elsewhere. Despite being bombed a few times no casulaties were suffered!

Cheers,

Gerry

 

Thanks Gerry; that's perfect. When I sent the PM, I wasn't sure of the tank regiment and I see now that yes it wouldn't have been you. But thank you for your support anyway!

I have a few questions about this and I think you may be able to help me with them: Firstly were the cordinates of MEFTAH RIDGE included in the war diary? If they were can I have them? When I'm back in england i'll go down to the british library and get the exact location for everyone (hopefully it is a 6 digit coordinate not a 4!) but I have northing at all in the guards diaries for Sbiba.

Secondly, having had a look at these diaries, can you remember any detailed description of the battle of the 21st being in the appendix? In your steamroller account there was a marvelous after action report but i'm guessing that they're quite rare.

Also in your proffesional oppinion as a researcher? Would it be worth me getting the 25th tank brigade diaries out to see if there was any more detailed account of the tanks action? Do they ususually have good accounts at brigade level in armoured unit diaries of actioins like this? I'm guessing it would be worth a look anyway but i'd really appreciate your advice!

regards,

adam

 

Hi Adam

Map references inserted in this extract:
142nd RAC
Some records have maps with them - cannot recall if 142nd's did.

The best way I have found to gather data from the National Archives is first to photograph the material (when I am in UK April-June) without reading the content - can do a lot more douments that way. On return to the US then the photos can be perused at leisure. The ones I want are printed at the NA when I make my second visit of the year in November/December/January - on occasion taking further photos if time permits.
.
It so happens that among those taken are of 25th TB war diaries for 1st - 28th February, 1943. WO 175/206.

Gerry