Who was fighting the Italians at Mateur/Medjez-el-Bab in April 1943? - Can anyone help?

I'm researching an Italian soldier who was captured on 13 April 1943. He was serving with the 38th Infantry Division and was captured between Mateur and Medjez-el-Bab in Tunisia by British soldiers.

Would anyone be able to supply further details of which Battalions/Regiments were in the vicinity at this time? I'd like to study the war diaries to get an understanding of what was happening during this period.

Any help at all would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Johnathan
tricky one as 1st army was gearing up for the final push from medjez - to Tunis and Cap Bon
so lots of people were congregating around Medjez at that time- viz - V Corps with 25th tanks -1st Inf Div - 4th Inf Div - 78th Inf div

and IX corps with 1st A.D. - 6th A.d and 46th Inf Div beginning of May they were then join by 4th Indian Inf Div - 7th A.D. and 210 Guards bde - from 8th Army -so fair old mess
so take your pick ...
Cheers

 

Johnathan -
Just had a look at the war diary for 145th RAC - and on 13th April'43 we were
just into Guardimaou for some training before going with a Guards bde and 4th Inf Div at Testour then Medjez area then by the 20th we were attacked by a Tiger and two PzMkIV
and "A" sqdn put the two MkiV's out of action - with the loss of one AVRE- two Tanks and three OR'S killed.

From that time it was a bit mixed up as we were supporting 24th Guards - we lost ten tanks near Tella Seffra with many killed and wounded then on to Guerriat Ridge and were at GAB GAB Gap supporting 1st Essex when the 6th & 7th A.d.s passed through towards Tunis- then suddenly it was all over
Cheers

 

Hi Tom

Fascinating.

Thanks very much for the information. Was it mainly German Units you encountered at this time or was it very much a mixed mob? Can you recall meeting any Italian Infantry Units? I'd be interested to know if The Italians put up much resistance or were just happy to surrender?

Sorry for all the questions!

Jonathan

 

Johnathan

Contrary to conventional wisdom- the Italians acquitted themselves quite well when their conditions were recognized as useless old out of date equipment - bad food - rubbish leadership etc - the only ones who were really feared was their Artillery - but according to the diary - all our problems came from the German - 10th - 15th - and the21st Pz Divs
with their attendant PZ grenadiers and #164 Infantry Div.

Only reference to Italian Infantry was at Bizerta where the US II corps looked after as I recall

Cheers

 

Jonathan,

For what it's worth, this is a link to the set of 38 (Irish) Infantry Brigade's three component infantry battalions' war diaries for April 1943, after they had joined 78th Division, and when they were active north and north east of Medjez-el-Bab.

Irish Brigade - Original War Diaries - 1942 to 1945

thanks,

 

Contrary to conventional wisdom- the Italians acquitted themselves quite well when their conditions were recognized as useless old out of date equipment - bad food - rubbish leadership etc - the only ones who were really feared was their Artillery

Excellent. Thanks again, Tom. I hope you don't mind if use that quote at a later date?

 

Jonathan,

For what it's worth, this is a link to the set of 38 (Irish) Infantry Brigade's three component infantry battalions' war diaries for April 1943, after they had joined 78th Division, and when they were active north and north east of Medjez-el-Bab.

Irish Brigade - Original War Diaries - 1942 to 1945

thanks,

Richard

That's terrific. Thank you very much for the link. It's very kind of you.

Jonathan

 

Some of those war diaries are pretty illegible and we're in the midst of a transcription project to get them all typed and readable and usable. My Dad was with 2 London Irish Rifles for the duration, and I've got his story to cross reference with the official versions.

As CQMS my Dad was up and down and about - he remembers shooing off quite a number of Italian soldiers who wanted to surrender to him - although as Tom suggests, the Italian forces didn't generally behave as all the cliches and jokes suggest (at least until all hope was lost).

In fact, I've read accounts that in some instances where a Commanding Officer had been killed, "even" German forces would merely report to the nearest command post - and if it was a British one, then that would be fine as well. Eminently sensible, I would say. In most other cases, of course, they could remain formidable fighters, so obviously there is no straightforward explanation of the range of behaviours in the circumstances during the period.

thanks,