8 May, 1943 - The Fall of Tunis

 During March, 1943, the Axis army, led by Italy’s Marshal Messe and Germany’s General von Arnim, had been driven back towards the Tunisian ports of Tunis and Bizerta, where they held off the attacking American, Free French and British forces.

Allied troops broke through in early May, and on 7 May, 1943, Tunis fell to the Allies.  Bizerta followed suit on 12 May.  The Allied forces were now in control of these two major ports and had captured around 250,000 prisoners of war.  Those Axis forces not captured retreated to the Cap Bon peninsula.

Pont du Fahs, which Grace referred to in her letter, is just above the Zeugitane Mountains, towards the bottom of the map in the cutting below.

This is how the position was described by the Bradford Observer on Tuesday, 4 May.  It is interesting to see, in the left-hand column, a short article on the invention of “instant mash” potato!