infantry

Mar

20

1943

Victoria Cross for attack on the Mareth Line

Two wounded soldiers from the Durham Light Infantry during the Mareth line battle in Tunisia, March 1943.

He personally helped the team which, was placing the scaling ladder over the anti tank ditch and was himself the first to cross. He led the assault -firing his pistol, throwing grenades and personally assaulting two machine-gun posts which were holding the advance of one of his Companies. It is estimated that in this phase he killed or captured twenty Germans.

Mar

17

1943

The Irish Guards celebrate St Patricks Day in Tunisia

A Camouflaged 25-Pounder Gun in Action near Medjez-el-Bab: the Hill in the Background is Dzebel Djaffa, Tunis. War artist henry Carr 1943.

Most of us headed like excited schoolboys for the port of Bone to see what delights it had to offer. Michael and I palled up with a couple of GIs who knew their way around. Within three hours the town was in uproar. The lads had been drinking the local wine as if it were the ale they were used to. The results were dramatic: fights broke out, windows were smashed and soon the Military Police were dragging soldiers away. It turned out to be quite a night in the best Irish tradition.

Mar

16

1943

Under shellfire during attack on the Mareth Line

Close-up view of the revolving drum and chains at work on a Matilda Scorpion flail tank, 17 April 1943.

I don`t know what time it was when we crossed the Wadi Zeuss and got into the gap in the enemy minefield. Time lost its ordinary values, even tho’ I did check it frequently on the luminous face of my watch. The minefield gap lay just the other side of a marsh and was a thin lane marked by white tapes and lighted by tiny lights which seemed to shine like beacons.

Mar

14

1943

Night patrol on the Mareth Line

A Valentine tank carries infantry during an exercise, 12 March 1943.

At 5.30 a.m. there was a stand-to, trying hard to come to terms with an alien scenery of valley, hills and vegetation, the outcrop of rocks in the foothills so perfect for concealing an 88 or a troop carrier. We were on the receiving end of shelling throughout the day, not heavy but enough to get our shovels active and our slit trenches a few inches deeper.

Mar

10

1943

Fresh Wehrmacht troops encounter the ‘rasputitsa’

Somewhere on the Eastern front 1943.

The wonderful thing is that they were marching in rows of three and were singing! We step out of the heavily shelled huts and bunkers which have been our home and are unable to comprehend such a miracle. We stand there silently in our camouflage, caked with dirt, and we touch our stubbly faces in disbelief. They march along a series of small grave mounds with crosses on top and I get the impression that their voices tremble for a moment.

Mar

8

1943

Germans fall back on the Eastern Front

A German image of their struggles with the spring thaw in 1942.

The Germans were retreating quickly, and whenever leaving an area, they left behind a barren wasteland. Whenever they had time to manage it, they blew up, destroyed, torched, or mined everything: “Here you go, Ivan, take your prizes!” The detours – and you couldn’t avoid them-were all mined; the roads were also mined, and people occasionally triggered them. Between Gzhatsk and Viaz’ma alone, the Germans blew up fourteen bridges.

Feb

24

1943

Eighth Army reaches the Mareth Line in Tunisia

A knocked-out German PzKpfw III tank, with the body of one of its crew lying on the hull, 24 February 1943.

As usual the Jocks are perched on the sky-line, indifferent to observation. They sit in the sun stripped to the waist, shaving or cleaning their riiies. My sergeant insists that this has a demoralising effect on the enemy. He is a believer in the divisional Tradition. It is as though the half-clad men were saying to the Germans, “Well, here we are. We’ve caught up with you. We know you’re there in those bloody hills and this is all we care.” It is magnificent folly. It will last till the shells come over.

Feb

17

1943

American 168th Infantry’s last stand at Kasserine Pass

Another view of the terrain in the area. A Medium Tank M3 "Lee" from the U.S. 1st Armored Division during the Battle of Kasserine Pass, Tunisia.

The Germans brought up several, tanks, all of them with yellow tigers painted on their sides and opened fire. They also set up machine gun positions and supplemented that with rifle fire. While they were doing this their infantry completely encircled the small American force. After three and one-half hours of fighting the American fire power diminished and then practically ceased as the men were out of ammunition or had become casualties. Finally an armored car bearing a white flag came dashing into the American circle.

Feb

16

1943

German retreat continues on Eastern Front

German soldiers burning down a house near Charkow/Kharkov. Increasingly the Germans adopted a policy of laying waste to areas they had to abandon.

It is -40° C; the snow level is as high as our bodies. The steaming, agitated and exhausted horses can’t even pull the empty sleds anymore. Our small group becomes smaller and smaller, only half of them are still able to fight. Injured soldiers, many with frostbite, load their carbines and shoot. They lumber through the snow; their faces are contorted with pain. In the midst of the blizzard, some fall behind and lose their group, which was supposed to support them.

Jan

26

1943

Desperate fighting in Stalingrad but no surrender

Soldiers from Bezdetko's mortar battery firing at German positions. 22 January 1943

Troops are without ammunition and food. We have contact with some elements of six divisions only. There are signs of disintegration on the southern, western and northern fronts. Unified command is no longer possible. Little change on the eastern side. We have 18,000 wounded who are without any kind of bandages or medicines at all.

← Earlier in the war

Later in the war →