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00:00:00The End
00:00:53Eighteen hours out, destination unknown.
00:01:00A military secret, the largest overseas expedition ever to sail from the United States, guarded
00:01:07by the blue ensign at the American Navy.
00:01:21Southwards from Britain, some 3,000 miles away, an even greater convoy, twice the size, moves
00:01:28in its appointed place across the seas, shielded by the white ensign of the British Navy.
00:01:34Destroyers in close support, cruisers on the flanks, and beyond the horizon, the battleships.
00:01:41From the decks of aircraft carriers, and from the shore, planes of the Fleet Air Arm and
00:01:50Coastal Command patrol the skies and search the seas.
00:01:54Advance outposts of an elaborate protective screen.
00:01:59East-Noreast, the American convoy.
00:02:03South-West by West, the British.
00:02:07North-West.
00:02:08North-West.
00:02:09North-West.
00:02:09North-West.
00:02:09North-West.
00:02:10North-West.
00:02:11North-West.
00:02:12North-West.
00:02:14North-West.
00:02:15North-West.
00:02:16North-West.
00:02:16North-West.
00:02:18North-West.
00:02:19North-West.
00:02:22North-West.
00:02:23North-West.
00:02:25North-West.
00:02:27North-West.
00:02:29North-West.
00:02:34where the two leaders met with their combined chiefs of staffs for this was
00:02:40the picture taking all too definite form in the minds of the civil military and
00:02:45naval leaders now locked in secret conference two axis spearheads were
00:02:50headed east in the north von Bock was hewing his way through the Ukraine to
00:02:55the Caucasus in the south Rommel was driving toward the Egyptian border these
00:03:00two spearheads were intended to meet in Iran and head eastward towards India in
00:03:07the Orient Japan had occupied the coast of China the East Indies Malaya and Burma
00:03:12in preparation for the drive westward through India if these two enemy
00:03:19spearheads were allowed to meet Russia and China except for their remote Arctic
00:03:24ports would be completely isolated Japanese raw materials and German
00:03:29production would be combined the peoples of Europe Asia and Africa seven-eighths
00:03:34of the world's population would be enslaved
00:03:40by mourning a decision both bold and revolutionary bold because in this our
00:03:47darkest hour we dared to take the offensive revolutionary because that
00:03:52offensive was conceived planned and executed by the peoples of two nations the
00:03:58time and the place had been agreed upon
00:04:03the code name of the combined operation was acrobat the two great elements were time and secrecy
00:04:12125 days in which to plan and launch an offensive from bases 3,000 miles apart an
00:04:19operation involving hundreds of thousands of American and British soldiers and sailors millions of American
00:04:25and British working men and women only by whose combined efforts could the plan
00:04:31become a reality but from whom the plan itself must be kept secret a few score men no more knew
00:04:39in its
00:04:39entirety the plan for this greatest of combined operations in London and Washington British and
00:04:45American officers were placed at adjoining desks to work through the days and nights of grinding
00:04:50toil that lay ahead and gradually in the enforced daily intimacy men grew to know and respect each other
00:04:57thus was born the relationship out of which an allied army came into being to them came hourly reports on
00:05:04the vast
00:05:04undertaking of forging the striking weapon it was a race against time
00:05:40and then
00:05:45to the
00:05:46and
00:05:46to the
00:05:48and
00:05:48to the
00:06:04In the United States, men and supplies poured eastward toward the Atlantic seaboard.
00:06:23In Britain also, by road and rail, an army was on the move.
00:06:45By day and night, the dockers worked. Records were broken in tonnage put aboard in one ship.
00:06:52For every soldier, British and American, ten tons of equipment.
00:07:05On both sides of the Atlantic, the effort was tremendous. Guns, trucks, aircraft, petrol, water, food, barbed wire, locomotive.
00:07:17Of ammunition alone, we shipped 520 different kinds.
00:08:11And every ship sailed on time. And in absolute secrecy.
00:08:17Oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:08:47Oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:09:21Oh, oh, oh.
00:10:10Oh, oh, oh.
00:13:48Oh, oh, oh.
00:15:39Oh, oh.
00:15:56Oh, oh.
00:16:14Oh, oh, oh.
00:16:34Oh, oh, oh.
00:16:39Oh, oh.
00:16:39Oh.
00:16:39Oh.
00:16:39Oh.
00:16:39Oh.
00:16:58Oh.
00:17:02Oh.
00:17:11Oh.
00:17:12Oh.
00:17:15Oh.
00:17:35Oh.
00:17:37Oh.
00:17:42Oh.
00:17:42was on Casablanca meantime at Algiers our landing craft also met fire from shore batteries
00:17:50which were soon silenced by ships of the British naval
00:17:59here too the French troops ashore were asked by radio to indicate a friendly attitude
00:18:04by throwing their searchlight beams vertical it wasn't long before here and there along the coast
00:18:11searchlights were seen pointing to the heavens as dawn broke fighter planes from Gibraltar fitted
00:18:20with extra fuel tanks took off without even waiting to hear whether the landing fields of Algiers had
00:18:25been captured by 7 a.m. resistance at Algiers was finished British and American troops had landed
00:18:35east and west of the city penetrated 10 to 15 miles and held the heights and all vantage points
00:18:42in Algiers on that famous November the 8th was Admiral Jean Dallon French vice chief of state
00:18:49under Marshal Patin it was after consultation with him that the French commanding general agreed to
00:18:56surrender the city meanwhile at Oran
00:19:12American paratroops and airborne infantry flown from Britain 1,500 miles away had landed to capture
00:19:18airfields while other American troops have poured ashore on the beaches protected by the British Navy
00:19:25here as in Algiers the fighting lasted for only a few hours but at Casablanca the battle still raced
00:19:32and so he was a considered one of the isch and the water's hulls it was killed in 60 miles
00:20:00away
00:20:00in the sky so that they had a prisoner that the ships had made the airfield, the sea of airfield,
00:20:01in the airfield about the sea of airfield plans
00:20:01Reds are now on the sea of the sea of the sea of the sea to be a bit more
00:20:01than the sea of the sea of the sea.
00:20:15Shore batteries and the heavy guns of the French battleship Jean-Bas, and several cruisers,
00:20:21destroyers, and gunboats put out a devastating fire.
00:20:31Gunnery from American ships coupled with precision bombing silenced those guns.
00:21:05Gunnery from American ships
00:21:34and guns.
00:21:35Gunnery from American ships
00:21:46Two days later, the Germans invaded unoccupied France, whereupon Admiral Darlan, declaring
00:21:52Petain, a prisoner of the Axis, and himself chief of state, ordered the cessation of hostilities.
00:22:00In proof of the surprise of our landings, German armistice commissions were caught flat-footed
00:22:05in each city.
00:22:06Their jobs, to bleed North Africa of our raw materials and farm products.
00:22:12The people of North Africa were evidently not sorry to see them go.
00:22:24Events moved swiftly.
00:22:26To Algiers came General Anderson, commanding the British First Army.
00:22:31General Giraud took command of the French land forces.
00:22:33United under General Eisenhower, they were ready to take the field.
00:22:37Once more, the Tricoleur, the Stars and Stripes, the Union Jack, flew side by side.
00:22:52But the enemy had lost no time.
00:22:54Across the Mediterranean, by sea and by air, he was pouring men and equipment into Tunis and
00:23:00deserting.
00:23:04Despite this, we determined to start the campaign at once, hoping to reach the distant cities
00:23:10before the enemy's grasp had become too strong.
00:23:13This was a bold decision, for the British First Army was as yet little more than one division,
00:23:18and the bulk of the American forces were needed to safeguard our position in Morocco.
00:23:23We had other disadvantages.
00:23:25Roads were poor.
00:23:28Railways inadequate.
00:23:37The enemy, beyond the mountains, had short supply lines from Sicily and Sardinia.
00:23:42Our own, stretching forward from the improvised base at Algiers, were four times the length.
00:23:48Even more important, we lacked as yet forward airfields, whereas the enemy in Tunisia had always
00:23:55the permanent airfields he needed.
00:23:57In less than a month, the weather would break.
00:24:00Could our slender force, in the last days of autumn, achieve a flashing success against
00:24:06time and a stronger enemy?
00:24:09With immense energy, the attempt was made.
00:24:13By road, Allied infantry, tanks and artillery moved towards the hills.
00:24:19By rail, went General Giro's men with mules for mountain transport.
00:24:25By air, flew British and American parachutists to capture suitable ground for airfields and
00:24:32the tactical points nearby.
00:24:48By sea, went Commandos to Bougie and Bones.
00:24:52The latter, 300 miles to the east, and only 60 miles from the Tunisian border.
00:24:57Here, the airfield which our parachutists had taken was already under attack from the Luftwaffe.
00:25:29It was our only permanent forward airfield, and had to be the only one.
00:25:33It had to be fought for repeatedly.
00:25:36In three columns, we advanced towards Tunis and Bezertin, and still the enemy poured into
00:25:43Africa.
00:25:44By mid-November, a thousand a day.
00:25:48Among them, Marshal Kesselring, Mediterranean commander-in-chief, the man who had made his
00:25:53name infamous at Warsaw and Rotterdam.
00:25:56November the 18th, ten days after our first landings, our mixed force of Allied troops had
00:26:02crossed the frontier into Tunisia, and skirmishes were frequent.
00:26:24On we went.
00:26:25Small units of French, British, Americans, held up here, gaining there, fighting roads as
00:26:31well as Germans, but pushing on.
00:26:34By November the 22nd, we were in Bezertin, 450 miles on the road to Tunis.
00:26:41News came that 30 miles on, the French, under General Barry, were holding measures al-bab against
00:26:47the Germans.
00:26:48The French were fighting stubbornly, equipped with little more than machine guns and rifles.
00:26:53General Anderson promptly moved to support them.
00:27:00Together, we held measures, henceforth a pivotal point, and forced the Germans back.
00:27:05But now, we went into the plains, and were increasingly exposed to the enemy's more numerous tanks and aircraft.
00:27:17November the 25th, the first real tank clash.
00:27:42Fifteen enemy tanks destroyed, and the rest withdrew.
00:27:47And on we push towards Tunis and Bezertin, racing against time and the weather.
00:27:54Sixty miles from Bezertin.
00:27:56Fifty miles.
00:27:57Forty miles.
00:27:59Our supply lines inexorably thinning, our reinforcements fewer and fewer.
00:28:04Thirty miles from Bezertin.
00:28:06Twenty miles.
00:28:07Eighteen miles from Tunis.
00:28:09Sixteen.
00:28:10Fifteen.
00:28:11And from the hills, our patrols saw the city.
00:28:16But now, the enemy attack rose to a crescendo.
00:28:25From the skies, a bombardment to which we had no adequate answer.
00:28:31It is up there, every dark and day that's right, you crossed my sinabloom from the sky.
00:28:48Well, it is often going to see him until the sun's again bent down.
00:28:48I can only get dressed to do anything further and again.
00:28:48� infiniteshers.
00:28:48Henry!
00:28:48If somebody pleases during the thunder, that's evenings to get something of noaren and set.
00:28:48Everything's done once.
00:28:51To your Sandrasen, Better Street, do their duty not to go.
00:28:58Our subversions over the beauty of the oldGEs don't care and remain still Zooming
00:29:01Our supplies were far outrun, our casualties heavy.
00:29:07Even as the goal was in sight, the race had been lost.
00:29:12This first thrust, this adventurous gamble had failed.
00:29:17We fell back to the protection of the hills.
00:29:27But even as we withdrew to regroup our forces, we encountered a new enemy.
00:29:33Winter was upon us.
00:29:37Our hastily improvised airfields were flooded, our planes earthbound.
00:29:49The roads became running streams.
00:29:58Our tanks immobilized.
00:30:01All hopes of a quick victory had finally foundered in a sea of mud.
00:30:07But the race for Tunis and Bezert had not been in vain.
00:30:11For our battle lines now stabilized, ran south from Mejizel-Bab, through Ousotia, Faid, McNasi,
00:30:21and Gafsa.
00:30:22Along the barrier ridge of mountains known as the Great Dorsal, which separated the German
00:30:28occupied coastal plain from the mountainous regions to the west.
00:30:31German expansion was possible only through a series of passes traversing the Great Dorsal.
00:30:37And all through the winter months, we held those passes against incessant German attack.
00:30:50This was the period referred to by the world as one of military inactivity.
00:31:00A period during which we sustained nearly half the total casualties incurred during the whole North African campaign.
00:31:08That's right.
00:31:10When you read in your papers about lulls that don't apply to George Metcalf and the poor bloody infantry, never
00:31:16did.
00:31:16We were on the job every night, patrols in the hills and in the woods.
00:31:32Off we go with some Brens and Tommy guns and a few Mills bombs, and if we're lucky, we scupper
00:31:38a few Jerrys and bring a few prisoners in.
00:31:40Old Fred Parker's the best. He was a poacher, a second nature to old Fred.
00:31:55When we get back, we're camouflaged so you can't tell whether we're men or walking lumps of mud.
00:32:01We picked up about half Tunisia when we got back this morning.
00:32:05We just about scraped it off when we had to go out again at dusk and pick up the other
00:32:09half.
00:32:10Great life.
00:32:12You'd think mud would be different in Africa.
00:32:15Different from France, say.
00:32:17Old Fred says it weighs heavier here and don't smell the same, but me, I can't tell any difference.
00:32:22It turns white bread into brown just like the other stuff.
00:32:26Keeping the automatics and rifles clean is the worst.
00:32:28Old Fred's only got about half the tail of his shirt left.
00:32:32There's one thing we do thank God for.
00:32:35The mules. Fancy that. Mules.
00:32:38If it wasn't for the mules, we'd just about starve.
00:32:41Not that we eat them, I don't mean that, but they bring up the Russians, see.
00:32:46Nothing but mules or eagles could ever get here.
00:32:49Mud. Just mud.
00:32:52I told my girl I'll stick to her like mud and I can't say more than that.
00:33:00Whenever the fields were dry enough, our planes took off to tackle the Luftwaffe.
00:33:06Though still outnumbered, in four weeks they shot down 241 enemy aircraft, for a loss of 89 of our own.
00:33:21Further back, day after day, the strategic air force was taking off to kill the enemy's effort at its starting
00:33:28point.
00:33:30Liberators from the east, fortresses from the west went forth to destroy enemy bases in Italy.
00:33:37Sicily.
00:33:39Sardinia.
00:33:41Sicily.
00:34:21But on land, no offensive could be launched until spring.
00:34:25Against its coming, there was to be on either side of the great dorsal a building up of power.
00:34:36Over supply routes that spanned on the German side 150 miles of water, and on our side hundreds of miles
00:34:42of land, and then thousands of miles of water.
00:34:45The longest assembly lines in the world were in operation.
00:34:49From the factories of the United States and Britain.
00:34:52From Birmingham to Algiers.
00:34:55From Detroit to Iran.
00:34:57From Manchester, Los Angeles.
00:35:00From Leeds.
00:35:01From Pittsburgh to Casablanca.
00:35:03From Pittsburgh to Casablanca.
00:35:15ώνemurs.
00:35:19Untilbulbズ.
00:35:31Fortуже.
00:35:32Forklaring and doom.
00:35:33the spot loaded with freight and sped forward. The South Atlantic became an airway as well
00:35:43as a seaway. From Brazil, flights of P-38s equipped with extra fuel tanks were flown
00:35:48across the seas. Each flight led by a flying fortress which provided navigation. From Gibraltar,
00:36:01aircraft which had been brought by ship from Britain and reassembled on the rock
00:36:05were flown off to Tunisia. Nearly 1,500 planes reached the front by this route.
00:36:17Roads to the front were being built where none before existed.
00:36:27On wet, still unfinished landing strips, giant planes sat down with cargoes of materiel.
00:36:36A reservoir of power was filling up.
00:36:53Tunisia was to be the theater of a major campaign, a campaign to be fought where Scipio had fought,
00:36:59and Hannibal. Where already, three times in history, great armies had been destroyed between
00:37:05the mountains and the sea. These hills and plains were again to echo to the tempest of battle.
00:37:11Not now the trumpeting of elephants, but the crash of tanks and artillery. Not now an empire,
00:37:18but a way of life at stake.
00:38:02On this Christmas 1942, our soldiers and airmen in Tunisia and the western desert gathered together
00:38:10in little churches or under the open sky. And doing so, they thought of their homes and loved ones
00:38:18hundreds or thousands of miles away. Our soldiers' thoughts were of New York and the Middle West,
00:38:28of the cities and villages of France, of the plains and hills of India, of homes in Cape Town
00:38:36and the African world, or among the snows of Canada, or in the Christmas sunshine of New Zealand and Australia,
00:38:45and among the fog and rain of London and Edinburgh. And they thought of their comrades
00:38:51who had already been killed, and of the cause for which they had been killed,
00:38:56the cause that had brought all of them across the seas to fight, the cause of liberty and tolerance
00:39:04and dignity and peace, and of how the horizon was brightening a little, as though a new day were being
00:39:13born.
00:40:01And of course reseting 2020 to meet some of our friends who came together and Нов
00:40:06A lot of us guys got packages at Christmas.
00:40:10You know what was in mine?
00:40:12Stuffed dates.
00:40:13Stuffed dates in Africa under the date bond.
00:40:16Can you beat that?
00:40:18One good thing about Christmas, you may get homesick, and we did.
00:40:23But you also get Christmas dinner.
00:41:32Everybody fed well at Christmas, including the pets.
00:41:58Along about now, we began to take notice of the kids.
00:42:02First off, they were kind of shy.
00:42:05But Arab kids are no different from the kids back home when it comes to candy.
00:42:16A lot of them looked about half-starred.
00:42:19The Germans had picked the land clean.
00:42:21So we gave half our milk ration to the Red Cross.
00:42:25They ladled it down.
00:42:31Off-duty, we just roamed around, looked, and we saw some mighty strange sights.
00:43:03We wondered what the Moorish girls looked like behind the veils.
00:43:08Wondering was about as far as we got.
00:43:11One Sunday, the middle of January, we were hanging around, catching up in the news from home.
00:43:26When you were rooted out for assembly, you told us to polish our brass and shine our leather.
00:43:33Some of us said, what's the big idea?
00:43:36Well, we found out.
00:43:39And you could have knocked me over with a tank.
00:43:42It was the Prez himself, riding along in a jeep.
00:43:55When we saw Mr. Churchill come in, not puffing his cigar, we knew something big was cooking.
00:44:03In a small seaside hotel at Casablanca, discussions began at once.
00:44:07Their purpose, to design the shape of victory in Africa and beyond.
00:44:12First, a meeting was arranged between generals de Gaulle and Giraud,
00:44:16who had succeeded Admiral Dallin, assassinated a month earlier.
00:44:20Out of the meeting was to grow the union of the fighting French,
00:44:22who had never lost hope, and the French for whom hope had been reborn.
00:44:27Second, the united command for the new Tunisian campaign was created.
00:44:31The allied troops in the area were now predominantly British.
00:44:34But by common agreement, General Eisenhower, as his deputy commanders,
00:44:40three British officers.
00:44:41General Alexander on land,
00:44:43Admiral Cunningham on sea,
00:44:46Air Chief Marshal Tedder in the air.
00:44:49Under them, British, American and French officers and men,
00:44:52serving side by side.
00:44:54The whole unique in military campaigns.
00:44:56Third, we fixed the terms which would end the fighting.
00:45:01Unconditional surrender.
00:45:03Of all these decisions, our Russian and Chinese allies were kept fully informed.
00:45:08The conference ended.
00:45:10Mr. Churchill flew on to Tripoli to greet the victorious Eighth Army,
00:45:13and explain its vital part in forthcoming events.
00:45:18For the decisive hour was at hand.
00:45:22The battle lines were drawn.
00:45:26In the north stood the British First Army.
00:45:28In the center, General Giraud's French troops.
00:45:31In the south, the Americans.
00:45:34Further south, a small group of fighting French had completed its historic 1,500-mile march,
00:45:39and taken up positions on the left flank of the British Eighth Army,
00:45:43which faced the formidable Marath Line.
00:45:46Behind which barrier, Rommel's army, after its long retreat, had entrenched itself.
00:45:52Tunisia was gray with German troops.
00:45:55Fifteen full divisions.
00:46:04No scratch troops, these, but battle-wise veterans of Poland, France, the Balkans.
00:46:12They, together with seven Italian divisions, were armed with the most modern types of equipment,
00:46:17including the newest fighters and bombers of the German Luftwaffe.
00:46:21The German orders were, hold Tunisia at all costs.
00:46:26Keep control of the Mediterranean.
00:46:29Rommel, standing behind his Marath Line, saw that he must soon be faced with an attack in the rear
00:46:35from the Allied armies along the Great Dorsal, as well as an assault by the Eighth Army at Marath.
00:46:40He, therefore, struck first, in an endeavor to remove the menace behind him.
00:46:47On February the 14th, the blow was struck.
00:46:50Heavy armored columns burst out of Faid Pass in the mountain barrier,
00:46:54and through into the valley beyond.
00:46:58In the face of their onslaught, Allied armor withdrew with heavy losses.
00:47:03By the 21st, the enemy had forced his way through the Kasserine Pass,
00:47:07and his armored columns were advancing in a three-prong thrust.
00:47:11One main column aimed at Tabasa, our supply base in southern Tunisia,
00:47:16and another at Thala, key town in our lines of communication.
00:47:20Almost within sight of his objective, he was halted.
00:47:24American, British, and French forces all stood immovable against the final impact,
00:47:29and in counterattack, broke it, while Allied air power pounded Rommel's lines of communication and supply.
00:47:36The threat was ended.
00:47:39Advancing past destroyed German armor, we reoccupied Kasserine Pass,
00:47:44and by March the 17th, the original battle lines had been restored.
00:47:50As soon as Rommel saw that his westward thrust was doomed,
00:47:53he made an abortive attack south against the Aetan.
00:47:57The Germans unveiled the new Tiger tank,
00:48:00the British, the new 17-pounder anti-tank gun.
00:48:08Fifty-two Tiger tanks were left burning house.
00:48:12From then on, the initiative was ours.
00:48:18Of the various strategies which might now be employed against the enemy,
00:48:22General Eisenhower chose one which envisaged the entire military situation in terms of a cylinder.
00:48:28The western wall allied land forces along the great dorsal.
00:48:33The northern and eastern allied air and sea power concentrated in the Mediterranean.
00:48:39The seaports of Tunis and Bezert were to act as the intake valve,
00:48:43through which those enemy troops that escaped the devastating attacks of planes and submarines based at Malta
00:48:49were to be sucked into the cylinder.
00:48:51At the bottom of the cylinder stood the powerful British 8th Army to serve as the piston,
00:48:56which in its upward stroke would push the enemy into an ever smaller space.
00:49:01Still in possession of the enemy were certain high hills to the west of Tunis and Bezert.
00:49:07Their capture was an essential part of the entire strategy,
00:49:10for these hills were the spark plug,
00:49:13which, when the piston had forced the enemy into a state of high compression,
00:49:19would explode the combustible mass.
00:49:21That was the final strategy.
00:49:24To succeed, perfect coordination would be necessary between land, sea, and air forces.
00:49:33The Northwest African Air Force, commanded by General Spots,
00:49:37was divided into five major groups, of which three were combat.
00:49:40The Strategic Air Force, under General Jimmy Doolittle.
00:49:45These were the big boys, the long-range bombers, pounding away at enemy bases and shipping.
00:49:54The Coastal Air Force, under Air Marshal Lloyd.
00:49:57Day and night fighters, these, protecting ports and convoys.
00:50:02And finally, the Tactical Air Force, a new conception of air power,
00:50:06developed by the British in the Middle East.
00:50:08All fighters and attack bombers, British and American,
00:50:12were placed under one command so that we could strike with the full force of our flying artillery,
00:50:18when and where it would do the most good.
00:50:22Air Marshal Cunningham, in command of this group,
00:50:25and General Alexander, in command of all ground forces,
00:50:29lived and worked side by side in a tent camp in the Tunisian mountains.
00:50:35Theirs was a complete partnership, and in it lay the pattern of ultimate victory.
00:50:40By the middle of March, the stage was set.
00:50:43First move was up to Air Marshal Cunningham.
00:50:50In a continuous 24-hour assault, the Marath fortifications were pounded from the air.
00:51:16Then General Alexander gave the signal to the piston to begin its upward stroke.
00:51:22Montgomery, looking ahead, had planned the Marath battle three months before.
00:51:29He would strike after a barrage, and in moonlight, as had other men.
00:51:34But simultaneously, he would begin an outflanking movement on the left.
00:51:40The frontal blow had to cross a gorge, the Wadi's exile,
00:51:45and create a bridgehead under cover of which tanks and artillery could cross the Wadi
00:51:50before the enemy's counterattack in force could be met.
00:51:56Three days before the attack, it rained heavily.
00:52:26aered otherNI AF13-2 to three days before the attack.
00:52:32Let's go.
00:53:11Next morning, our men were holding on like bulldogs.
00:53:14Only four tanks had got across, but with these and their own arms, our infantry kept the bridgehead intact.
00:53:23The enemy, fearing another Elala man, now withdrew armor from other sectors and threw it in.
00:53:47Once this battle raged, our outflanking left hook by General Freyberg and his New Zealanders, reinforced by the 1st Armoured
00:53:54Division,
00:53:54was racing across 150 miles of desert towards El Haman.
00:53:58The blow was now struck by 50,000 men on the ground and by bombers, fighters and tankbusters from the
00:54:05air.
00:54:07Let's go.
00:54:10Let's go.
00:54:19Let's go.
00:54:40The Germans, pinned down by the Northumbrians at Marath, moved their armour too late.
00:54:45The New Zealanders, thenceforth to be known as the Lethookers, drove through.
00:55:02The Marath line had been turned. The piston was on the move, its speed made possible by the feats in
00:55:08road building of the South African engineers.
00:55:22Air and naval forces shelled and bombed all along the seawall.
00:55:30Our fighters struck at their transport planes, still pouring men in through the intake valve, knocking them out of the
00:55:37sky by the hundreds.
00:56:02The pista was hit by the north, the south of the street.
00:56:05The helmets had been turned, and the Corps had been installed to the north.
00:56:08The Mars.
00:56:08And on land, the British First Army was a constant threat in the north, while in the center, the French
00:56:14had attacked at Pichon.
00:56:15And further south, the Americans had broken through to Elgatar and McNassie, thus enforcing constant pressure all along the land
00:56:23wall of the Cylinder.
00:56:59April 7th, an American patrols of light tanks, striking eastward, met patrols of the British Eighth Army, advancing.
00:57:08Northward.
00:57:12We got quite a bang out of meeting these guys.
00:57:15Two thousand miles they'd come, fighting all the way.
00:57:19Yes, sir, we got a real bang out of it.
00:57:22These are the guys that broke the back of the Africa Corps.
00:57:35Still, the piston pushed relentlessly on.
00:57:39April the 10th, Sfaxville.
00:57:41April the 12th, Seuss.
00:57:43And on April the 20th, after exactly 30 days of fighting in pursuit, the Eighth Army had driven the enemy
00:57:49into the hills beyond Enfidaville.
00:57:52And in its wake was a great homecoming.
00:57:57What got me was watching those villagers coming back.
00:58:01Mostly on little donkeys, piled up with so much stuff you'd wonder how they carried it.
00:58:06Reminded me of the Bible somehow.
00:58:09You know, the donkeys and the hills behind and these folks trekking home.
00:58:15There was one old chap, spoke a bit of English, and he comes up to me and old Joe McCartens
00:58:20and he says,
00:58:20Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:58:22And then he started shaking hands with us.
00:58:24I thought he was never going to let go.
00:58:26And as we watched him going down the hill, Joe says to me,
00:58:30He says, you know, George, I had a buddy killed the other day and I was pretty sore about it.
00:58:36But now all these poor devils coming home gives the old thing a kind of a meaning.
00:58:43Well then when we went down to the village it was just the same down there.
00:58:47Little Jewish boys taking off the yellow stars they'd be made aware as if they was lepers.
00:58:52And then our army doctors attending to the women and the youngsters just as if they was on the panel
00:58:57back home.
00:58:58I certainly felt less browned off.
00:59:02I certainly did.
00:59:05The rapid advance of the 8th Army had left the American divisions at McNassie and El-Gatar far behind the
00:59:11battle area.
00:59:12General Alexander now switched these divisions to the north.
00:59:15This remarkable 200-mile march across the heavy traffic streams of the 1st Army's lines of supply
00:59:21was accomplished without once interrupting the eastward flow.
00:59:25And this in complete secrecy.
00:59:39The piston had completed its upward stroke.
00:59:42The desired state of enemy high compression had been achieved.
00:59:46Now to capture the spark plug.
00:59:49The vital hills west of Tunis and Bezerra.
00:59:52This led to a number of major battles of which five were typical.
00:59:57Hill 609, Longstop Hill, Gubalat Plain, Jebel Mansour and Tukruna.
01:00:05The 8th Army struck at Tukruna.
01:00:08The French 19th Corps attacked Jebel Mansour.
01:00:24On the Gubalat Plain, the British 6th Armoured Division, striking towards Tunis,
01:00:30had drawn upon it most of the enemy's remaining armour.
01:01:01The French 19th Corps, the British 6th Armoured Division, striking towards Tunis.
01:01:03In three days of struggle, our main purpose was accomplished.
01:01:06The drawing to this battlefield of von Arnim's tanks and guns and their destruction.
01:01:11Meantime, the British 78th Division was pressing the attack on Longstop Hill.
01:01:41Tuesday 18th Corps, the British, and the Frenchmen.
01:01:42A strong polymer to attack the British 79th century.
01:01:43The British 78th Under
01:01:44more architecture of the Wallone
01:01:48than Portugueseände.
01:02:01thru
01:02:02The British 79th century.
01:02:02The French Quest gjorde kennt the French��하게 very well
01:02:28For 12 days, the hills echoed with gunfire.
01:02:32Positions were taken, lost and retaken.
01:02:36When the German lines broke at last, their dead lay in hundreds, unburied on the battlefields.
01:02:48As our infantry went forward, engineers and pioneers built roads across the mountaintops
01:02:54for vital supplies to reach them.
01:02:56In 14 days, they built 11 miles.
01:03:01Meanwhile, further north, the Americans had embarked on their phase of the campaign.
01:03:07This started with the assault on Hill 609.
01:03:11Long-range artillery started the attack.
01:03:31Well, now, he's going to strike the enemy, and the enemy's leaving.
01:03:31I am excited.
01:03:31I am a soldier.
01:03:41Let's go.
01:04:23Corrections, all batteries.
01:04:24Left eight.
01:04:25Baker.
01:04:26Baker.
01:04:27Baker.
01:04:30Baker.
01:04:35Baker.
01:04:35Baker.
01:04:37Baker.
01:04:42Baker.
01:04:45Baker.
01:04:46Baker.
01:04:47Baker.
01:04:48Baker.
01:04:49Baker.
01:04:49Baker.
01:04:49Baker.
01:04:50Baker.
01:04:50Baker.
01:04:50Baker.
01:04:50Baker.
01:04:50Baker.
01:04:51Baker.
01:04:52Baker.
01:04:53Baker.
01:04:53Let's go.
01:05:23We took Hill 609.
01:05:29There weren't as many of us guys when we got to the top as they'd been at the bottom.
01:05:34But we took it.
01:05:39Thus, one by one, von Arnim's strongholds in the mountains fell.
01:05:43The Germans had been outfought.
01:05:45Now they were to be outwitted.
01:05:48General Alexander knew their fear of the 8th Army.
01:05:50So he reinforced that fear with heavy bombardments and local attacks from Montgomery's front.
01:05:56At the same time, he secretly transferred the 4th Indian and the 1st and 7th Armored Divisions
01:06:02from the 8th to the 1st Army in the North whence the main attack was to come.
01:06:10The spark plug was ours, and we were now ready to explode the combustible mass.
01:06:17Now to pour on the power.
01:06:20Now to give the apostles of power an education in the use of it.
01:06:48British and Americans in the air with everything that could fly.
01:07:00British and Americans on the ground with everything that could shoot.
01:07:12French artillery.
01:07:14French infantry.
01:07:15French infantry.
01:07:23The British Navy.
01:07:29All poured forth their concentrated fury.
01:07:45This was blitz warfare such as the inventors of the blitz had never dreamed of.
01:08:07The Nazis' challenge to the free world to fight or surrender was being answered.
01:08:37Offl R.
01:08:38Brian español.
01:08:38The sea of the country was not ordered to move out from Pigeon.
01:08:40The army was just a big, big, big, big...
01:08:42The army was shipped to the army's dinner.
01:08:44The army was shipped to the army,
01:08:47Let's go.
01:09:16Let's go.
01:09:50Let's go.
01:09:53After only eight hours fighting, the hard crust of German resistance was shattered.
01:10:20Let's go.
01:10:24Let's go.
01:10:34Let's go.
01:10:37Let's go.
01:10:48Let's go.
01:10:53Let's go.
01:10:55Let's go.
01:11:25Let's go.
01:11:30Let's go.
01:11:36Let's go.
01:11:49Let's go.
01:11:54Let's go.
01:12:12Let's go.
01:12:14Let's go.
01:12:23Let's go.
01:12:44Let's go.
01:12:46Let's go.
01:12:50Let's go.
01:12:57Let's go.
01:13:00Let's go.
01:13:03Let's go.
01:13:10Let's go.
01:13:15Let's go.
01:13:31Let's go.
01:13:37Let's go.
01:13:40Let's go.
01:14:01Let's go.
01:14:04Let's go.
01:14:05Let's go.
01:14:12Let's go.
01:14:15Let's go.
01:14:17Let's go.
01:14:19Let's do joe.
01:14:20It's the same rough road.
01:14:22the same road you and me have just come.
01:14:24The same bloody hard road, and for quite a while.
01:14:29Boy oh boy, what a job.
01:14:33Bringing back the smiles to kids' faces.
01:15:17Africa is free, and Europe that much nearer freedom.
01:15:24The liberating hosts are on the wing.
01:15:44The vibrant love of the sea is based on climate change.
01:15:44The star goes to the sea.
01:15:46The star goes to the sea.
01:15:47The star goes to the sea.