Unternehmen Ochsenkopf (Operation Ox Head) also known as the Battle of Sidi Nsir and the Battle of Hunts Gap was an Axis offensive operation in Tunisia from 26 February to 4 March 1943, during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The offensive and a subsidiary operation Unternehmen Ausladung was intended to gain control of Medjez el Bab, Béja, El Aroussa, Djebel Abiod and a position known as Hunt's Gap, between the British First Army and the Axis Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika/Gruppo d'Armate Africa). The offensive gained some ground, but none of the more ambitious objectives were achieved before the operation was called off due to increasing losses of infantry and tanks, particularly the heavy Tigers. Unternehmen Ochsenkopf was the last big Axis offensive by the 5th Panzer Army before the surrender of the Afrika Korps in May 1943.
Background
After the Battle of Kasserine Pass (19–24 February), the Axis created Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika/Gruppo d'Armate Africa) as a command headquarters for the 5th Panzer Army and the Italian 1st Army in Tunisia. Adolf Hitler and the German General Staff Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) believed that Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim should assume command but Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring the German Oberbefehlshaber Süd (OB Süd, Commander-in-Chief South) argued for Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, who was appointed to command the new Army Group Africa on 23 February. Comando Supremo, the Italian General Staff, ordered Rommel to end the attack at Kasserine, in view of the Allied reinforcement of the Tebessa area, to conduct a spoiling offensive against the Eighth Army (General Bernard Montgomery) as it approached the defences of the Mareth Line from the east.
The villages of Gafsa, Metlaoui and Tozeur were to be held by mobile troops and most of the attack group was to return to the 1st Italian Army. The 10th Panzer Division had retired from Thala by early on 23 February and the 21st Panzer Division ended its attack on Sbiba on 24 February. The divisions were to refit and also rejoin the 1st Italian Army, ready for an attack in early March, the moves to be covered by minor operations on the 5th Panzer Army front. On 24 February, Arnim flew to Rome without consulting Rommel and advocated an offensive towards Béja, being convinced that the British First Army (General Kenneth Anderson), had sent reinforcements south from the northern front to save Sbiba and Thala. Arnim gained the approval of Kesselring for an attack on a wide front against the V Corps (Charles Allfrey) sector on 26 February.
Axis plan
Unternehmen Ochsenkopf was a plan to penetrate the British defences on 26 February, with Korpsgruppe Weber (General Friedrich Weber) of the 334th Infantry Division, elements of the Luftwaffe Hermann Göring Division which had recently arrived and the parts of the 10th Panzer Division not involved in Unternehmen Frühlingswind (Operation Spring Storm), in three groups or horns, in the shape of a bull's head. The northern horn, with most of the tanks, was to advance on the route from Mateur from the north-east, to capture Béja 40 km (25 mi) west of Medjez.
The second group was to attack from Goubellat towards Sloughia and Oued Zarga to envelop the British at Mejez El Bab and the third group was to carry out a pincer attack in the Bou Arouda valley, then advance through El Aroussa to Gafour, with the objective of the road junction at El Aroussa. In the north, the improvised Division von Manteuffel (formerly Division von Broich), in the subsidiary Unternehmen Ausladung (Operation Disembarkation), was to defeat the British in the Sedjenane valley, cut the communications from Jefna to Djebel Aboid and cover the northern flank of Korpsgruppe Weber. The operations would force the allies to withdraw and delay a further advance, while Rommel prepared the attack of the 1st Italian Army (the former German–Italian Panzer Army) from the Mareth Line defences against the Eighth Army.
Unternehmung Ausladung
The subsidiary Unternehmung Ausladung began on the morning of 26 February, to outflank the British in Sedjenane and the high ground opposite Green Hill, with an attack on the hilly coastal strip to the north between the town and Cap Serrat. The area was lightly held by poorly equipped French troops of the Corps Francs d'Afrique. Division von Manteuffel led the attack with elite troops of the Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger Regiment (motorized) "Barenthin" (Major Rudolf Witzig) and the Italian 10th Bersaglieri Regiment. The Axis forces, with air support from the Luftwaffe made good progress across the hills held by the Free French between Cap Serrat, the railway and Sedjenane. The French managed to repulse an Italian attack but were then overrun and many were taken prisoner.
On 27 February, elements of the 139th Infantry Brigade of the 46th Infantry Division and attached No. 1 Commando, supported by the 70th Field Regiment RA and 5th Medium Regiment RA, moved up to counter the German advance but lacked air support and were short of artillery, after taking part in the Battle of Kasserine. Until 1 March, the British conducted costly but successful counter-attacks, which delayed the Axis advance on the hamlet. On 2 March, a Durham Light Infantry (DLI) counter-attack was a costly failure and the battalion was withdrawn to a wooded area outside Sedjenane; more German attacks on Sedjenane that day and the next were defeated. A counter-attack by a battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, the DLI and Churchill tanks of the North Irish Horse drove the Germans back in determined fighting.
The British position became untenable due to withdrawals by the French further west in the Medjez area, when Axis troops occupied high ground dominating the town. The French commander had thought his position was being outflanked and ordered a withdrawal. The German penetration towards Béja and Medjez along with the French withdrawal had caught the 139th Infantry Brigade in a salient and two companies of Sherwood Foresters were overrun. On 4 March, the British retreated 24 km (15 mi) from Sedjenane toward Djebel Abiod to stabilise the front. The Axis attack on Djebel Abiod was delayed for five days by the defence of Sedjenane and it was not captured.
Battle
Southern Horn
The southern horn of the operation was to be conducted by Kampfgruppe Audorff with the Hermann Göring Parachute Division, the 334th Infantry Division and supporting panzer battalions. Protecting this area was Y Division, an ad hoc British force, which had been formed from the 38th (Irish) Brigade, a mixture of commandos, Grenadier and Coldstream Guards, elements of the 1st Parachute Brigade, with the Churchill tanks of C Squadron 142 (Suffolk) Regiment RAC under command. The kampfgruppe attacked on the evening of 25 February, their first objectives being Tally Ho corner, an important road junction and a knoll nicknamed Fort MacGregor. The southernmost of the horn was to be carried out by Kampfgruppe Schmid under Luftwaffe general Joseph Schmid, commanding the leading elements of the Hermann Goering Division. As part of this attack, a grouping under Walter Koch, consisting of the two battalions of the 5th German "Fallschirmjäger" regiment, and a company of tanks from the 7th Panzer Regiment. Its task was to seize the pass at Bir el Krima and then advancing through the Mahmoud Gap, to capture the road-junction between Sidi Mahmoud and Djebel Rihane, to El Aroussa. Further South, 'Kampfgruppe Holzinger' would attack from the heights of Djebel Mansour with El Aroussa as their objective.
The Luftwaffe had attacked the British positions and shot up transport behind the front. At Fort MacGregor, D Company of the East Surreys were attacked by the paratroops of the Hermann Göring Division. After two German attacks were repulsed, paratroops blew holes in the barbed wire and the defenders were soon overwhelmed and destroyed. Djebel Djaffa, further west, held by a battalion of French colonial troops was attacked simultaneously by the paratroops; the French were surprised and swiftly overrun, most being captured.
A hasty counter-attack by the Surreys on Fort MacGregor was attempted but was stopped just forward of the start line and the Surreys withdrew with many casualties. British artillery bombarded the hill for several hours with all the medium and heavy guns and when the Surreys attacked again, it was empty save for six shell-shocked Germans. The paratroopers had been devastated by the shelling and had no choice but to withdraw. The summit was no bigger than a football pitch and was strewn with human remains, mostly German but also the British dead of D Company. Allfrey sent forward the Lancashire Fusiliers, 600 men of No. 6 Commando, the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment, Valentine tanks of the 17th/21st Lancers, elements of the 51st Royal Tank Regiment (51st RTR) and the North Irish Horse. The next day almost as soon as they arrived, the Surreys and the Valentines of the 17/21st Lancers counter-attacked Djebel Djaffa, which was recaptured after some resistance.
The next day Kampfgruppe Schmid struck South - a company of Fallschirmjäger riding on tanks and the rest following in lorries, over ran the pass at Bir El Krima. By dawn a lorry-mounted troop 6 Commando under Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Mills-Roberts, had encountered the leading elements of the German attack and engaged them near a farm, which because it had a steamroller in its yard, became known as "Steamroller Farm". The Commandos thinking this was a reconnaissance in force launched a series of counter-attacks designed to drive them back east, but realising the full scale of the attack had to make a fighting withdrawal instead losing some 40% of their original strength. The Commandos however reformed, and reinforced by divisional reconnaissance troops, managed to halt the German attack, backed by heavy mortar fire.
Next in line was the 1st Parachute Brigade who were being ferried in support of the line south of Djebel Mansour by lorry and Bren carriers at night. The 2nd Battalion faced 'Kampfgruppe Holzinger', a force of Austrian and Italian Alpini and elements of the 334th Division, notably the 756th Mountain regiment (Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 756). The Italian assault attempted to penetrate the wild country through to Bou Arada, but the 2nd battalion repelled the attack, even at the expense of all their ammunition. Heavy machine gun fire forced the Italians into the many ravines for cover and at night a sweep by the Paras brought in some 90 prisoners. The 1st and 3rd battalions meanwhile holding a position known as the Argoub south of Djebel Bou Arada faced a large assault by 756th Mountain regiment. The 1st battalion became hard pressed and were forced to withdraw from the Arboub, but reinforced by the 3rd battalion they retook the position in a determined counter attack with mortar fire, fixed bayonets and Bren guns firing from the hip. The paras then drove the Axis forces back into a horseshoe shaped Wadi at the foot of Djebel Mansour. Trapped, the Axis then had to endure 3,000 mortar shells in 90 minutes ranged by the 3rd battalion, as well as machine gun fire. In all the paras took 150 prisoners and killed around 250. Holzinger's attack had been defeated, and Von Arnim shifted the Mountain regiment towards Lang's sector northwest of Medjez El Bab.
The rest of 334th Division meanwhile struck at Tally Ho corner just before midnight, surprised and overran the commando garrison, whose survivors were rescued by Churchill tanks. The Germans pressed on to a small ridge 6 mi (9.7 km) to the east of El Aroussa, where two battalions of the Hermann Göring Division and a supporting panzer company assaulted a position defended by the Churchill tanks of Suffolk Squadron, 142nd Regiment RAC. Firing from hull down positions, the Churchill tanks knocked out four Panzer IVs, disabled three Panzer IIIs and destroyed an 88 mm gun for the loss of a Churchill. The German infantry suffered many casualties and the survivors withdrew after determined resistance by the British infantry supported by massed artillery. The British received reinforcements and counter-attacked after another bombardment, pushing the Germans back from Tally Ho corner into the hills east of the Medjez-El-Bab to El-Aroussa road during the night.