Video: 'What War with the German Army Truly Meant - Battle of Kasserine Pass

(Wednesday, February 24, 1943; during the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, part of the Tunisian Campaign of World War II) — The Battle of Kasserine Pass, a series of battles of the Tunisian campaign of World War II that began Feb. 19, 1943, at Kasserine Pass, a 2-mile-wide gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia, ended late today as the pass was reoccupied by the Americans.

The battle was the first major engagement between U.S. and Axis forces in Africa. The American troops were numerically superior, but inexperienced and poorly led; they suffered many casualties and were quickly pushed back over 50 miles from their original positions west of Faïd Pass.

After the early defeat, elements of the U.S. II Corps, with British reinforcements, rallied and held the exits through mountain passes in western Tunisia, defeating the Axis offensive.

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But Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel had inflicted serious casualties on the Americans. Some 300 soldiers were killed, with 3,000 more wounded and more than 3,000 captured. The Americans also lost 183 tanks, 104 half-tracks, 208 guns, and more than 500 other vehicles.

The Germans only suffered about 1,000 casualties and lost just 20 tanks, six half-tracks, 14 guns, and 61 other vehicles.

Decades after the battle, U.S. General Omar Bradley described it as a “complete disaster.”

As a result of the battle, the U.S. Army instituted sweeping changes in unit organization and replaced commanders and some types of equipment.