Operations Vulcan and Strike

Operation Vulcan (22 April–6 May 1943) and Operation Strike (6–12 May 1943) were the final ground attack by the Allied forces against the Italian and German forces in Tunis, Cap Bon, and Bizerte, the last Axis toeholds in North Africa, during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The initial offensive was codenamed Vulcan, but on 30 April it was realized that a revision was necessary to achieve success. The revised final phase of the assault on Tunis was codenamed Strike and launched six days later.

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel believed that the Axis position in Tunisia was untenable, and he had recommended the evacuation of all German troops to Italy, where he believed they could be more useful. His advice was rejected by Adolf Hitler. In April 1943, a major Allied air force effort (Operation Flax) had cut off Axis supplies to North Africa. U.S. II Corps, commanded by Major General Omar Nelson Bradley, surrounded the last defenders at Enfidaville, ending the Axis effort in North Africa. Operation Retribution and the control of the air and of the sea prevented any large-scale evacuation of Axis troops to Italy.

The fighting was heavy, with German units in well-prepared and dug-in defences. In the advance on Tunis, the British 4th Infantry Division, part of British IX Corps under Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks was confronted by German paratroopers of the elite Hermann Göring Parachute Division. The British attack was costly, and previous attacks had been repulsed with heavy losses.

At the "Cactus Farm", the British infantry was faced by fierce defensive fire from well-concealed German paratroopers. Consequently, Churchill tanks of the 12th Royal Tank Regiment, part of the 21st Tank Brigade, advanced without any infantry support, and the tanks were assaulted by the defenders using Molotov cocktails and sticky "teller" anti-tank mines. Twelve tanks were destroyed and in some cases, their crews were rescued from the burning wrecks by the German defenders.

On 6 May 1943, at the culmination of Operation Vulcan, the British First Army, under Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson, took Tunis and American troops reached Bizerte. The German high command under General von Arnim finally surrendered on 12 May.

On 13 May, all remaining Axis forces in Tunisia,under the command of Marshal Giovanni Messe, surrendered unconditionally. Messe had, with Mussolini's approval, tried to negotiate an "honourable surrender" the previous day, but this had been rejected. Early on the morning of the 13th he was promoted to the rank of field marshal, but the Allies would not accept anything but an unconditional surrender and threatened to resume their attacks, which had been halted the day before. At 1220 hours Messe gave the orders. He and the remaining German commander, Kurt von Liebenstein, surrendered in person late in the day. By the close of the operation, nearly 240,000 German and Italian troops were captured.