Danielle+--+North+Africa+Campaign

The people envolved in the North African Campaign were the British, Italians, New Zelands and Germans.the North African campaign opened on November 8th 1942, when Anglo-American forces under U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower landed in French Morocco and Algeria near Casablanca and met bitter French resistance. The Germans won the initial race for Tunis because the aircrafts had greater time over the contested area, and because they had shorter supply lines. Montgomery’s forces, which had crossed into Tunisia on February 4, had reached Medenine on the 16th and established defensive positions. Hoping to catch the British off-balance, Rommel attacked south from the Mareth Line on March 6. Spearheaded by 140 tanks, it was the most potent offensive Rommel mounted since arriving in Tunisia.The Germans ran into skillfully prepared anti-tank defenses and lost 52 tanks. Right after the failure the Medenine attack, Rommel returned to Germany a sick man. Arnim assumed overall Axis command, and Messe took command in south Tunisia. The North Africa campaign was a struggle for control of the Suez Canal and access to oil from the Middle East and raw materials from Asia. The purpus of the campaign was to try and get oil from the Middle East and raw minerals from Asia. Oil in particular had become a critical strategic commodity pr imarily do to the increasm of modern armies.