KASSERINE PASS BATTLES Readings - US Army Center Of Military ...

-9-
. ,. . . with ~_
I,,q;thdrawingAis , train :elements to the northwest in the direction of Sbiba-
7.282 . and. . 7291 .
smoke shells .
The Reoon .Bn .580 has the mission to reconnoiter and screen the line
. . ,Kampfgruppe Stenk4off attacks, south o£ Sbeit&a, the enemy tanks
Hostile
which, wall camouflaged, in the olives groves, accept the fight . Armored forces
n
are adosialso it the. .spurs of the Djebe ls el Rheradok . The tanks were partly
buried . and interspersed with antitank guns . 1~'neny artillery . had a good range
on our.attacking .tanks, observation for the artillery was conducted by single-
engine fighter, planes . . .The , Panzer Regiment had toadvance k through the diffi-
cult terrain on a .width .of 10 kn . A violent tank fight developed and onecould
see that ., it, ,was . a case of a systematicadd
getting,,,out .of.Meitla everything possible . The
prepared defense with the objective
enenV's expenditure was 501'o
During . the attack our Luftwaffe was very activy and attacked the
enpmy .positions and columns with bombs and in low flying raids .
The 3d Bn.,104th attaoked Sbeitla frontally and made good progress
along the Wadi southeast of Sbeitla, - Toward 1700 h . it reached Sboitla and the
same evening pushed a company to the northwest through the locality and there
moved into defensive . uositions . The,tank engagement taking place south +)f Sbeitla
was very stubborn and last until 1830h . Despite everythinb on this day 27 tanks
were put out of commission vrithout/a complete loss e
During the evening -The 5th Pz .Rgt . assembles in the area 2 ran east of
Sbeitla . The Grenadiers ha-de the mission to defend Sbeitla . The artillery
at once
supports the Grenadiers and is ready to beat down/arty eventual enemy attack .
n
The division . intends to undertake in the moring of 18 Feb . a vigorous reconnaissance
to Kasserine . The mission of Co1 .Lan&, the defense o£ the high ridge (Dj .;bel
Lessouda) with reconnaissance up to the line 7217 - Y216 - 7220 remains in force
as there might still be some remaining enemy forces to reckon tirith .