INFANTRY AND ARMOR ADVANCING ON MATEUR. After the fall of Hill 609 the enemy pulled back leaving the road to Mateur open. This small village in the middle of a plain was the center of enemy road communications in the U. S. zone of attack. Its occupation on 3 May opened the way for the advance on Bizerte, the main objective of the U. S.-French drive. (Bottom: General Sherman M4A1.)
TUNISIA
GERMAN SIEBEL FERRIES. These diesel-powered, ponton-raft ferries were used to transport supplies from Italy and Sicily. They usually traveled in convoys and were often heavily armed with 88-mm. antiaircraft guns when moving toward Tunisia as well as with the lighter protection which they retained for the return trip. Of shallow draft, they could unload directly onto the beach, a factor which became especially important after the Allies had gained control of the air and subjected the Tunisian ports to severe bombing.
TUNISIA
GERMAN TRANSPORT PLANES, JU-52, under fire from Allied aircraft. Toward the end of the Tunisia Campaign, the Germans received reinforcements by air from southern Italy and Sicily, using several hundred transports in daylight flights. The Allies gradually built up a force of planes within striking distance of the Sicilian straits and on 5 April the planned attack on the aerial ferry service started. By the 22d the enemy had lost so many planes that daylight operations were discontinued; however, some key personnel and a limited amount of emergency supplies were flown in by night. (Upper left: medium bomber B-25.)