Battle of Kasserine Pass 1943 / Part 2 - Operation Sturmflut

In the early morning of February 19th, the Afrika Korps Kampfgruppe launched an attack on the American defences at Kasserine Pass. Although Americans initially held off the larger German forces, the line eventually crumbled. A fierce struggle waged for the next four days. This video contains a description of the events.
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Battle of Kasserine Pass - Part 1: • Battle of Kasserine Pa...
#worldwartwo #militaryhistory #ww2
Twitter: / fbattlefields

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

What strikes me about this is that American generals wanted to start the war by invading Normandy. It's scary to imagine what D-Day would have looked like with Fredendall in the mix.

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

Would have been another Dunkirk.

[@Rusty_Gold85]

I don't Churchill would commit and assist them . The Allies had enough attempts to tell them to reconsider

[@AQW0RIDS]

It would have been more bloody but would have succeeded ultimately unlike the cakewalk that was normandy after letting the Russians batter the germans for another year.

[@moss8448]

Have always wondered about the Kasserine Pass and what the deal was. Read a book on it back in the `80's but it was hard to rap my head around not seeing the lay of the land an post's like this really clear things up. Was selling books at a local flea market and an older fella walked up and out of the pile of WWII books I had on sale picked up that one and was looking at it and I mentioned something about reading it and my thoughts on it and he said 'I was there' I gave him the book.

[@robertstimpfling5385]

Very cool. As a disabled vet anything is appreciated. Well DONE!!!

[@hansla8608]

@@robertstimpfling5385 Years ago I had read Blumenson's book about the Kassrine Battle and got the usual narrow view of the battle that often repeated. But pieces like what FTB has done here open the aperture a little and let us see the greater story. The Germans defeated the Americans at Kasserine itself but failed to achieve the goal of taking Tebessa. Still, many hard "first battles" lessons learned there. Glad you gave that fellow the book; what a connection.

[@blitzy3244]

Yeah... if only these "history channels" like Mark Felton, Kings of Generals, Operations Room covered German victories. Imagine that? STILL after all of these years not a single Eben Emael raid video from either of them, arguable the most badass operation in history.

[@moss8448]

@@blitzy3244 good point, because they WERE awesome early on

[@curtgomes]

My uncle went to North Africa in 1942 and was part of the initial invasion. He also was at Kasserine Pass where the green Americans suffered terrible losses. The American general, Fredendall, proved to be a total failure. Eisenhower was in a spot and knew Fredendall had to go. Fredendall was relieved of command. After unsuccessfully trying to fill this position with available generals, Eisenhower appointed Gen. George Patton to fill that command. The rest is history....

[@curtgomes]

"Lloyd Fredendall returned to the US at Eisenhower’s recommendation. Despite his mistakes, Eisenhower’s refusal to formally reprimand allowed him to be promoted to lieutenant general and eligible for three-star assignments, which he duly received. He returned to the US with a hero’s welcome. Eisenhower’s aide made a report to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, where it was communicated, without elaboration, that Eisenhower wished for Fredendall to be reassigned to a training command. This recommendation was followed and Fredenall spent the remainder of the war working training assignments across the US."

[@alexbowman7582]

My German friend said to me years ago you stopped us sorting out Russia.

[@bertplank8011]

This didnt happen by chance.... Himmlers niece married an Israeli post ww2......the internet has exposed some of the lies of ww2....but there is plenty of work to do.

[@richardhertz1989]

Excellent episode !

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you!!!

[@tremendousbaguette9680]

16:49 : not-so-smiling Albert, for once.

[@altair458]

Great video. I subscribed.

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Awesome, thank you!

[@oneshotme]

Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you!

[@oneshotme]

@@FromtheBattlefields You're very welcome!!

[@richardarbuthnot4021]

Very enjoyable & factual excellent. Very well narrated. But where is part 3, with Patton?

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Do not worry. This is not the last video about the Tunisian front.

[@etiennenobel5028]

Great stuff. Thanks

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thanks

[@raywhitehead730]

Frendenall was originally very well thought of. He was recommended by Marshall for the job. And he had, pre-war, been a superior to Eisenhower.

[@tiptoptechno]

Good script, video and maps. I am not bothered by the AI voice and would rather have that than a heavy accent/someone with english as a second language etc. Have watched all of your videos and look forward to new content

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you!

[@randywise5241]

3000 missing? That smells.

[@crazywarriorscatfan9061]

Nice channel!

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thanks!

[@gonebabygone4116]

"preventing the rapture of the line" - this is a funny generated voice

[@richardglady3009]

Great video. Thank you.

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thank you!

[@sunrayisdown1690]

The Kasserine Pass !

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

So the Allies lost the casualty battle but won overall, beating the Axis back to their start point?

[@justinmelchionne4514]

The ai voice sounds like mark felton anyway so

[@paulroberts3639]

I have been waiting for this….. great video. So the US had the idiot General Fredendall confusing everything. (Fred - end - all. I bet the GIs loved that guy) . So it wasn’t just the British who had boof-heads in charge.

[@terrysmith9362]

who arr the British boof-hards you are referring to?

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

That guy must have been really well connected to get out of that mess with a promotion.

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

@@terrysmith9362 Only ones i could think of are Neil Ritchie and Percival

[@terrysmith9362]

@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- I suspect that he is just another American who believes in Hollywood comic fiction or the Anglophobic Stephen Ambrose

[@braddavis4472]

@@terrysmith9362 Probably Montgomery! Just a guess.

[@armandocajetaalonzo4609]

Nice

[@FromtheBattlefields]

Thanks

[@gemellodipriapo]

Not a great vid sadly ... it seems to focus on Kesserine being a "German" victory. It wasn't. The Italians played a significant role too however many English armchair historians still balk at having to acknowledge Italian military successes. I think this is related mostly to 80 year old British propaganda about the Italian armed forces but it might also be the fruit of mere jingoistic ignorance. But that's only my opinion, It was the 5th Bersaglieri Regiment who on 20th February made the frontal assault on Allied positions and finally carried the position. This action penetrated Allied lines and thus opened the road to Thala and Tebessa. Later that day combined Axis armoured units were able to enter the pass and by doing so routed the Allied forces, It was considered one of the worst U.S. defeats of the Tunisian Campaign. The Italian regiment was complimented by General Bülowius, commander of the DAK assault group who noted the Bersaglieri's action was fundamental to the Axis victory. Sadly none of this is mentioned. A lacuna that diminishes the value of this vid unfortunately. Better luck next time. I will now probably receive lame replies about the Italian army etc. Yawn.

[@novauviolon]

It's the fault of pretty much every popular English-language account of the Tunisian Campaign minimizing the Italian role in the Axis and the French role in the Allies. The video does the same thing with the French, referring only to the 1st Infantry Division's actions under Task Force Welvert and ignoring that the "Welvert" part referred to French General Edouard Welvert and that the task force comprised more French battalions than American ones.

[@coachhannah2403]

The US did quite well until overwhelmed.

[@bigwoody4704]

a British board pointing out an American failure. The USA sent 600 bombers to North Africa from Europe,317 sherman tanks and 94 105mm howitzers along with 100,000 troops landed for Torch. And you arses didn't give air support at Kasserine pass but Patton beat the very same forces at El Guettar 11 weeks later. Did Britain take back Singapore,Tobruk,Greece,Crete,Hong Kong,Dieppe,Norway,Netherlands, Belgium,France,Dunkirk all those places they got driven from back in 11 weeks?

[@jpmtlhead39]

A lesson how, even outnumberd, if you have a super General, with resiliant and professional troops, u can acheve, something, that the military "books", tell thats impossible. Ps: Rommel didnt deserved, his Demise.

[@mikekimmell582]

Not really true. Thats an amateurs perspective that gets the silly 3 to 1 rule wrong. Which, is a lot of historians and talking head on the news. In reality you need to be able to overwhelm the enemy on a certain piece of ground locally or decisive point. And like you said leadership and quality of soldier are huge combat multipliers.

[@TheNapchop]

The AI voice is pretty bad. Would be a good idea to get a proper narator

[@justdoingitjim7095]

The contributor probably does this by himself and couldn't hire a professional commentator just to make a few people happy. Maybe you should donate to his channel and see if he'll hire one for you!

[@enyanyea4226]

I enjoy the content but the narration is awful

[@t.j.payeur5331]

Damn it..great content, horrible robo narrator, I can't stand it, had to bail, even unsubbed because of the robot...

[@FromtheBattlefields]

I'm always sorry when I lose a subscriber. Regarding the narrator, for now, this is the best I can d

[@joncook6167]

@@FromtheBattlefields don’t worry about that little guy

[@tremainetreerat5176]

Lol the Wehrmacht had nebelwerfers well before the start of the Second World War. By no stretch of the imagination were nebelwerfers something "new" in 1943.