During the winter of 1942-43, fierce air battles raged over the North African deserts of Algiers and Tunisia. The USAAF and RAF battled continuously with the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica to control the skies and the ground leading to victory or defeat in Tunis. The Afrika Korps, sent to help the Italians hold their colonial possessions in North Africa, had been engaged with Commonwealth forces since 1941 attacking and retreating across the entire North of the African continent from Egypt to Morocco.
In the early days of the North African campaign, the Luftwaffe’s Jagdwaffe Experten achieved unbelievably high air-to-air victories over the Desert Air Force pilots. One of the reasons behind this issue was the inferiority of the Allied aircraft available to commonwealth pilots in the region. Until Allied tactics, strategies, and numbers changed the direction of the battles. Battle attrition without replacement overtook the Luftwaffe, Regia Aeronautica, and the whole of the Afrika Korps in late 1942 and into 1943. These factors started the downward spiral toward the defeat of the Axis powers on the African continent.
Operation Torch brought the inexperienced 12th USAAF to the shores of North Africa. A crop of new aircraft and fresh pilots joined the fight, helping destroy the Axis forces on the battlefield. The victory didn’t occur overnight, but slowly the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica began to fold under the weight of the American insertion into the region. On May 13, 1943, the Afrika Korps and its battle-hardened soldiers both German and Italian surrendered to a coalition of British and American troops.
This FSO represents the desperate fight to survive and be victorious in the skies of the North African desert in Air Action Over North Africa.
FRAME 1: 4 April 2025
FRAME 2: 11 April 2025
FRAME 3: 18 April 2025
More Info:
https://ahevents.net/index.php/fso-setups/38-mediterranean-theatre/1357-thelepte-kasserinepass
