The Battle of Wadi Akarit was an Allied attack from 6 to 7 April 1943, to dislodge Axis forces from positions along the Wadi Akarit in Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The Gabès Gap, north of the towns of Gabès and El Hamma, is a passage between the sea and impassable salt marshes. The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division breached the defences and held a bridgehead, allowing the passage of their main force to roll up the Axis defences. After several determined counter-attacks, the Axis forces withdrew and the Eighth Army, under General Bernard Montgomery, pursued toward Tunis, until reaching Axis defensive positions at Enfidaville.
Gabès and the Tunisian Campaign.
Chott el Djerid area.
Men of the Green Howards storming Point 85 during the battle.
Generale Giovanni Messe
The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as the Highland Division and later 51st (Highland) Division from 1915. The division's insignia was a stylised 'HD' inside a red circle. Early doubts about the division's performance earned it the nickname of "Harper's Duds" after the name of its commander, Major-General George Harper although they would go on to gain a fearsome reputation with the Allies and Germans.
Prisoners taken in Beaumont Hamel, France, during the Battle of the Ancre, by the 51st (Highland) Division, 13 November 1916.
Men of the 1/4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, crossing a trench, Ribecourt, France, 20 November 1917.
Battle of the Scarpe. Capture of the Greenland Hill by the 51st Division. Daylight patrol of the 1/6th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, working forward towards Hausa and Delbar Woods. North-east of Roeux, 29 August 1918. Troops firing into a dug-out in a deserted German trench to dislodge any remaining Germans.
Men of the 7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, marching in Millebosc, France, 8 June 1940.