Account of the 2nd Bn Hampshire Regiment's "Last stand" at Tebourba

I came across this piece in the 78th division War Diary; it is a copy of the original report of the 'Happies' stand at Tebourba which was submitted to Divisional HQ. Note that although they were in the 1st guards brigade at the time (they had been since the days of the BEF) the rest of the brigade were still in Algiers, their being insufficient transport to move them across all at once. The Hampshires would be removed from the brigade after Tebourba in order to recover, they never returned and their place was eventually handed over to the 3rd Bn Welsh Guards.

Pretty much everyone who writes a book on the Tunisian conflict quotes this to death, but this is the official report, in its entirety.

 

... and the last pages.

 

Thank you for posting this. My Grandfather used to mention Tebourba often. Unfortunately, I was not curious enough to ask him more about it when he was alive. It was, without doubt, a battle that made the biggest impression on his wartime memories.

Fascinating stuff. It makes one realise that there were so many battles fought, that had such a huge impact on the men that were there. Battles that the vast majority of people have never heard of. They would make astounding films on their own.