Tunisia / Mareth Line

Colleagues; some - no, not some but 7 years - back I had spent a day looking for the bunkers of the Mareth line. Unfortunately without much preparation an therefore only randomly. And I am still not very familiar with the subject today...

Now, I am invited to go to Tunisia for a short week and I thought I might have the time to visit some of the places related t WW2. There's not much time to prepare the trip for me since I am occupied with my job quite a lot.

If one or the other knows some photos of the Mareth line, possibly of British origin, then I could have a better look. A recommendation of a book dealing with that subject would also be nice (although I will hardly have the time to read it now...).

Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

This is from the Illustrated London News, i/d January 30th 1943:



The March of Time episode mentioned doesn't yet seem to be digitised - shame really, as it looks to have been about a 10-minute feature.

Some battle scenes showing the defences i/d April 10th 1943:





Some more from the next issue:

 

Map of the Mareth battlefield for 23rd February to March 28th 1943. if its of interest.

 

Hi Kuno, would you have time to visit any cemeteries?

Cheers
Paul

 

Cemeteries... rather less. I am looking furhter south to the more desertic areas. But if there is a chance, then I will do it. Although I do only know the German cemetery at Bordj Cedria in Tunisia. Where are the Commonwealth, French and American cemeteries?

 

Brief introduction (in French): Défense - Musée Militaire de la ligne défensive de Mareth

Modern pictures: The Mareth Line in Tunisia, 1943

French forum discussion: La Ligne Mareth (Tunisie) - Page 2

French book on Maginot defences which includes the Mareth Line: LA LIGNE MAGINOT (5) SUD-EST - ALPES - CORSE - LIGNE MARETH

 

Browsing through the local newspaper archive today and came across this photo from the Mareth Line. It made me smile and thought i'd share it.

 

There may be other threads on the Mareth Line, but in my email in-tray today was an advert / notice via French website for a bulky "coffee table" book, published in 2018: Ligne Maginot du Désert - Ligne Mareth

Amazon (French) has two excellent reviews: https://www.amazon.fr/Ligne-Maginot-desert-républicain-Sud-tunisien/dp/2911992954

 

I have just posted some questions about hiking the Mareth Line in a separate thread. Please could someone help me out with some information? Thank you! Walking Tunisia's Mareth Line in 2021