Operation Ochsenkopf

Operation Ox Head/Unternehmen Ochsenkopf
Part of the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War
Panzer VI (Tiger I) in Tunisia, 1943
Date 26 February – 4 March 1943 Location Northern Tunisia 37°03′00″N 09°14′00″E / 37.05000°N 9.23333°E / 37.05000; 9.23333 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  Free France	Germany  Italy
Commanders and leaders
Kenneth Anderson Charles Allfrey	Jürgen von Arnim Rudolf Lang
Strength
V Corps	Korpsgruppe Weber
Casualties and losses
4,200 casualties (2,300 prisoners) 16 tanks 31 guns 40 vehicles	4,500 casualties (2,200 prisoners) 71 tanks 60 vehicles

Unternehmen Ochsenkopf (Operation Ox Head) also known as the Battle of Sidi Nsir and the Battle of Hunts Gap was an Axis offensive operation in Tunisia from 26 February to 4 March 1943, during the Tunisia Campaign of the Second World War. The offensive and a subsidiary operation Unternehmen Ausladung was intended to gain control of Medjez el Bab, Béja, El Aroussa, Djebel Abiod and a position known as Hunt's Gap, between the British First Army and the Axis Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika/Gruppo d'Armate Africa). The offensive gained some ground, but none of the more ambitious objectives were achieved before the operation was called off due to increasing losses of infantry and tanks, particularly the heavy Tigers. Unternehmen Ochsenkopf was the last big Axis offensive by the 5th Panzer Army before the surrender of the Afrika Korps in May 1943.^[1]