Lighting the Torch

Fought between November 1942 and May 1943, the Second World War’s Tunisian Campaign has often been described as where the Allies ‘learned to fight’. The vital culmination of the conflict fought across the breadth of North Africa, as well as an important stepping-stone to the opening of a second front in Europe, Tunisia saw American, British, and French forces on air, land, and sea, combine to drive Axis forces from the African continent for good.

Yet despite Tunisia’s importance to the grand narrative of the Second World War, it has remained chronically neglected by scholars, particularly in regard to the lessons the Allies derived from their experiences during the campaign. This monograph examines the much-understudied Tunisian Campaign through the lens of military learning, shedding light on an oft-ignored aspect of the North African Campaign whilst providing a major contribution to our understanding of how Allied forces learned and evolved prior to their return to Europe in 1943/44. Lighting the Torch demonstrates that it was in North Africa where the Allies were able to develop the organisations, doctrines, and processes necessary to prosecute an effective multinational campaign on air, sea, and land, as well as develop the command talent, combat experience, and technologies to fight and win battles successfully. These lessons would prove crucial when the Allies finally returned to the European continent, underpinning the successful invasions of Sicily, Italy, and Normandy and allowing the Allies to fight their way across the continent towards ultimate Axis surrender.