completed by late August and the division left England soon after, arriving in Kirkup, Iraq in November 1942. The division formed part of Indian XXI Corps of the Tenth Army, which was given the role of preventing the Germans from reaching the Persian Gulf from the Caucasus. However, the German defeat at Stalingrad in February 1943, the threat receded and the 56th Division could focus its attention on training for offensive operations, and began training in mountain warfare. In March, the division (minus the 168th Brigade) was ordered to join the British Eighth Army, then fighting in the final stages of the Tunisian Campaign. The two brigades of the division then began a 3,200-mile journey from Kirkup to Enfidaville, Tunisia. The journey took four weeks and is the longest approach march in the history of the British Army. Arriving there in late April, Lyne's brigade began to relieve elements of the veteran 2nd New Zealand Division, in contact with the enemy, in the mountains north of Enfidaville on the night of 26 April. Two days later, the X Corps (which the 56th Division formed part of) commander, Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks, ordered the brigade to seize Djebel Srafi and Djebel Terhouna. Although the attack began well, a counterattack on the first objective sent men of the 2/5th Queen's, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Whitfield (who would later be GOC 56th Division), who were there back to their own start lines. However, the Tunisian Campaign itself was finished just over two weeks later, with most of the Allied strength being diverted to the British First Army, advancing on the city of Tunis from the west, soon falling to the Allies on 7 May, and the campaign officially ending on 13 May 1943, with some 238,000 Axis soldiers surrendering. Italy With the campaign over, the division (still minus the 168th Brigade), now commanded by Major-General Douglas Graham after Miles was severely injured on 5 May, was in late May sent to Libya to rest and absorb reinforcements, as well as to train for amphibious operations in preparation for the Allied invasion of Italy. On 3 July Lyne was made a colonel (with seniority dating back to 1 July 1942), on 5 August he was mentioned in dispatches, for his services in Persia and Iraq, and two weeks later awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), for his services in the Middle East. The division