The 2nd Battle of Longstop Hill or the Capture of Longstop Hill took place in Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign of World War II from 21 to 23 April 1943. The battle was fought for control over the heights of Djebel el Ahmera and Djebel Rhar, together known as Longstop Hill and vicinity, between the British forces of the First Army and German units of the 5th Panzer Army. The infantry of the 78th Battleaxe Division and Churchill tanks of the North Irish Horse captured Longstop Hill after bitter fighting, in which the tanks created a measure of tactical surprise by driving up the hill, a manoeuvre that only Churchill tanks could achieve. The attackers broke through the German defences, which were the last great natural barrier on the road to Tunis. Background The Run for Tunis, an Allied effort to capture Tunis in late 1942 following Operation Torch had failed and since the end of the year, a stalemate had settled on the theatre as both sides paused to re-build their strength. The 5th Panzer Army (Hans-Jürgen von Arnim) defending Tunisia was being strengthened as was the Allied First Army (Kenneth Anderson). In January 1943, the German-Italian Panzer Army (Erwin Rommel) confronting the Eighth Army (Bernard Montgomery) had withdrawn westwards and joined the 5th Panzer Army. Army Group Africa was formed, with the two Axis armies under command of Rommel. In March, the Army Group was defeated by the Eighth Army at the Battle of Medenine and the Battle of the Mareth Line which fell after Rommel's return to Germany. In the central west, north of Medjez el Bab and some from Tunis, the First Army continued to fight for the dominating, German-held peaks, in the Medjerda Valley. This included a massif with the hills known as Djebel Ahmera and Dejebel Rhar. First battle On the night of 22/23 December 1942, the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards mounted an attack in heavy rain, capturing what they thought to be the whole massif, before being relieved by the U.S. 18th Regimental Combat Team. The Germans counter-attacked, driving the Americans off Djebel el Ahmera but the next night the Guards recaptured the hill only to find, when daylight came, that another summit, Djebel Rhar, remained to be assaulted. During the night the Guards attacked once again and captured the second hill but they were later driven off by a German counter-attack on