pause to consolidate their strung out formations and to prepare an attack at Wadi Zemzem, near Buerat east of Tripoli. Rommel had, with the agreement of Field Marshal Bastico, sent a request to the Italian Comando Supremo in Rome to withdraw to Tunisia where the terrain would better suit a defensive action and where he could link with the Axis army forming there, in response to the Operation Torch landings. Mussolini replied on 19 December that the must resist to the last man at Buerat. Tripoli On 15 January 1943, the 51st (Highland) Division made a frontal attack while the 2nd New Zealand Division and the 7th Armoured Division drove around the inland flank of the Axis line. Weakened by the withdrawal of 21st Panzer Division to Tunisia to strengthen the 5th Panzer Army (Hans-Jürgen von Arnim), Rommel conducted a fighting retreat. The port of Tripoli, further west, was taken on 23 January as Rommel continued to withdraw to the Mareth Line, the French southern defensive position in Tunisia. Tunisia Rommel was by this time in contact with the Fifth Panzer Army, which had been fighting against the multi-national First Army in northern Tunisia, since shortly after Operation Torch. Hitler was determined to retain Tunisia and Rommel finally started to receive replacement men and materials. The Axis faced a war on two fronts, with the Eighth Army approaching from the east and the British, French and Americans from the west. The German-Italian Panzer Army was renamed the Italian First Army (General Giovanni Messe) and Rommel assumed command of the new Army Group Africa, responsible for both fronts. The two British armies were commanded by the 18th Army Group (General Harold Alexander). The failure of the Run for Tunis by the First Army in December 1942, led the North African campaign to last longer, ending when the Italian-German forces in North Africa capitulated in May 1943. See also List of British military equipment of World War II List of Australian military equipment of World War II List of German military equipment of World War II List of Italian Army equipment in World War II Enham Alamein (Village in Hampshire, England named in honour of the battle) El Alamein Fountain (war memorial commemorating the battle, in Sydney, Australia) List of World War II battles North African campaign timeline Notes Footnotes References Further reading External links The fate of the Italians in the