Vintage Military - Part 22

 World War II - Mareth Line, North Africa

In March, 1943, as the British Eighth Army drove Rommel's Afrika Korps westward across the desert, the Germans and Italians made a stand at the Mareth Line, a line of fortifications built by the French in the 1930s to defend Tunisia.

Today's photos are from Britain's Imperial War Museum.  This one, dated March 20, 1943, is labeled "Seaforth Highlanders take advantage of the recent rains and swim in the flooded Wadi Zessar near the Mareth Line.  They originally took part in the battle to effect a crossing of this Wadi." 

This photo has the same date and caption as the previous one.  The men are swimming naked because that's what soldiers did in wartime.

The remaining photos are dated five days later, March 25, 1943, in a set called "With a Highland Division in the Mareth Area."  This photo is labeled "A party of Jocks make a dash for the showers.  51st Highland Division."

"Jocks" does not mean they were athletes.  Scottish soldiers were called Jocks (Jock being a common Scottish nickname, corresponding to Jack), just like English soldiers were called Tommies in World War I.

This photo is labeled "Communal method of back drying.  The men line up and assist each other."

This one is labeled "Cooling off after a spell in the line."  Note the Scottish tam o'shanter hat.

Finally, we have "Hot showers provided for the men in the front line."

The British were able to outflank the Germans and Italians by going around the Mareth Line through desert country that the French who built the Mareth Line had thought was impassable for motor vehicles.  By March 27, German resistance was broken, and the Germans and Italians retreated.  They were ultimately surrounded by combined British and American forces in Tunisia and surrendered on May 13, 1943.