Nickforce

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A Vickers machine gun team of the 10th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, training in Tunisia in 1943. Vickers machine gun team of 10th Battalion The Rifle Brigade, training near Bou Arada, Tunisia, 30 April 1943. NA2407.jpg
A Vickers machine gun team of the 10th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, training in Tunisia in 1943.

Nickforce was an improvised formation of the British First Army in the Tunisian campaign of the Second World War. It was hastily formed from elements of the British 6th Armoured Division on 14 February 1943, for the defence of Thala, during the latter stages of the Battle of Kasserine Pass. It took its name from the commanding officer, Brigadier Cameron Nicholson. In desperate fighting, the force successfully blocked a Kampfgruppe of the 10th Panzer Division, under the direct control of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, on 21 and 22 February. [1]

Order of battle

On 14 February 1943

Units subsequently attached:

[2]

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References

  1. Kasserine Pass 1943: Rommel's Last Victory By Steve Zaloga and Michaël Welply, Osprey Publishing Limited 2006, ISBN   1-84176-914-2 (pp.62-65)
  2. British Army & Commonwealth ad hoc 'Force' formations