Montgomery's British Eighth Army occupying an east-west front, between the sea to the east and the Zaghouan massif, and Anderson's First Army a south-north front, between the Zaghouan region and the sea, in the north, the hinge of the two fronts being ensured by the 19th French corps of General Koeltz in front of the Zaghouan, the two armies of the Axis find themselves enclosed in a quadrilateral whose two other faces, to the north and to the east, are constituted by the sea.
Thus leaning against the sea on both sides, these two German-Italian armies themselves occupy a position at right angles, the southern branch of which, facing the Armed City, is represented by the position of Enfidaville, between the sea and the Zaghouan inclusive, a position which had been prepared for several months and on which General Messe's 1st Italian Army had just reestablished itself. The western branch, facing the 1st Army, is the front held for five months by General von Arnim's Fifth German Army, now commanded by General von Waerst, who has had plenty of time to organize and reinforce it, especially in the Medjerda valley, a large access corridor to Tunis.
The hinge of this enemy device at right angles is constituted by the formidable Zaghouan massif which culminates at 1,295 meters and whose defense is entrusted to the Afrika Korps, reinforced by the Italian elite division "Superga", facing the 19th French corps.
This quadrilateral, whose two land sides are thus defended, in the he northeast corner of Tunisia, and which the English called box, constitutes the redoubt of the African armies of the Axis and the bridgehead that Hitler decided to keep at all costs.
To defend his box, whose two fronts, west and south, have only a total development of 190 kilometers, the gen Eral von Arnim, commander of the Axis army group, has 200,000 men with unshaken morale, Germans and Italians, and sufficient supplies of food, equipment and ammunition as the stocks that will fall into our hands will prove. — but without the possibility of renewing them or receiving serious reinforcements.