Axis forces in North Africa surrender in Tunisia
A quarter million German and Italian troops go into captivity, ending the war on the African continent
Quick facts
- Location
- Tunisia
- Key dates
- Tunis and Bizerte captured 7 May 1943; Axis surrender 13 May 1943
- Prisoners
- Roughly 250,000 to 267,000 German and Italian troops
- Significance
- Ended the North Africa campaign; opened the way to invade Sicily
What happened
On 7 May 1943, the British 7th Armoured Division captured Tunis and the US II Corps took Bizerte, the last port in Axis hands in North Africa. Six days later, on 13 May, the remaining Axis forces trapped in Tunisia surrendered. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum's account puts the number of German and Italian prisoners at 267,000; the National WWII Museum's own campaign timeline rounds the figure to roughly 250,000. Either way it was one of the largest mass surrenders of the war, closing out a campaign that had run since Italy's initial invasion of Egypt in 1940 and the Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria in late 1942.
Why it matters
The Tunisia surrender ended the fighting in Africa outright and opened the way for the Allies to invade Sicily that summer, the first Allied assault on what Churchill called the soft underbelly of Europe. It also removed any lingering Axis threat to the Suez Canal and the oil routes through the Middle East that Britain depended on.
How we know
Both the destination of the prisoners and unit-level surrender details were recorded contemporaneously by Allied military intelligence; the modest gap between the 250,000 and 267,000 figures reflects different counting cutoffs during a surrender that unfolded over several days across multiple fronts.
Sources
- Holocaust Encyclopedia, US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Tunisia Campaign · Reputable sourceencyclopedia.ushmm.org · The domain "encyclopedia.ushmm.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- The National WWII Museum. The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part One · Reputable sourcenationalww2museum.org · The domain "nationalww2museum.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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