about its surrender. In support of these ground operations, naval and air units were to cut the Axis supply pipeline from Sicily. D-day was set for 25 November. Allied ground forces would be mostly British—one infantry division and one armored division supported by several American units, none larger than a battalion—and commanded by British General Anderson. General Eisenhower planned to keep adding British and American units until each ally fielded a full-strength corps.
For the present, Anderson's lone division, the British 78th Infantry, under Maj. Gen. Vyvyan Evelegh, would attack east on three axes. On the north, the 36th Infantry Brigade Group would move toward Bizerte on a road roughly ten miles inland. Another brigade-size unit, Blade Force, would advance in the center toward Tunis some twenty miles inland. On the south, the 11th Infantry Brigade Group would move on a northeasterly course about forty miles inland toward Tunis. Blade Force and the 11th Group would meet at Tebourba, then move six miles east on Djedeida, the key to Tunis. Each of the three columns was reinforced by American units. Company E, 13th Armored Regiment, supported the 36th Group; the
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