Turn of Tunisia as Allies take stronghold

By Peter Ayers Wimbrow III Contributing Writer

(May 12, 2023) This week 80 years ago, the Allies were in the process of rounding up and capturing more than a quarter-million Axis soldiers remaining in the French Protectorate (colony) of Tunisia.

Tunis and Bizerte had been captured on May 7. Tunis, the capital of, and largest city in, Tunisia, with a current population of 725,000, was captured by Commonwealth troops. The American 9th Division, commanded by Major-Gen. M.S. Eddy, captured the 3,000-year-old port of Bizerte. It is the northernmost city in Africa and today has a population of 230,000. The Americans then left Bizerte, so that the French could make their grand entrance, the next day.

The G.I.s quickly composed a doggerel about “Dirty Gertie From Bizerte.”

Hid a mousetrap ‘neath her skirtie, Dirty Gertie from Bizerte Roll zee eyes and make ze flirty, Wears no chemise and wears no skirty,