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In the Background—Operation pugilist

The title of this chapter, ‘The Medenine Incident’, is not intended to minimise the engagement of 6 March, still to be described. The reason is that Montgomery himself, in spite of anxiety for a few days, looked on the Battle of Medenine as an incident occurring during his preparations for the much greater battle for the Mareth Line. That this is so is borne out by his general plan for the next offensive, which was issued on 26 February, well before the existing crisis had been resolved. It is of sufficient importance to be quoted in full.

Most Secret
26 Feb 1943.