The planners of Operation Torch had assumed that Vichy would oppose the landings and the invasion convoys had a preponderance of infantry to meet ground opposition.

[3][a] Although the Allies planned for determined Vichy opposition to the Torch landings they underestimated the speed with which the Axis could reinforce Tunisia.

[10] On 9 November, Lieutenant-General Kenneth Anderson took command of the Eastern Task Force in Algiers, which was renamed the British First Army.

[11] Anderson ordered troops eastward to seize the ports of Bougie, Philippeville and Bône and the airfield at Djedjelli, preliminary to advancing into Tunisia.

[17] On the northern road, the leading elements of the 36th Brigade made rapid progress until 17 November, when they met a mixed force of 17 tanks, 400 paratroops and self-propelled guns at Djebel Abiod.

[20] Blade Force was to strike across country on minor roads, in the gap between the two infantry brigades, towards Sidi Nsir and make flanking attacks on Terbourba and Djedeida.

Blade Force passed through Sidi Nsir, to reach the Chouigui Pass north of Terbourba, then Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, U.S. 1st Armored Division (Major Rudolph Barlow) with 17 M3 Stuart light tanks, supported by armoured cars of the Derbyshire Yeomanry, infiltrated behind Axis lines to an airbase at Djedeida in the afternoon.

The Allied tanks destroyed more than twenty Axis aeroplanes (including an entire group belonging to Sturzkampfgeschwader 3), shot up buildings, supply dumps and caused several casualties; lacking infantry support, the raiders withdrew to Chouigui.

[21] The surprise achieved by Blade Force alerted Nehring to the vulnerability of garrison at Medjez to a flanking move and the defenders were withdrawn to Djedeida, only 30 km (19 mi) from Tunis.

[22] The 36th Infantry Brigade attack began on 26 November but Nehring used the delay at Djebel Abiod, to lay an ambush at Jefna on the road from Sedjenane and Mateur.

The brigade attacked again on 28 November towards Djedeida airfield and Combat Command "B", 1st US Armored Division, lost 19 tanks to anti-tank guns in the town.

[29] Desperate fighting by 2nd Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (1st Guards Brigade) and the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment for four days delayed the Axis advance and with the fight of Combat Command "B" against armoured and infantry attacks from the south-east, enabled a slow retirement to high ground on each side of the river west of Terbourba.

On the night of 16/17 December, a company of the 1st US Infantry Division raided Maknassy, 155 mi (249 km) south of Tunis and took 21 German prisoners.

The main attack began the afternoon of 22 December, despite rain and insufficient air cover; elements of the 18th Regimental Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division (18th RCT) and the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards of the 1st Guards Brigade made progress up the lower ridges of Longstop Hill that dominated the river corridor from Medjez to Tebourba and thence to Tunis.

By the morning of 23 December, the Coldstreams had driven back units of the 10th Panzer Division on the summit, been relieved by the 18th RCT and withdrawn to Mejdez.