May 13, 1943

Tunisian campaign

The last organized Axis forces in Tunisia surrender

Operation Retribution went looking for a Dunkirk-style evacuation and found small craft and dinghies, from which it took 704 prisoners.

Messe holds out one more day

On 13 May 1943 the Italian Field Marshal Giovanni Messe surrendered the last substantial remnant of Axis forces in Tunisia, ending organized resistance in Africa.

It was the final step in a staggered collapse rather than one joint ceremony. Hans-Jürgen von Arnim, commander of Army Group Africa, had been captured by the British 4th Indian Division on 12 May; Messe's force held out until the following day.

Rommel was not there to surrender: he had left Africa in March.

A bridgehead with no way out

Allied formations had taken Tunis and Bizerte, cut off the Cape Bon Peninsula and encircled the remaining Axis forces between the British First and Eighth Armies, U.S. II Corps and French forces, under Harold Alexander's 18th Army Group.

An Allied naval and air blockade deprived the bridgehead of rations, ammunition and fuel and prevented any large-scale evacuation across the Sicilian narrows.

Allied troops reported surrendering prisoners clogging the roads and obstructing their own advance.

How many, and what opened

The prisoner totals differ because they count different spans and categories: Eisenhower's report to the Combined Chiefs gives approximately 200,000 taken in the final stages and more than 320,000 Axis troops accounted for as killed, wounded or captured; the RAF official history gives about 250,000 prisoners; the U.S. Army campaign history more than 275,000.

By 17 May the first through-convoy since 1940 was able to pass Gibraltar for Alexandria without rounding the Cape of Good Hope.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited

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What the sources leave uncertain

Official Allied prisoner totals range from about 200,000 to more than 275,000 because they count different time spans, categories and reporting stages. Each figure is labeled here by source rather than merged into a false exact total.
The surrender was not a single joint ceremony involving every German and Italian formation on 13 May. German formations had capitulated over several days; von Arnim was captured on 12 May, and Messe surrendered the last organized remnant on 13 May.