The last Allied offensive in North Africa, Operation STRIKE, begins at 3:00 am with an intense artillery barrage in the Medjerda valley. (The barrage is five times the density of that laid down at El Alamein.) The British First Army is poised to take Tunis, whilst the Eighth Army distracts as much of Generaloberst Hanz-Jürgen von Arnim's 5th Panzer Army as possible to the south. The American II Corps, meanwhile, are speeding their way towards Bizerte in the north.