The struggle for Hill 609 continues

29th April 1943: The US 34th Division prise open the hilltop redoubt held by the fanatical Nazis of the 'Regiment Barenthin'

The German redoubt on Hill 609 blocked the US advance.

A closer view of Hill 609.

By the 29th April the assault on the hills around Hill 609 had been concluded and the men of the 34th Division were in a position to move on the main objective. The history of the division, written in 1945, described what they faced:

Known¹ to the Arabs as Djebel Tahent, this was an enormous mass of rock, its lower slopes covered with vegetation and lined with a number of crude rock walls twisting along the slopes. Direct approach from the west was extremely difficult since the face of the mountain rose almost sheer. On the eastern face, however, an easier approach was possible and it was decided therefore that the way to assault the position was from the German side.

The enemy defending the hill came from a German airforce regiment called "Regiment Barenthin" after its original commander. These troops were deeply imbued with Nazi doctrine and were boldly and courageously led. They were on a par with the present-day [1945] German paratroops. Right at the top of Hill 609 these troops had prepared a citadel blasted out of the rock. Only one way up was known, and this was a goat trail which led in from the northeast.

United States Army soldiers manning a machine gun mounted on a jeep parked near a water well, Tunisia 1943.

Bradley agreed with this assessment:

Seldom² has an enemy contested a position more bitterly than did the German high on Hill 609. For he knew once that rampart fell, he had no choice but to withdraw to the east and thus open a path to Mateur on the flank of his Tunis fine.