--- title: World War II: Rare and Classic Photos From the North African Campaign description: Photos made by LIFE magazine's Eliot Elisofon in Tunisia during World War II's bleak and largely forgotten North African Campaign, 1943. canonical: https://time.com/3878057/world-war-ii-rare-and-classic-photos-from-the-north-african-campaign/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-09-28T22:01:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:50.312Z og:title: World War II: Rare and Classic Photos From the North African Campaign og:description: Photos made by LIFE magazine's Eliot Elisofon in Tunisia during World War II's bleak and largely forgotten North African Campaign, 1943. og:url: https://time.com/3878057/world-war-ii-rare-and-classic-photos-from-the-north-african-campaign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3704a0bf7b6811f8/698686a21eebf70b8736ff6c/14a_elisofon_12665.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Tunisia 1943 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: World War II: Rare and Classic Photos From the North African Campaign twitter:description: Photos made by LIFE magazine's Eliot Elisofon in Tunisia during World War II's bleak and largely forgotten North African Campaign, 1943. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3704a0bf7b6811f8/698686a21eebf70b8736ff6c/14a_elisofon_12665.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE in WWII: Rare and Classic Photos From North Africa, 1943 > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 28, 2013 10:01 PM UTC  Photographs and clipped contact-sheet images (uncharacteristically glued to paper) from Tunisia, the North African Campaign, 1943, from the LIFE archives. Photographs and clipped contact-sheet images (uncharacteristically glued to paper) from Tunisia, the North African Campaign, 1943, from the LIFE archives. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Sep 28, 2013 10:01 PM UTC So many World War II battlefields have been immortalized in histories, memoirs, novels and films that the names alone can conjure stark and stirring images for even the most casual history buff. Saipan. Stalingrad. Bastogne. Normandy. Okinawa. Leyte Gulf. The details of each and every battle might be hazy for most of us — but if pressed, we could at least locate the site of the combat in the Pacific or European theater of war. But how many of us recognize names like Sidi Bou Zid? El Guettar? Seden? Wadi Akarit? To a lesser or greater degree, these and other battles with now long-forgotten names also helped to determine the course and the outcome of the Second World War. That they were fought not in Europe or on one of the Marshall or Mariana islands in the Pacific, but instead in the deserts and towns of North Africa, might come as something of a shock to people who never knew in the first place that Allied and Axis troops fought — and fought for years — in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and other countries along the northern rim of the African continent. Here, 70 years after the fighting ended in the bleak and largely forgotten North African Campaign, LIFE.com presents a series of photos — many of which never ran in LIFE magazine — made in Tunisia by photographer Eliot Elisofon in 1943, as the campaign was nearing its end. The number of dead, wounded and missing in North Africa didn’t come close to the millions lost in Europe and the Pacific during the war — but neither side got off easy. Close to 100,000 troops were killed, the grim total split almost evenly between the Allies (British, American and Free French, for the most part) and Axis powers (Italian, German and Vichy French). Among the Allies, the British were the hardest hit, with more than 200,000 men killed, wounded, captured or missing. In May 1943, LIFE noted to its readers: --- > “” --- After North Africa, Allied eyes in the Western hemisphere were trained on Europe: by July 1943 American, British and Canadian troops had landed in Sicily and had begun the long, brutal push toward Mussolini’s Rome, Nazi-held Paris and ultimately, two years later, Berlin. ---  Caption from LIFE. "A tank-artillery team stands on alert. This kind of unit -- a 105mm. howitzer mounted on a half-track -- has proved a 'winning combination,' according to Army experts, in ground warfare in Tunisia." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Camouflaged American artillery fires on German positions during Allied campaign in North Africa during WWII. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American artillery, World War II, Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from back of print in LIFE archives: "Covering two and a half ton truck with net after arrival at ammo dump near front. Ammo is moved to artillery at night. Ammo is 105mm in clover leaf (cluster of 3 shells)." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Douglas A-20 intruders in formation, about to bomb enemy position in Tunisia during Allied campaign in North Africa, WWII, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Photographs and clipped contact-sheet images (uncharacteristically glued to paper) from Tunisia, the North African Campaign, 1943, from the LIFE archives. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures  Not published in LIFE. Desert scene, World War II, Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Three tank-destroyer men take refuge in foxholes under a bank during a Stuka bombing attack. U.S. tank destroyers, with 3-inch guns, played a big part in defeat of 10th Panzers," Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  American soldiers charge into wall of smoke during a raid on German positions at Sened in the North African campaign, Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ![Bespattered with blood and oil after strafing attack by nine Me-109s \[Messerschmitts\] on first day of battle, a wounded half-track gunner vainly tries to swallow a sulfa tablet. Attending officer subsequently flushed it down his throat with water. Three ](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57932678354ab2ac/6988499255a859ade0a8b48d/09_00584740.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp) Caption from LIFE. "Bespattered with blood and oil after strafing attack by nine Me-109s \[Messerschmitts\] on first day of battle, a wounded half-track gunner vainly tries to swallow a sulfa tablet. Attending officer subsequently flushed it down his throat with water. Three other men on the half-track were killed." Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from back of print in LIFE archives: "Wounded German soldier captured during the Battle of Sened," Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. C-rations, Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Photographs and clipped contact-sheet images (uncharacteristically glued to paper) from Tunisia, the North African Campaign, 1943, from the LIFE archives. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures  Not published in LIFE. American Lt. Gen. (later General) George S. Patton in North Africa during WWII, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American troops, North Africa, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  American soldiers in North Africa during the Allied Tunisia Campaign, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Photographs and clipped contact-sheet images (uncharacteristically glued to paper) from Tunisia, the North African Campaign, 1943, from the LIFE archives. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures  Barbed wire enclosure holds Axis prisoners taken during the Allied assault on German positions near Sened, Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from back of print in LIFE archives: "Italian prisoners playing cards," Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from back of print in LIFE archives: "A group of Axis prisoners are taken during the Allied assault on German positions near Sened," Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Cactus-camouflaged half-track guards an armored division command post in North Africa," 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. An American M3 tank disabled in Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Airplane wreckage in the desert, Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from back of print in LIFE archives: "Shelled building behind Italian gun position," Tunisia, 1943. Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  German cemetery, Tunisia, 1943. 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