17 the first parachuted British battalion landed on the hills north of the town. Thursday November 19 German planes bombed our town for the first time, as a warning. This broke the long period of peace Beja had known for many centuries. The next day, Friday November 20, Beja was furiously bombed by German airplanes for many hours, because of its key position leading to the roads of Tabarka, Mateur, Bizerte and Algeria. The town became the stage for ferocious battles between the Germans and the Allies who fiercely defended it, at the expense of severe military and civil losses. The final German assault was launched from Mateur and was halted 15 km from B�ja, on the night of 28 February 1943
