Rommel was by this time in contact with the Fifth Panzer Army, which had been fighting against the multi-national First Army in northern Tunisia, since shortly after Operation Torch. Hitler was determined to retain Tunisia and Rommel finally started to receive replacement men and materials. The Axis faced a war on two fronts, with the Eighth Army approaching from the east and the British, French and Americans from the west. The German-Italian Panzer Army was renamed the Italian First Army (General Giovanni Messe) and Rommel assumed command of the new Army Group Africa, responsible for both fronts. The two British armies were commanded by the 18th Army Group (General Harold Alexander). The failure of the Run for Tunis by the First Army in December 1942, led the North African campaign to last longer, ending when the Italian-German forces in North Africa capitulated in May 1943.
