Tunisia 1943 after the Surrender of the German Afrika Korps (with the wreck of a Me 323 "Gigant")

These rare color films, shot in Tunisia in June 1943, document the aftermath of the North African Campaign shortly after the surrender of the German and Italian forces.
The footage takes us to El Aouina airfield near Tunis, formerly used as a German Luftwaffe base. An Allied military parade is shown on the captured airfield, alongside scenes of a German military cemetery and the wreckage of destroyed German aircraft.
Particularly striking are the remains of a Messerschmitt Me 323 "Gigant". This enormous six-engined transport aircraft was used by the Luftwaffe to carry troops, vehicles and supplies across the Mediterranean to North Africa. The wreckage provides a vivid impression of the heavy losses suffered by German air transport units during the final phase of the campaign.
Filmed only weeks after the fighting in Tunisia had ended, these images offer a rare color record of the abandoned military installations, aircraft wrecks and burial grounds left behind by the war in North Africa.

1943 © Archive footage licensed by Xerxes