p. 181 of An Army at Dawn, The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atknson "An apricot dawn spread through the valley, heralding a gorgeous autumn day. Farmers shambled out to feed their livestock, casting anxious glances at the 200 gray-clad Germans who in the night had entrenched along the Medjerda's east bank, a thousand yards from Medjez. Kaptain Knoche moved his command post into a cemetery on high ground east of town. Seven A.M. passed, then eight, then nine, and . . . at 9:15 rifle fire crackled, followed by the brisk notes of a machine gun. Bullets swarmed back and forth across the river. Terrified residents ran from the town. 'The War,' an American artillerist recalled cheerfully, 'was on!' "West of town, several British soldiers waited roadside to guide an American artillery battery into firing positions. At a fair distance, they spied a churning column of dust. Soon the column resolved into four bouncing howitzers and their gun teams hurtling up to and then past the frantically waving Tommies. Over a small rise they boiled, and down the forward slope overlooking Medjez, where they lurched to a stop in full view of the Germans. Shooting that had been brisk now became furious. A British officer reported 'guns of all calibers firing.' "British paratroopers and Derbyshire Yeomen hurried forward to extract their cousins. The melee subsided only when the truculent Yank gunners were persuaded of the merits of defilade. The British paratrooper commander, Lieutenant Colonel S.J.L. Hill, upon inquiring about the eccentric America approach, learned that the 'gun teams had worked it out that one of them would be the first American to fire the first shot against the Germans in this world war. They had all started jockeying for position and racing each other down the road.' Colonel Hill accepted this explanation philosophically, as he did the reply from a young American who, when asked why he was firing at a church steeple in Medjez, said it was because he could 'see if he hit it.' The answer, Hill concluded, 'seemed fair enough.'" Lawrence Helm San Jacinto