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Battles
Eisenhower relieved II Corps commander Lloyd Fredendall on 5–6 March 1943 after Harmon's February 20 report and Bradley's follow-up interviews agreed he was out of touch.
From the archive · last updated 2026-10-29
Briefing
Major General Lloyd Fredendall lost command of U.S. II Corps in Tunisia because Dwight Eisenhower concluded he could not run the fight at Kasserine Pass. On February 20, 1943, while the battle was still underway, Eisenhower sent Major General Ernest Harmon to assess Fredendall; Harmon found a corps issuing conflicting orders from a headquarters blasted into a hillside well behind the front, and reported back that Fredendall was no damn good. Eisenhower visited II Corps himself, Omar Bradley interviewed division commanders with the same complaints, and on March 5–6 Eisenhower replaced Fredendall with George S. Patton. Mockler-Ferryman's intelligence failure is a separate thread on the full [Battle of Kasserine Pass](/battle-of-kasserine-pass/) page.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 19–24 Feb 1943 | Battle of Kasserine Pass |
| 20 Feb 1943 | Harmon inspects II Corps; blunt negative report |
| After battle | Eisenhower visit; Bradley division interviews |
| 5–6 Mar 1943 | Fredendall relieved; Patton takes II Corps |
Fredendall was not court-martialed. He was promoted to lieutenant general later in 1943 and given a stateside training command, while Patton rebuilt II Corps discipline at the front.
Q. Why was Lloyd Fredendall relieved after Kasserine Pass?
A. Eisenhower accepted Harmon's on-the-spot assessment that Fredendall was disconnected from the fighting, compounded by Bradley's matching interviews with division commanders. The relief was executed as a command change on March 5–6, 1943.
Q. Was Fredendall fired only for losing 183 tanks?
A. The equipment losses were part of the defeat, but the relief tracked command conduct: conflicting orders, a rear-echelon headquarters, and Harmon's judgment that Fredendall should not remain in charge of II Corps.
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