3-D view of probable WW2 airfield location - based on Brenden C-47 photo (left)

Satellite Imagery of possible WW2 airfield location near Mateur, Tunisia (from Google Earth)

P-38 Guns being loaded, likely at Mateur, circa July 1943
USAAF photo

Chow line, likely at Mateur or Djedeida, circa late 1943
USAAF photo

Muddy conditions , likely at Mateur or Djedeida, Tunisia circa late 1943 (with "Hill 609" in the background?)
USAAF photo

Happy Hour at Mateur.
photo by Col Richard

P38s taxi at unidentified airstrip in Tunisia, possibly the 1st FG at Mateur
"Fighter Strip in Tunisia " Photo courtesy Tom Lea. (Army Art Collection)

Our base at Mateur left me with some “fond” memories. As I mentioned earlier, it was located on a dry lakebed and it had a range of mountains around it—much like the desert of California. Like any desert, Mateur had its share of formidable insects. Hairy, brown spiders (almost as large as my hand), scorpions, and mosquitoes were plentiful. The mosquito net was a “must” to keep all three from my body. My morning ritual was built around these crawly “visitors.” First, I captured the spiders in a large juice can that had a small amount of gasoline in the bottom and set fire to the gasoline. I had to do it this way because the spiders usually had hundreds of their young attached to their bodies. Next, I made sure that all the scorpions were out of my boots and clothing (which I had kept on the bed with me) before I put them on. Now I was ready to clean up and get some breakfast.

We had a few diversions at Mateur—one being the movies. After dark, the men carried small metal stools to the “movie theater.” Actually, the stools were the frames that protected the fins on our 500- and 1,000-pound bombs while in shipment. The Germans would arrive for their nightly raid on the port of Bizerte and we would have to shut down the movie due to the blackout (no indoor theater for us).

Within sight of Mateur was Hill 609. This was the location of a last major stand by the Germans before they evacuated Africa. The hill had not been cleared of munitions and we had been warned not the visit the area. As you might expect, a warning like this only served as an invitation to some people to see what it was that “they” didn’t want us to see. I heard that unexploded grenades and shells hurt several men. Some did come back with German weapons that had been abandoned. Hill 609 also became the final resting-place for a German Ju-88 bomber and a British Beaufighter. On one of the Germans’ nightly raids, the Beaufighter locked onto the Ju-88 and was observed firing at it several times. On one of the passes he started firing and the Ju-88 exploded. Seconds later the Beaufighter exploded. He had not shot the bomber down; rather, it had struck Hill 609 and the fighter quickly followed suit.

The autumn rains had begun in Tunisia and the dry lake at Mateur was starting to fill up. The mud was a little like that of Texas - if you let it dry, you had to chip it off like cement.

- Charles Hoffman, Sep 1943

Aerial view of German POWs at Mateur, May 1943 (US Army photo)