Sunday · September 27, 2026
Edited daily
American history, reported as it happened
Made for the 250th
19431776 Club

British First Army drives into Tunisia on a front-wide assault; Axis armor ground to 69 tanks

Operation Vulcan stretches from Longstop Hill to Hill 609, battering a quarter-million trapped Axis troops whose fuel lines are already cut.

By late April 1943, a quarter-million Axis troops were compressed into a shrinking corner of northeastern Tunisia, their fuel nearly gone and their supply lines cut to ribbons by Allied air power. Beginning April 22, the British First Army launched Operation Vulcan — a coordinated assault across the full breadth of the front, from Longstop Hill in the north to Hill 609 in the south. The attack didn't break through as planned, but it ground the Axis down to 69 operational tanks by May 1, leaving the door open for Operation Strike to finish the job eleven days later…

1776 Club

This story is held for members.

Members read every story of the day — and tomorrow's, and the next.

Join the 1776 Club
$17.76 your first year · then $39.99/yr · cancel anytime
More from May 13
1846

Congress declares war on Mexico; Polk tells the nation its blood was shed on its own soil

The vote formalizes three weeks of open conflict rooted in a disputed border, the annexation of Texas, and a decade of unresolved claims between two nations.
1985

Philadelphia police drop a bomb on a row house; fire spreads for hours, killing 11

Commissioner Sambor ordered the strike on 6221 Osage Ave; officials let the blaze run until 61 homes are ash and 250 people have nowhere to sleep.
1780

256 settlers sign a constitution at French Lick; judges' pay set in animal skins

Robertson and Donelson lead the compact at Fort Nashborough, electing a twelve-judge council the people may remove from office.
19581776 Club
For twelve minutes, hundreds rock and pound the Vice President's vehicle; Nixon orders his agents to hold fire. Rose Mary Woods is cut by flying glass in a trailing car.
Read this as a member →
Read the full May 13 edition →Everything that happened on May 13 →
More from The World Wars
1944

Bambi's loan runs out; the Forest Service names a bear of its own

Disney's Bambi was only on loan for a year. When the deal ran out, the Forest Service needed a mascot of its own.
1945

Bockscar drops a second atomic bomb, on Nagasaki

A broken fuel pump nearly forced the mission to abort before the plane ever reached its target.
1944

Guam is declared secure; 7,500 Japanese troops are still loose in the hills

Three weeks after wading ashore at Asan and Agat, Marines and Army troops end organized resistance on an island America lost in 1941.
1945

Tokyo says it will surrender, but only if the Emperor stays on his throne

Four days after Hiroshima and one day after Nagasaki, Japan attaches a single condition to Potsdam's terms.
The Daily Record · free by email

Tomorrow's edition in your inbox — one featured story, one quote, and today's flag status. Free, every morning.

The full experience

Read every story, narrated, in the app.

Take this story with you.

The complete daily edition, the deep-cut narration, and a library that's yours — the 1776 Club lives in the app.

Your membership comes with you — every event, narrated, with flag alerts, CarPlay, and your saved library.

Download on the App Store