Thala () is a town and commune in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. It is located in the Kasserine Governorate since 1956. As of the 2004 census it had inhabitants. The altitude of Thala is , which makes it the highest and the coldest town in the country.

History

During the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

Thala was the site of a Roman settlement and was the seat of an ancient

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. It still has a titular absentee bishop (currently the auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, Richard Umbers), who is appointed by the Pope. In 1906, an attack by local bedouin on the French civil administration offices during the Thala-Kasserine Disturbances was the first violent resistance to French authority under the

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

. Thala was the scene of fierce fighting during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in the late stages of the Battle of the Kasserine Pass. The 10th Panzer Division sought to exploit its early success against US forces. In a series of defensive actions on 21 February 1943, the British 26th Armoured Brigade, part of Nickforce, and the divisional artillery of the U.S. 9th infantry Division, arriving after an 800-mile forced march, blocked an advance by the German division's ''Kampfgruppe'' which, despite coming under the personal command of

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of ...

, were finally unable to make headway through fire from

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

tanks and

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

.United States Army in World War II - Mediterranean Theater of Operations - Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative In the West, by George F. Howe, Department of the Army 1957 (pp. 464-466)
/ref>

Geography

Climate

The climate in Thala is cold semi-arid (''BSk'', according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

), with

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

influences. Summers are moderately hot (by Saharan standards) and dry, and winters are chilly and wetter.

Snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

falls can occur seldom.

Notes

References

Populated places in Kasserine Governorate Communes of Tunisia Roman towns and cities in Tunisia Ancient Berber cities {{Tunisia-geo-stub