Most of those buried in Sfax War Cemetery died in attacks on successive Axis positions at Medenine, the Marith Line and Wadi Akarit, in March and April 1943. The cemetery contains 1,253 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 52 of them unidentified. The single First World War grave in Sfax War Cemetery was brought in from Bizerta Sidi Saleru Moslem Cemetery in March 1983. There is also 1 Greek soldier of the 1939-45 war buried here. The Battle of the Mareth Line or the Battle of Mareth was an attack in the Second World War by the British Eighth Army (General Bernard Montgomery) in Tunisia, against the Mareth Line held by the Italo-German 1st Army (General Giovanni Messe). On 19 March 1943, Operation Pugilist, the first British attack, established a bridgehead but a break-out attempt was defeated by Axis counter-attacks. A counter-attack by 15th Panzer Division and the 136th Armoured Division “Giovani Fascisti” on 22 March, recaptured much of the bridgehead capturing 35 British tanks and 200 prisoners. British forces kept their positions until darkness. Pugilist established an alternative route of attack and Operation Supercharge II, an outflanking manoeuvre via the Tebaga Gap was planned. Montgomery reinforced the flanking attack, which from 26 to 31 March, forced the 1st Army to retreat to Wadi Akarit, another 40 mi (64 km) back in Tunisia.