Battle of the Mareth Line the only mobile infantry groups available. Battle of the Mareth Line 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). It was the first big operation by the Eighth Army since the Second Battle of El Alamein months previously. On 19 March 1943, Operation Pugilist, the first British attack, established a bridgehead but a break-out attempt was defeated by Axis counter-attacks. Pugilist established an alternative route of
Marshal of the Russian Federation Field Marshal. The only officer to have held the rank is the former Minister of Defence Igor Sergeyev, who had been elevated from the General of the Army of the Strategic Rocket Forces. Sergeyev was Marshal from 1997 until his death in 2006. The insignia for Marshal of the Russian Federation is similar to the one for the Marshal of the Soviet Union, with the Soviet crest replaced by the Russian one. An officer who is given this rank would also wear the Marshal's star. Marshal of the Russian Federation Marshal of the Russian Federation () is the highest military