query: who commanded the german afrika korps and was known as the desert fox

pos: Erwin Rommel Erwin Rommel Erwin Rommel (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German general and military theorist. Popularly known as the Desert Fox, he served as field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Rommel was a highly decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the "Pour le Mérite" for his actions on the Italian Front. In 1937 he published his classic book on military tactics, "Infantry Attacks", drawing on his experiences from World War I. In World War II, he distinguished himself as the commander of the 7th Panzer Division during the

pos: North African Campaign Italian 10th Army was destroyed and the German "Afrika Korps"—commanded by Erwin Rommel, who later became known as "The Desert Fox"—was dispatched to North Africa in February 1941 during Operation "Sonnenblume" to reinforce Italian forces in order to prevent a complete Axis defeat. A fluctuating series of battles for control of Libya and regions of Egypt followed, reaching a climax in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 when British Commonwealth forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery inflicted a decisive defeat on Rommel's Afrika Korps and forced its remnants into Tunisia. After the Anglo-American landings (Operation

pos: Afrika Korps Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, DAK </small>) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of their African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Hitler's favorite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck was

pos: Afrika Korps in Tunisia: Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, DAK </small>) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of their African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Hitler's favorite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von

pos: The Desert Rats (film) The Desert Rats (film) The Desert Rats is a 1953 American black-and-white war film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Robert L. Jacks, directed by Robert Wise, that stars Richard Burton, James Mason, and Robert Newton. The film's storyline concerns the Siege of Tobruk in North Africa during World War II. During mid-April 1941 in North Africa, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (James Mason) and his Afrika Korps have driven the British Army into headlong retreat toward Egypt and the vital Suez Canal. Standing in Rommel's way is Tobruk, a constant threat to his supply lines. The 9th Australian Division

pos: Western Desert Campaign Western Desert Campaign The Western Desert Campaign (Desert War), took place in the deserts of Egypt and Libya and was the main theatre in the North African Campaign during the Second World War. The campaign began in September 1940 with the Italian invasion of Egypt; Operation Compass, a British five-day raid in December 1940, led to the destruction of the Italian 10th Army. Benito Mussolini sought help from Adolf Hitler, who responded with a small German force sent to Tripoli under Directive 22 (11 January). The German "Afrika Korps" ("Generalleutnant" Erwin Rommel) was under nominal Italian command but Italian dependency

pos: British Army during the Second World War German Afrika Korps arrive in Tripoli to reinforce the Italians. Commanded by "Generalleutnant" Erwin Rommel, the 5th Light and 15th Panzer Divisions went on the offensive. The offensive destroyed the 2nd Armoured Division and forced the British and Commonwealth forces into retreat. During the offensive, Lieutenant-General Philip Neame and Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor were captured, and the British command structure had to be reorganised. HQ Cyrenaica was dissolved on 14 April and its command functions taken over by the reactivated HQ Western Desert Force, under Lieutenant-General Noel Beresford-Peirse. The Australian 9th Division fell back to the port of Tobruk, and the

pos: Operation Brevity formations were inexperienced, ill-equipped and in the case of the 2nd Armoured Division, well under strength, after detachments to Greece. The Italians responded by despatching the 132nd Armoured Division "Ariete" and 102nd Motorised Division"Trento" to North Africa. From February 1941 until early May, Operation Sonnenblume saw the arrival of the German "Afrika Korps" in Tripoli to reinforce their Italian allies. Commanded by "Generalleutnant" Erwin Rommel and consisting of the 5th Light and 15th Panzer Division, the "Afrika Korps" was to block Allied attempts to drive the Italians out of the region. Rommel seized on the weakness of his opponents and

pos: Desert Victory Desert Victory Desert Victory is a 1943 film produced by the British Ministry of Information, documenting the Allies' North African campaign against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps. This documentary traces the struggle between General Erwin Rommel and Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, from the German's defeat at El Alamein to Tripoli. The film was produced by David MacDonald and directed by Roy Boulting who also directed Tunisian Victory and "Burma Victory". Like the famous "Why We Fight" series of films by Frank Capra, "Desert Victory" relies heavily on captured German newsreel footage. Many of the most famous sequences

pos: Farouk of Egypt drove the Italians back into Libya. In response, in January 1941, German forces were dispatched to the Mediterranean to assist the Italians and on 12 February 1941, the Afrika Korps under the command of Erwin Rommel arrived in Libya. Starting on 31 March 1941, a Wehrmacht offensive drove the British out of Libya and into Egypt. As 95% of Egyptians live in the Nile river valley, the fighting in the Western Desert only affected the Bedouin nomads who lived in the desert. At the same time in 1941 that Rommel was inflicting a series of defeats on the British in

pos: Battle of Mersa Matruh Battle of Mersa Matruh The Battle of Mersa Matruh was fought from 26 to 29 June 1942, following the defeat of the Eighth Army (General Sir Claude Auchinleck) at the Battle of Gazala and was part of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The combatants on the Axis side were the "Panzerarmee Afrika" ("Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel), consisting of German and Italian units. The Allied forces of the Eighth Army comprised X Corps and XIII Corps. The battle developed as the "Afrika Korps" pursued the Eighth Army as it retreated into Egypt. Rommel intended to engage and destroy

pos: Operation Compass up to about German reinforcements were sent to Libya to form a blocking detachment () under Directive 22 (11 January), these being the first units of the "Afrika Korps" ("Generalleutnant" Erwin Rommel). On 25 March 1941, Graziani was replaced by Gariboldi. 10th Army, 9 December, Western Desert Force, 9 December. Supreme Commander Italian Forces in North Africa: Marshal Rodolfo Graziani 10th Army (Lieutenant-General Giuseppe Tellera)<br> 13 September 1940 Western Desert Force Books Theses Websites Books Journals Newspapers Reports Theses Websites Operation Compass Operation Compass was the first large Allied military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second

pos: Western Desert Campaign Hassan and Buerat strongholds were reinforced from Italy, which brought the 10th and 5th Armies up to about German reinforcements were sent to Libya to form a blocking detachment () under Directive 22 (11 January), these being the first units of the "Afrika Korps" ("Generalleutnant" Erwin Rommel). A week after the Italian surrender at Beda Fomm, the Defence Committee in London, ordered Cyrenaica to be held with the minimum of forces and the surplus sent to Greece. In the Western Desert Force (now XIII Corps), the 6th Australian Division was fully equipped and had few losses to replace. The 7th

pos: Sportpalast speech including Kursk (8 February), Rostov (14 February), and Kharkiv (16 February). In North Africa, the Afrika Korps under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was being brought close to defeat, when German supply ships sailing to Tripoli were sunk by the Allies during January. The Western Desert Campaign had ended with the British victory at El Alamein in November 1942, and the Axis were in Tunisia between two Allied forces—one advancing from Algeria, the other from Libya. The fortunes of Germany's Axis allies were turning as well. Italy's military collapse had made the war in Africa a largely German operation, and in

pos: Military history of New Zealand the North African Campaign. As part of Operation Crusader, New Zealand troops took part in the relief of Tobruk after the city had been besieged by the German Afrika Korps, under Erwin Rommel. Subsequently, the New Zealand government insisted that the division be withdrawn to Syria to recover – 879 men were killed and 1,700 wounded in Operation Crusader, the most costly battle the division fought in the Second World War. In June 1942, the Afrika Korps captured Tobruk, and the 2NZEF was recalled from Syria. The Korps' advance was halted by the Allies in the First Battle of El

pos: Borne Sulinowo School of the Wehrmacht was moved there. Shortly before the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War of 1939, the training grounds housed Heinz Guderian's XIX Army Corps. During the later stages of World War II an artificial desert was built there for the units of Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps (the other such training ground was established in the Błędów Desert near Olkusz). At the same time the area became part of the so-called Pomeranian Rampart, a line of almost 1000 concrete bunkers guarding the pre-war Polish-German border and eastern approaches to Berlin. In September 1939 in the military barracks a

pos: 2nd New Zealand Division through the German positions, and the division retired to El Alamein. The division played a prominent role in both Battles of El Alamein. During the First Battle of El Alamein, in July 1942, the division put in a night attack against the Afrika Korps, commanded by Erwin Rommel. As no armoured support was available to the Division after their night attack against the Germans at Ruweisat Ridge, the 4th New Zealand Brigade was shattered, with the loss of around 3,000 men, during the fighting that resulted when German Panzers counter-attacked the New Zealand infantry the following morning. It was for

pos: 151st Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom) German invasion. The 50th Division remained in Britain until 22 April 1941, when it was sent to the Middle East. In April 1941, 50th Division with the Brigade was dispatched to the Middle East. The Brigade was first deployed in Cyprus, then in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. In May 1942, 50th Division was deployed in Libya as part of XIII Corps in Eighth Army. On 27 May 1942, General Erwin Rommel, commander of the German-Italian Afrika Korps, attacked the Allied position at Gazala, leading the Afrika Korps in a flanking march around the left (southern) end of the Allied line.

pos: 1st Linlithgowshire Rifle Volunteers 1941 and was sent straight to Libya where it joined 4 AA Bde at Tobruk behind the advancing Western Desert Force. (58 LAA Battery had been transferred to 50th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery which remained in AA Command.) German intervention in the shape of General Erwin Rommel and his "Afrika Korps" quickly turned the tide in Libya. A swift breakthrough pushed British forces backwards. The German columns, heading for the Egyptian frontier, bypassed Tobruk, whose garrison prepared to defend the port. This was invested from 11 April, beginning the epic Siege of Tobruk lasting 240 days. Brigadier J.N. Slater

pos: Panzer III Polish and French campaigns, the Panzer III formed a small part of the German armoured forces. Only a few hundred Panzer III Ausf. As to Fs were available in these two campaigns, with most being armed with the main gun. They were the best medium tank available to the German military at the period of time. Aside from use in Europe, the Panzer III also saw service in North Africa with Erwin Rommel's renowned Afrika Korps. Most of the Panzer IIIs with the Afrika Korps were equipped with the KwK 38 L/42 50mm (short-barrelled) tank gun, with a small number

pos: George S. Patton Sultan of Morocco was so impressed that he presented Patton with the Order of Ouissam Alaouite, with the citation ""Les Lions dans leurs tanières tremblent en le voyant approcher"" (The lions in their dens tremble at his approach). Patton oversaw the conversion of Casablanca into a military port and hosted the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. On March 6, 1943, following the defeat of the U.S. II Corps by the German Afrika Korps, commanded by "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel, at the Battle of Kasserine Pass, Patton replaced Major General Lloyd Fredendall as Commanding General of the II Corps and was promoted

pos: Battle of Sidi Bou Zid attacks to keep his intentions hidden. In January 1943, the German-Italian Panzer Army commanded by General Erwin Rommel, had retreated to the Mareth Line, a line of defensive fortifications near the coastal town of Medenine in southern Tunisia, built by the French before the war. The Axis forces joined and in the Sidi Bou Zid area there were elements from both armies, notably 21st Panzer Division of the "Afrika Korps',' transferred from German-Italian Panzer Army and the 10th Panzer Division from the 5th Panzer Army. Most of Tunisia was under Axis occupation but in November 1942, the Eastern Dorsale of

pos: Battle of Alam el Halfa Battle of Alam el Halfa The Battle of Alam el Halfa took place between 30 August and 5 September 1942 south of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. "Panzerarmee Afrika"—a German–Italian force commanded by "Generalfeldmarschall" Erwin Rommel—attempted an envelopment of the British Eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery. In the last major Axis offensive (Operation Brandung/"Unternehmung Brandung") of the Western Desert Campaign, Rommel had planned to defeat the Eighth Army before Allied reinforcements made an Axis victory in Africa impossible. Montgomery, who had been forewarned of Rommel's intentions by Ultra intelligence intercepts, left

pos: Armoured warfare of Maresciallo (Marshal) Rodolfo Graziani, being ill-armed and inadequately led, soon gave way to this approach by the Commonwealth troops of the 8th Army. The arrival of the German "Afrika Korps" under command of General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel highlighted the weaknesses of the British approach: the small number of infantry and artillery in each armoured division was sufficient when attacking the immobile and uncoordinated Italian troops, but against the highly mobile, well-coordinated German units, the undermanned Commonwealth formations were proving inadequate. Between 1941-42, the Allies struggled in armoured battles in the North African desert due to improper tactics; in

pos: 40 Squadron SAAF to operate in pairs and to stay out of range of small arms fire from the ground, to reduce casualties; however, as Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps prepared to go on the offensive, Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters concentrated on intercepting Tac.R aircraft. Casualties rose rapidly until HQ Desert Air Force ordered a fighter escort for all Tac.Rs. This reduced the rate of losses; and it continued until the Axis breakthrough at the battle of Bir Hakeim in June 1942, when fighter squadrons were given other priorities. The squadron's advance landing ground at El Adem was attacked by German Panzers at

pos: Afrika Korps (game) Afrika Korps (game) Afrika Korps is a two-player wargame published by the Avalon Hill Game Company in 1963-1964 and re-released in 1965 and 1977. Played on a mapboard depicting the northern coastline of eastern Libya and western Egypt, the game follows Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps and their Italian allies as they fought back-and-forth campaigns against British forces in World War II. The game uses small cardboard counters and the then newly popular hex-based movement system pioneered by Avalon Hill's D-Day in 1961. The mapboard's hexes represent terrain roughly ten to fifteen kilometers (six to nine miles) across, and the military

pos: Gustav Rödel his only victory in this theatre over Vilnius. The claim was recorded as a Tupolev SB. In July 1941 4./JG 27 was moved to North Africa to support a German contingent, the Deutsche Afrika Korps under the command of Erwin Rommel. The Italian invasion of Egypt had created another theatre of war, the North African Campaign. Rödel's "staffel" was operational by late summer 1941. On 3 October Rödel claimed a Desert Air Force Curtiss P-40 Warhawk of No. 112 Squadron RAF shot down. The pilot may have been Sergeant Stirrat. On 10 October he claimed a pair of P-40s. One

pos: Einsatzgruppe Egypt Einsatzgruppe Egypt Einsatzgruppe Egypt (German: Einsatzgruppe Ägypten) was a special mobile SS death squad. According to historians Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cüppers, their purpose was to carry out a mass killing of Jews in British mandate of Palestine similar to the way they operated in eastern Europe. "Einsatzgruppe Egypt" was standing by in Athens and was ready to disembark for Palestine in the summer of 1942, attached to the "Afrika Korps" led by the famed desert commander General Erwin Rommel. The Middle East death squad, similar to those operating throughout eastern Europe during the war, was to be led by

pos: Operation Crusader Tobruk, under Brigadier John Murray. In reserve, the Eighth Army had the South African 2nd Infantry Division, making a total equivalent of about seven divisions with 770 tanks (including many of the new Crusader Cruiser tanks, after which the operation was named, and new American M3 Stuart light tanks). Air support was provided by up to 724 combat aeroplanes of the Commonwealth air forces in the Middle East and Malta, with direct support under the command of Air HQ Western Desert. Opposing them were the German and Italian soldiers of "Panzergroup Africa" under General Erwin Rommel, with the "Afrika Korps"

pos: El Agheila German Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel a chance to arrive and launch an offensive which retook El Agheila in March and drove the British all the way back to Tobruk and the Egyptian frontier. Rommel would further fortify the city and use it as a base for his operations. After being driven back from Tobruk following Operation Crusader in December 1941, the Afrika Korps fell back to El Agheila, halting their retreat and the British advance there. In January 1942, Rommel launched a new offensive at El Agheila, which would again drive the British back towards Tobruk. This time he

pos: Long Range Desert Group loss of six trucks, four by enemy action and two by mechanical breakdowns. One vehicle with a broken rear axle had been towed about before it could be repaired. Total casualties were three dead and three captured. Major Clayton was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. After Operation "Compass" ended with the Italians forced out of Cyrenaica it was decided to move the LRDG from Cairo to Kufra (SE Libya). At the same time the LRDG was expanded with the addition of 'Y' and 'S' Patrols. When the German Afrika Korps under command of General Erwin Rommel counterattacked in April 1941,

neg: Afrika Korps divisions, "Ariete" and "Trieste", initially remained under Italian control as the Italian XX Motorized Corps under the command of General Gastone Gambara. The Afrika Korps was restructured and renamed in August 1941. "Afrikakorps" was the official name of the force for less than six months but the officers and men used it for the duration. The "Afrika Korps" was the major German component of "Panzerarmee Afrika", which was later renamed the "Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee" and finally renamed "Heeresgruppe Afrika" (Army Group Africa) during the 27 months of the Desert campaign. Certain divisions were reformed in Europe after the cessation of fighting

neg: Afrika Korps to have commanded it, but Hitler loathed von Funck, as he had been a personal staff officer of Werner von Fritsch until von Fritsch was dismissed in 1938. The German Armed Forces High Command ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht", OKW) had decided to send a "blocking force" to Libya to support the Italian army. The Italian army group had been routed by the British Commonwealth Western Desert Force in Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941). The German blocking force, commanded by Rommel, at first consisted of a force based only on Panzer Regiment 5, which was put together from

neg: Combat Mission 3: Afrika Korps included scenarios. The first scenario depicted German armour and infantry assaulting U.S. armour and infantry over open desert and through a shallow wadi into an oasis in early 1943. The scenario highlight several new features of the CM game system, including vehicle-generated dust clouds and the modelling of multi-turreted tanks. The second scenario depicted a U.S. assault on a German-held village in Italy in 1944. The game received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Combat Mission 3: Afrika Korps Combat Mission 3: Afrika Korps is a turn-based computer game about tactical battles in World War II. It

neg: 8th Armoured Brigade (United Kingdom) the infantry battle had been won. Commanded by Brigadier Edward C. N. Custance, the 8th Armoured Brigade was equipped with and when it took part in Operation Supercharge, better known as the Battle of El Alamein. The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry found a gap in the Axis defences and an attack was made that broke through and started the rout of the "Afrika Korps". The Brigade was then ordered to find the southern flank of the Axis defences. Driving across country it moved into the desert reaching the coast road at Galal and the German retreat was cut in two. Here,

neg: The Desert Peach The Desert Peach The Desert Peach is a comic book created by Donna Barr, chronicling the adventures of the eponymous protagonist, Erwin "The Desert Fox" Rommel's fictitious homosexual younger brother, Oberst Manfred Pfirsich Marie Rommel (1900–1990), nicknamed the "Desert Peach". Early issues of the comic focused on the Peach's command of a misfit unit of the Afrika Korps from 1940 to 1943; subsequent issues have explored the pre- and post-war lives of Pfirsich (German for "Peach") and his supporting cast. "The Desert Peach" was first published in 1988, by Thoughts and Images, later by MU Press/AEON, and still later by

neg: Panzer Grenadier series Grenadier" series set in the Pacific theater at this time. It consists of Japanese forces defending the island of Guadalcanal from U.S. Marines, including Raiders and Paratroopers, in 1942. "Afrika Korps" covers North Africa in 1940–1941. It contains German, Italian, British, and Australian forces. "Desert Rats" is the sequel to "Afrika Korps" and is set in 1941–1942. It contains British, Indian, New Zealand, German, Italian, and Italian colonial troops. "Battle of the Bulge" covers the battle of the same name. It has 51 scenarios and many tanks on each side. "Battle of the Bulge 2: Elsenborn Ridge", called simply "Elsenborn

neg: Rommel: The Desert Fox Following publication, Rommel's former British opponents described Rommel as a brilliant commander and a resistance fighter, with one senior military figure comparing Rommel to legendary commander Belisarius. (The praise led Brian Horrocks, Montgomery's former deputy, to publish an April 1950 article, "The Rommel Myth Debunked", in which he argued that the 8th Army beat Rommel's Afrika Korps "fair and square".) The book was not without its detractors. A review in "Time" magazine noted the legendary status Rommel had achieved in his lifetime and quoted another review that described Rommel as "the British army's favorite German general". The "Time" reviewer concluded

neg: Julian Trevelyan such as Roland Penrose, during the Second World War, Trevelyan served as a Camouflage Officer. He was a member of the Royal Engineers from 1940 to 1943, serving in North Africa and Palestine. Arriving in the "Western Desert" town of Tobruk, North Africa, Trevelyan realized that standard British army green and brown splotches were ineffective as desert camouflage. He and the other camoufleurs, working under Hugh Cott and Geoffrey Barkas, became expert at desert camouflage and deception. By 1942, they were able to deceive the German Afrika Korps, creating a dummy army which successfully tied down German forces, while real

neg: Middle East Command British Eighth Army confronting the German Afrika Korps and the Italian Army was commanded successively by General Sir Alan Cunningham and Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie. Ritchie was dismissed after defeats at the hands of Rommel. Auchinleck assumed the field command himself and the Italo-German advance was halted at the First Battle of El Alamein. The "Auk," as he was known to his troops, struggled with the innate conservatism of the army establishment to get the armoured and infantry wings of the army to fight together on the German pattern, but had only limited success. Rommel's opponent, Auchinleck (and his predecessor Wavell),

neg: Afrika Korps 1941, the OKW increased the presence in Africa and created a new headquarters called Panzer Group Africa. On 15 August, the Panzer Group was activated with Rommel in command, and command of the Afrika Korps was turned over to Ludwig Crüwell. The Panzer Group comprised the Afrika Korps, with some additional German units now in North Africa, plus two corps of Italian units. The Panzer Group was, in turn, redesignated as Panzer Army Africa on 30 January 1942. After the German defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria Operation Torch, the

neg: George Juskalian the regimental staff, went to Inveraray, Scotland, to train for the North African Campaign. Juskalian then took part in Operation Torch as part of the 1st Infantry Division's 26th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Theodore Roosevelt Jr. The Allies, who had organized three amphibious task forces, aimed to seize key ports and airfields in Morocco and Algeria while simultaneously targeting Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. Juskalian's unit was part of the task force that invaded through the port of Oran. Landing in Oran on November 8, 1942, the 1st Infantry Division's primary objective was to confront the German Afrika Korps commanded by

neg: The Desert Peach would be no fighting in that area (although newcomers did not always accept this "modus vivendi"). Throughout the series, Barr focused on many characters; the following list includes some of the most prominent. The Desert Peach The Desert Peach is a comic book created by Donna Barr, chronicling the adventures of the eponymous protagonist, Erwin "The Desert Fox" Rommel's fictitious homosexual younger brother, Oberst Manfred Pfirsich Marie Rommel (1900–1990), nicknamed the "Desert Peach". Early issues of the comic focused on the Peach's command of a misfit unit of the Afrika Korps from 1940 to 1943; subsequent issues have explored the

neg: Erwin Rommel Historian Martin Kitchen states that the reputation of the Afrika Korps was preserved due to circumstances: the sparsely populated desert areas did not lend themselves to ethnic cleansing; the German forces never reached Egypt and Palestine that had large Jewish populations; and in the urban areas of Tunisia and Tripolitania, the Italian government constrained the German efforts to discriminate against or eliminate Jews who were Italian citizens. Despite this, the North African Jews themselves believed that it was Rommel who prevented the "Final Solution" from being carried out against them when German might dominated North Africa from Egypt to Morocco.

neg: Walther Nehring became a commissioned "Leutnant" on 18 December 1913. On 26 October 1940 he received command of the 18th Panzer Division at Chemnitz, which he commanded during the operations Barbarossa and Typhoon. The division led by Nehring, is accused by numerous current accounts, of war crimes. Nehring took command of the Afrika Korps in May 1942 and took part in the last major Axis offensive (Operation Brandung) of the Western Desert campaign and the subsequent Battle of Alam Halfa (31 August - 7 September 1942), during which he was wounded in an air raid. Between November and December 1942, he commanded

neg: Ice Cold in Alex Motor Ambulance Company. During the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War when it is apparent that Tobruk is about to be besieged by the German Afrika Korps, Anson and most of his unit are ordered to evacuate to Alexandria. During the evacuation, Anson who is suffering from battle fatigue and alcoholism, MSM Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), and two nurses, Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) and Denise Norton (Diane Clare) become separated and in an Austin K2/Y ambulance, nicknamed 'Katy', decide to drive across the desert back to British lines. As they depart they come across an Afrikaner South African

neg: Sahara (1943 American film) are marching their prisoners east, Gunn and Bates encounter Allied troops guided by Waco (Bruce Bennett). They receive news of the Allied victory at the First Battle of El Alamein, turning back Rommel's Afrika Korps. "Sahara" was filmed on location in the Imperial County, California, portion of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, near the Salton Sea, using soldiers and equipment of the U.S. 4th Armored Division, then in training at the Desert Training Center, as extras. The German aircraft depicted attacking the tank was in actuality an early, Allison-powered P-51 Mustang, painted in German markings. Because no Sdkf-251 half track

neg: Operation Crusader west to Tobruk, with the "Ariete" Division on their left. The audacious manoeuvre by "Afrika Korps" had failed (coming within of the main supply base of the Eighth Army). The dash of the "Afrika Korps" to the south removed a severe threat to the New Zealand Division left flank (the New Zealanders had not known of the threat because news of 7th Armoured Division losses had not reached XIII Corps and German tank losses had been wildly overestimated). The New Zealand Division engaged elements of the "Afrika", "Trieste", "Bologna" and "Pavia" divisions, advancing west to re-take Sidi Rezegh airfield and

neg: Błędów Desert military proving ground from the beginning of the 20th century. During the Second World War, the German Afrika Korps used the area to train soldiers and to test equipment before deployment in Africa. In the centuries since its appearance, much of the Błędów Desert has been grown over. In 2013 and 2014 conservation efforts have restored some of the desert sands. Błędów Desert Błędów Desert () is an area of sands between Błędów (part of Dąbrowa Górnicza in Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union) and the villages of Chechło and Klucze in Poland. The area lies mainly on the Silesian Highlands in

neg: Qattara Depression units entered the Depression, although German Afrika Korps patrols and the British Long Range Desert Group did operate in the area, since these small units had considerable experience in desert travel. The RAF's repair and salvage units (e.g. 58 RSU) used a route through the depression to salvage or recover aircraft that had landed or crashed in the Western desert away from the coastal plain. The RSUs included a six-wheel-drive trucks, Coles cranes, and large trailers, and were particularly active from mid-1941 when Air Vice-Marshal G.G. Dawson arrived in Egypt to address the lack of serviceable aircraft. A German communications

neg: Afrika Korps the second regiment of the 3rd Panzer Division. These elements were organized into the 5th Light Division when they arrived in Africa from 10 February – 12 March 1941. In late April and into May, the 5th Light Division was joined by elements of 15th Panzer Division, transferred from Italy. At this time, the Afrika Korps consisted of the two divisions, and was subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa. On 15 August 1941, the German 5th Light Division was redesignated 21st Panzer Division, the higher formation of which was still the Afrika Korps. During the summer of

neg: Crusader tank lack of armament upgrades, plus reliability problems due to the harsh desert conditions and the appearance of Tiger I heavy tanks among the German Afrika Korps, saw the Crusader replaced by US-supplied M3 Grant and then by the Sherman medium tanks. In 1938, Nuffield Mechanizations and Aero Limited produced their A16 design for a heavy cruiser tank based on Christie suspension. Looking for a lighter and cheaper tank to build, the General Staff requested alternatives. To this end, the A13 Mk III cruiser tank, which would enter service as the "Tank, Cruiser Mk V" (and known in service as "Covenanter"),

neg: Willibald Borowietz Willibald Borowietz Willibald Borowietz (17 September 1893 – 1 July 1945) was a German general during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Borowietz surrendered to Allied forces together with the Afrika Korps. He was held as a POW by the United States in Camp Clinton, Mississippi, where he committed suicide by electrocuting himself in a bathtub on 1 July 1945. Officially his death was attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage. His wife, Eva Ledien, was of Jewish descent. She committed suicide in

neg: Willibald Borowietz October 1938 so that their children could be Aryanized. Eva's sister, Käthe (Ledien) Bosse, was killed in Ravensbrück concentration camp on 16 December 1944. Willibald Borowietz Willibald Borowietz (17 September 1893 – 1 July 1945) was a German general during World War II who commanded several divisions. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Borowietz surrendered to Allied forces together with the Afrika Korps. He was held as a POW by the United States in Camp Clinton, Mississippi, where he committed suicide by electrocuting himself in a bathtub on

neg: Walther Nehring Walther Nehring Walther Nehring (15 August 1892 – 20 April 1983) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the Afrika Korps. Nehring was born on 15 August 1892 in Stretzin district of West Prussia. Nehring was the descendant of a Dutch family who had fled the Netherlands to escape religious persecution in the seventeenth century. His father, Emil Nehring, was an estate owner and officer of the Military Reserve. While Nehring was still a child the family moved to Danzig. Nehring joined the military service on 16 September 1911 in the Infanterie-Regiment 152. He

neg: Walther Nehring 1945". He also wrote the foreword to Len Deighton's "." Citations Bibliography" Walther Nehring Walther Nehring (15 August 1892 – 20 April 1983) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the Afrika Korps. Nehring was born on 15 August 1892 in Stretzin district of West Prussia. Nehring was the descendant of a Dutch family who had fled the Netherlands to escape religious persecution in the seventeenth century. His father, Emil Nehring, was an estate owner and officer of the Military Reserve. While Nehring was still a child the family moved to Danzig. Nehring joined

neg: Panzer Army Africa Panzer Army Africa As the number of German troops committed to the North African Campaign of World War II grew from the initial commitment of a small corps the Germans developed a more elaborate command structure and placed the enlarged "Afrika Korps", with Italian units under this new German command and a succession of commands were created to manage Axis forces in Africa: When the "Afrika Korps" was formed on 11 January 1941 it was officially subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa. In the middle of 1941 the German Armed Forces High Command (German acronym "OKW") created

neg: 2nd Cinque Ports Artillery Volunteers equipped with 24 x 25-pounder guns. At the time of its arrival the British forces in Egypt were facing a crisis against Rommel's "Panzerarmee Afrika", and the division was lucky not to be thrown straight into action without any desert experience. Instead it got a bare month to train and was positioned on the key south-facing Alam el Halfa ridge when Rommel resumed his offensive with a right hook round the British Eighth Army's defences at El Alamein. During the resulting Battle of Alam el Halfa on 31 August the German "Afrika Korps" was drawn into attacking dug-in British tanks,

neg: Siege of Tobruk sent the "Afrika Korps" towards the Egyptian border (the Dash to the Wire) to exploit the victory and destroy XXX Corps. The blow mostly fell on empty desert and gave the Eighth Army time to regroup and re-arm. The "Afrika Korps" was ordered back to Tobruk, where the 70th Infantry Division and the New Zealand Division had gained the initiative. At noon on 27 November, the 15th Panzer Division reached Bir el Chleta and met the 22nd Armoured Brigade (reduced to a composite regiment of fewer than fifty tanks), which was joined later by the 4th Armoured Brigade. As night

neg: Desert Training Center knew the area well from his youth and from having participated in army maneuvers in the Mojave Desert in the 1930s. His first orders were to select other areas within the desert that would be suitable for the large-scale maneuvers necessary to prepare American soldiers for combat against the German Afrika Korps in the North African desert. Patton and his advanced team designated various locations within the area where tent camps would be built. The camps were situated so that each unit could train individually without interfering with the other. Airfields, hospitals, supply depots and sites for other support services

neg: Walid (armored personnel carrier) used them for desert patrol/reconnaissance. At least one was seized from Angola by the South African Defence Force during "Operation Savannah". In the 1960s and 1970s, the Walid was used several times in war movies shot in the Egyptian desert, appearing as a fake armored truck of the Afrika Korps with a German Balkenkreuz painted on the side. Walid (armored personnel carrier) The Walid is a wheeled armored personnel carrier based on the BTR-152 and the BTR-40, built by the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI). It was used by Egypt during the 1967 war with Israel. The vehicle consists of

neg: History of the South African Air Force a reduced SAAF presence was maintained in East Africa for coastal patrol purposes until May 1943. The SAAF fighter, bomber and reconnaissance squadrons played a key role in the Western Desert and North African campaigns from 1941 to 1943. A memorable feat was the SAAF Boston bombers of 12 and 24 Squadrons who dropped hundreds of tons of bombs on the Afrika Korps as it was pushing the Eighth Army back towards Egypt during the "Gazala Gallop" in early 1942. The SAAF bombers were also instrumental in continually harassing the German forces retreating towards the Tunisian border after the Battle

neg: Fliegerführer Afrika fuel tanks). Fliegerführer Afrika Fliegerführer Afrika was part of Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2), one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. It operated in the Mediterranean and Libya from 1941–1942. The commanders were Generalmajor Stefan Fröhlich and Generalleutnant Otto Hoffmann von Waldau, who led the German air support to the German "Afrika Korps" campaign during the winter of 1941–1942. The aircraft flown by these commanders were a He 111 P-4 (VG+ES), fully equipped (armed with 5 MG 15 and one MG 17, capacity to load of bombs in belly and another under the wings,

neg: Fliegerführer Afrika Fliegerführer Afrika Fliegerführer Afrika was part of Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2), one of the primary divisions of the German Luftwaffe in World War II. It operated in the Mediterranean and Libya from 1941–1942. The commanders were Generalmajor Stefan Fröhlich and Generalleutnant Otto Hoffmann von Waldau, who led the German air support to the German "Afrika Korps" campaign during the winter of 1941–1942. The aircraft flown by these commanders were a He 111 P-4 (VG+ES), fully equipped (armed with 5 MG 15 and one MG 17, capacity to load of bombs in belly and another under the wings, also exterior

neg: 14th Armored Division (United States) these, two were awarded. Col. Hans von Luck, who commanded the 21st Panzer Division at Hatten-Rittershoffen wrote in his memoirs "Panzer Commander" that the battle "... was one of the hardest and most costly battles that had ever raged on the western front." These are strong, telling words from a professional German panzer officer who had fought with Rommel's famed Afrika Korps in North Africa, served two tours of duty on the Eastern Front, and led the only armored counter-attack to be attempted against the Allied beachhead in Normandy. A veteran officer who served on the staff of Army Group

neg: Special Interrogation Group and operations. After the SIG was disbanded, Tiefenbrunner was caught by the Italians, and sent to a POW camp in Italy. He was moved to a POW camp in Nazi German territory, where he met Vic Crockford. They were released in early 1945. The 1967 film "Tobruk" was about a raid of the SIG and the LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) on a German Afrika Korps fuel depot in Tobruk, starring Rock Hudson and George Peppard. Special Interrogation Group The Special Interrogation Group (SIG) (some sources interpret this acronym as "Special Identification Group" or "Special Intelligence Group") was a unit

neg: Hans Cramer and Cavalry at the OKH, and then to the post itself. During late 1942 to January 1943 he temporarily commanded the XXXVIII Panzer Corps and the XI Army Corps. In February 1943 he returned to Africa as commander of the Afrika Korps. On 12 May 1943, with the capitulation of the German forces in North Africa, he was taken prisoner by the British. From 16 May on he was held in the special prison for captured German generals and staff officers at Trent Park. He was exchanged in May 1944 and returned to Germany, reportedly because of his problems with

neg: History of French-era Tunisia Torch). Meanwhile, the German Afrika Korps retreated from Egypt westward to Tunisia and set up defensive positions at the Mareth Line south of Gabès. The British followed on its heels. With reinforcements the Afrika Korps had some success against the "green" American and Free French advancing from the west. That enabled operations against the British at the Mareth Line, which ultimately failed perhaps due to Ultra intercepts. The Allies broke through the Axis lines and an intensive Allied air campaign forced the Afrika Korps to surrender in May 1943. Tunisia became a staging area for the invasion of Sicily later

neg: Richard Tindall in the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), At Tindall's own request, he reverted to the rank of Lieutenant in September 1940. He left with the 1st Armoured Division for North Africa in on 23 September 1941. After a period of desert acclimatization, Tindall, who was by now in charge of D Company in the KRRC (having regained the rank of Captain), set off for Libya. After driving for 700 miles, Tindall's battalion reached the front lines at Antelat, some forty miles north-east of Ajdabiya, where he saw immediate action. On 21 January 1942, the German Afrika Korps attacked the British

neg: The Desert Peach Halftrack, Gravedigging and Support Unit of the Afrika Korps: a catch-all for misfits, mavericks, and otherwise peculiar soldiers who, for whatever reason, were not suitable for service in the German Army but nonetheless were enlisted. In the words of their medical officer (a psychiatrist assigned to the 469th because his specialty was considered a "Jewish science"), it was a unit composed "entirely of stray puppies". The 469th was based on an escarpment by the sea. Pfirsich was of the opinion that a commander should not merely lead his troops but protect them, and arranged with local Allied commanders that there

neg: Pincer on Axis Europe The rapid surrender of the French forces led to the capture of high-ranking German officials who were sent into internment. With the great British gains in the desert war and the success of the invasion and capitulation of the Vichy French forces at the rear lines, the Afrika Korps was held in a "pincer vice" with no options other than surrender or abandoning North Africa. In 1943, Allied forces are being assembled for an assault on Italy, with another "pincer" campaign aimed at the heart of Axis-held Europe. "Pincer on Axis Europe" was part of the wartime "Canada Carries On"

neg: Camp Clinton admirals, including Afrika Korps commander Hans-Jürgen von Arnim, Wehrmacht general Ferdinand Neuling, and Dietrich von Choltitz, the last wartime Governor of Paris, who surrendered to the Free French. Camp Clinton Camp Clinton was a World War II prisoner of war facility located in Clinton, Mississippi, just off present-day McRaven Road, east of Springridge Road. Camp Clinton was home to 3,000 German and Italian POWs, most of whom had been captured in Africa and were members of the Afrika Korps. The prisoners at Camp Clinton provided labor to build the Mississippi River Basin Model, a one-square-mile working replica model of the

neg: Operation Salam and community were in crisis over the Afrika Korps' advance, with a citywide curfew in the months before June and many Europeans fleeing to Palestine. Two spies would be delivered via a route taken far south of the Qattara Depression where the enormous expanses of open desert would lessen the risks of being captured. László Almásy was an experienced desert explorer, motorist and aviator. He had already explored the Libyan and Egyptian deserts in the 1920s and 30s with other Europeans such as Ralph Bagnold (founder of the Long Range Desert Group) and Patrick Clayton who were now working for

neg: The Steel Bayonet The Steel Bayonet The Steel Bayonet is a 1957 British war film directed by Michael Carreras and starring Leo Genn, Kieron Moore and Michael Medwin. Michael Caine also had a small role in the film, early in his career. It is set during the Second World War, in the Tunisian desert when a small British observation force are surrounded in a farm by overwhelming forces of the German Afrika Korps. Filming took place on Salisbury Plain, which doubled for North Africa. "Tunisia 1943" As the end of the North African Campaign draws to a close, and the German and Italian

neg: World War II by country for the Germans. The invasion of the USSR had been delayed by campaigns in Greece and Yugoslavia, aimed at assisting floundering Italian forces. The Afrika Korps was similarly dispatched to the Western Desert to assist struggling Italian forces there, and German forces grew to an entire army group. Major defeats at Stalingrad in February 1943 and the destruction of Axis forces in North Africa shortly after are commonly thought to be the war's turning points. German forces fought on Sicily, and when Italy switched sides, German forces seized power, fighting a successful withdrawal and diverting Allied forces from Northwest Europe.

neg: 2/33rd Battalion (Australia) the 7th Division. Moving to a camp in Palestine, the battalion's fourth rifle company – designated 'D' Company – was taken on strength, having previously been formed at Beit Jirja in September 1940 from excess reinforcements from the 6th Division. At the time, the 7th Division was preparing to go to Greece, to follow in the wake of the 6th Division; however, the entry of the Afrika Korps into the fighting in the Western Desert and early German successes prompted their movement to the fortress at Mersa Metruh, to guard against a possible German advance into Egypt from Libya. The

neg: Afrika Korps Panzer Army. The remnants of the Afrika Korps and surviving units of the 1st Italian Army retreated into Tunisia. Command of the Army Group was turned over to Arnim in March. On 13 May, the Afrika Korps surrendered, along with all other remaining Axis forces in North Africa. Most Afrika Korps POWs were transported to the United States and held in Camp Shelby in Mississippi and other POW camps until the end of the war. When Rommel was promoted to the newly formed Panzerarmee Afrika, his command included a number of Italian units, including four infantry divisions. Two Italian armoured

neg: Italian destroyer Turbine (1927) 1941 "Turbine" together with destroyers and sailed from Naples for Tripoli escorting another German Afrika Korps convoy consisting of steamers , , and carrying among other supplies the first tanks for the German 5th Light Division. The convoy successfully arrived in Tripoli on March 12 without any incidents. On April 2, 1941 "Turbine" along with "Saetta" and torpedo boat "Orsa" departed from Naples for Tripoli escorting a supply convoy for the Afrika Korps consisting of German steamers , , and Italian vessels and . The convoy arrived in Tripoli on April 5 without any incidents. On April 7 , ,

neg: Italian destroyer Turbine (1927) Naples escorting German vessels , and carrying elements of the German 5th Light Division, part of the Afrika Korps, for Tripoli. The convoy had to stop at Palermo on February 9 to wait out a possible sortie by British Force H, and departed it next day arriving in Tripoli at 15:00 on February 11, 1941. "Turbine" then returned to Naples on February 15. On February 19, 1941 "Turbine" along with "Saetta" and departed from Naples to Tripoli escorting the third German Afrika Korps convoy consisting of ships , , and and successfully reached Tripoli on February 21. On March 8,

neg: Panzer Army Africa Africa. Throughout its existence, this headquarters controlled the well-known "Afrika Korps", and for most of its life it controlled a number of other German and Italian units as well. The following overview of its assets is taken from lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de, with dates corrected (see references). "Panzer" Group Africa (Rommel) "Panzer" Army Africa (Rommel) German-Italian "Panzer" Army (Rommel) From February 1943: Panzer Army Africa As the number of German troops committed to the North African Campaign of World War II grew from the initial commitment of a small corps the Germans developed a more elaborate command structure and placed the enlarged "Afrika

neg: Battle of Hill 609 Battle of Hill 609 The Battle of Hill 609 took place at Djebel Tahent in northwestern Tunisia during the Tunisia Campaign. The battle was for control over the key strategic height Hill 609 and its surrounding area between the American forces of the U.S. II Corps and German units of the Afrika Korps. The battle proved a formative experience for the American forces - in their first clear-cut victory of the campaign and has been called "the American Army's coming-of-age". In late April 1943, Hill 609 was the key to the German defensive line facing the U.S. II Corps, commanded

neg: The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel supplies, but the retreat is allowed. Rommel becomes increasingly disillusioned with Hitler after his pleas to evacuate his men are dismissed. An ailing Rommel is sent back to Germany to recuperate while his beloved Afrika Korps is driven back across North Africa and destroyed. Rommel is approached while in hospital by an old family friend, Dr. Karl Strölin (Cedric Hardwicke), with a request to join a group plotting to overthrow Hitler. Rommel is very hesitant. Strölin departs and immediately afterward evades a Gestapo agent assigned to watch him. Rommel is placed in charge of defending the Atlantic Wall against the

neg: Djilma Airfield and dismantled the facility. Today there are little or no remains of the airfield, except the remains of a runway in the desert just north of the town of Jilma, visible from satellite imagery. Djilma Airfield Djilma Airfield is an abandoned military airfield in Tunisia, located about 2 km north of Jilma (Sidi Bu Zayd); approximately 180 km west-southwest of Tunis. The airfield was built during World War II as a temporary field which was used by the United States Army Air Force Twelfth Air Force 31st Fighter Group during the North African Campaign against the German Afrika Korps. The

neg: Volkswagen Beetle Type 1s until 1953. The VW38 cars were followed by another batch of 50 "VW39" cars, completed in July 1939. The car was designed to be as simple as possible mechanically. The air-cooled motor's built-in oil cooler, and the flat-four engine configuration's superior performance was also effective for the German Afrika Korps in Africa's desert heat. The suspension design used compact torsion bars instead of coil or leaf springs. The Beetle is nearly airtight and will briefly float. On 26 May 1938, Hitler laid the cornerstone for the Volkswagen factory in Fallersleben. He gave a speech, in which he named

neg: Franz Kurowski im Südosten" ("Southeast Watch"). These were propaganda publications (100 or so pamphlets) issued by the , the propaganda wing of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. After 1945, he returned to civilian occupation and worked as a foreman and supervisor in a machinery factory. In 1958, he started working as a freelance writer; from 1968 to 1978, he was the editor of "Die Oase" ("Oasis"), a periodical of "Deutsches Afrika-Korps e.V", the German Afrika Korps veterans' association. From 1989 to 1996, Kurowski was editor-in-chief of the far-right publication "Nation Europa", then named "Deutsche Monatshefte". Kurowski died in 2011. Kurowski wrote for

neg: 19th Air Division 19th Air Division The 19th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Eighth Air Force at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1988. During World War II, the unit was designated as IX Bomber Command and was the command and control organization for Ninth Air Force in the Western Desert Campaign. Using predominantly B-24 Liberator heavy and B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, it supported the British Eighth Army against the German Afrika Korps from airfields ranging from Palestine in 1942 across North Africa to the final defeat

neg: 90th Light Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) 1944 and April 1945, with up to five civilians executed in each incident. The division formed part of the Afrika Korps during its deployment to North Africa. 90th Light Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) The 90th Light Infantry Division was a light infantry division of the German Army during World War II that served in North Africa as well as Sardinia and Italy. The division played a major role in most of the actions against the British Eighth Army in the Western Desert Campaign and eventually surrendered to the Allies in the final stages of the Tunisia Campaign in May 1943. It

neg: Battle of Mersa Matruh sides raced across the broken ground of the desert toward El Alamein. Units became intermingled and disorganized and opposing columns ran parallel to each other, with German columns sometimes running in front of the retreating British. The columns sometimes exchanged fire, and as about 85 percent of the "Afrika Korps" transport was captured British or American equipment, it was often difficult to distinguish friend from foe. The fight at Matruh took its character from the disposition of the Eighth Army forces, Rommel's misunderstanding of them and the chronic lack of co-ordination between British infantry and armoured units. After the war

neg: M3 Stuart the operation had more to do with the better tactics and training of the "Afrika Korps" than the apparent superiority of German armored fighting vehicles used in the North African campaign, the operation revealed that the M3 had several technical faults. Mentioned in the British complaints were the 37 mm M5 gun and poor internal layout. The two-man turret crew was a significant weakness, and some British units tried to fight with three-man turret crews. The Stuart also had a limited range, which was a severe problem in the highly mobile desert warfare as units often outpaced their supplies and

neg: First Battle of Bir el Gubi squadrons for several days. Correlli Barnett, in his book "The Desert Generals", stated that British tank losses at Bir el Gubi amounted to 52 tanks. The British attack was carried out with the Crusader tanks being used as an autonomous weapon, without infantry support and with only long-range artillery support. Ariete, instead, had learned the German tactics of tank-infantry coordination while training together with the Panzer units of the Afrika Korps during the previous months, and had put it into practice at Bir el Gubi. First Battle of Bir el Gubi The First Battle of Bir el Gubi took place

neg: The Steel Bayonet killing Gerrard and the Germans' last chance at the same time. The Steel Bayonet The Steel Bayonet is a 1957 British war film directed by Michael Carreras and starring Leo Genn, Kieron Moore and Michael Medwin. Michael Caine also had a small role in the film, early in his career. It is set during the Second World War, in the Tunisian desert when a small British observation force are surrounded in a farm by overwhelming forces of the German Afrika Korps. Filming took place on Salisbury Plain, which doubled for North Africa. "Tunisia 1943" As the end of the North

neg: Brega Brega" (with lots of sand in between them) lies "Al-Najm University of Technology" ("Bright Star University of Technology"), which was founded in 1981. Brega lies surrounded by the Sabkhat Ghuzayyil a large dry region below sea level. Brega was the location of a brief but important battle in the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. On 31 March 1941, during the opening phase of Rommel's first offensive, the German Afrika Korps expelled the British from their partially prepared positions at Marsa Brega. This opened the way for Rommel's drive to the Egyptian border and encirclement of Tobruk. During

neg: Haane Manahi desert warfare and constructing defensive positions around the Baggush Box. In November he, along with rest of the 2nd Division, participated in Operation "Crusader". This involved near constant fighting across Libya for well over a month, during which Manahi, with two others, captured and commandeered a German tank which had been stuck in B Company's trenches. In early 1942, the New Zealanders were withdrawn to Syria for a period of rest and garrison duty. However, in late May 1942 Rommel and the Afrika Korps attacked into Libya. The 2nd Division was rushed back from Syria and dug in at Minqar

neg: Western Desert Campaign which did not apply in 1941. The extra distance from Bizerta to the Egyptian border would also have negated the benefit of using a larger port. Axis supply had always been determined by the small size of the ports in Libya, a constraint that could not be overcome and that attacks on Axis shipping added to the chronic difficulty of supply. With the German army bogged down in the USSR, there was never sufficient road transport available for the "Afrika Korps" and the , despite the relatively lavish scale of transport compared to other fronts. The cancellation of the attack

neg: Operation Albumen Operation Albumen Operation Albumen was the name given to British Commando raids in June 1942 on German airfields in the Axis-occupied Greek island of Crete, to prevent them from being used in support of the Afrika Korps in the Western Desert Campaign in the Second World War. These operations were carried out in tandem with similar raids against Axis airfields at Benghazi, Derna and Barce in Libya and were among the very first planned sabotage acts in occupied Europe. During the late spring of 1942, the airfields of Crete gained increased strategic importance by becoming the main transit base for

neg: Afrika Korps (game) units, represented by the cardboard counters, vary from regiment up to division size. The game's system emphasizes the importance of supply, particularly the variability of Afrika Korps' supply and reinforcements. Unlike other similar wargames published by Avalon Hill around the same time, units could not attack at will, but used up supply counters (which were very limited in number) to attack. Afrika Korps (game) Afrika Korps is a two-player wargame published by the Avalon Hill Game Company in 1963-1964 and re-released in 1965 and 1977. Played on a mapboard depicting the northern coastline of eastern Libya and western Egypt, the

neg: Operation Crusader found itself confronted by the "Afrika Korps" fielding 39 tanks together with 300 lorries of infantry and guns. Once again the 7th Armoured Division were not in place to intervene and it was left to the force's artillery and supporting tanks to face the threat. Taking heavy casualties, they nevertheless managed to knock out fifteen German tanks and stall the counterattack. Godwin-Austen ordered Gott to get the British armour to a position where it could engage the "Afrika Korps", unaware that Gott and his senior commanders were no longer confident they could defeat the enemy directly, despite their superiority in

neg: Gerhard von Schwerin Battalion Motorized Infantry Regiment of the Grossdeutschland Division on the war's outbreak, and took part of the invasion and defeat of France in 1940 (elements of troops under his command in this unit committed two massacres of disarmed French Imperial African Senegalese Tirailleurs whom they had captured as prisoners of war during the invasion). He also commanded up to 1941 the Rifle Regiment No.86, and the Grossdeutschland Regiment.Whilst with the Afrika Korps on 7 April 1941, commanding the Special Purposes Regiment No. 200, Schwerin led a long-range joint German and Italian commando force deep into the British Empire's lines in

neg: Tanks in the British Army October 1942, few Matildas were still in service. Combat experience against the Germans in the Western Desert Campaign demonstrated to the British many shortcomings with their cruiser tanks. The Cruiser Mk I was an effective tank in the French, Greek and early North African campaigns. The 2 pdr gun was lethal against the primitive Italian tanks encountered first during the North African campaign, but was, at best, a mediocre weapon against the modern German armor of the Afrika Korps. The heavier Cruiser, Mk II (A10), were part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France in the early stages

neg: Egypt during World War II Libya. The attack eventually continued, ending with the 7th Armoured Division cutting off the Italian retreat. After ten weeks the Allies had advanced 800 km, destroying 400 tanks and 1,292 artillery pieces and capturing 130,000 POWs - the Commonwealth forces suffered 494 fatalities and 1,225 wounded. However, the advance stopped short of driving the Italians out of North Africa. As the advance reached Al Argheila, Churchill ordered that it be stopped and that troops be dispatched to defend Greece. A few weeks later the first troops of the German Afrika Korps began arriving in Tripoli (Operation Sonnenblume), and the desert