Afrika Korps
Deutsches Afrikakorps / DAK | |
---|---|
Army | |
Type | Expeditionary forces |
Role | Desert warfare Expeditionary warfare |
Size | Corps June 1941: 33,500 men in total[1] |
Garrison/HQ | Tripoli, Italian Libya |
Engagements |
|
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Erwin Rommel Ludwig Crüwell Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma Walther Nehring |
The German Africa Corps (
History
Organization
The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Adolf Hitler's favourite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck was 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.[2]
The German Armed Forces High Command (
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 1941, the OKW increased the presence in Africa and created a new headquarters called
After the German and Italian defeat in the
On 23 February 1943, the original Panzer Army Africa, which had since been re-styled as the German-Italian Panzer Army, was now redesignated as the
Most Afrika Korps
Composition and terminology
When Rommel was promoted to the newly formed
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 Afrikakorps 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.[7][8]
Commanders
- Erwin Rommel: 6 February 1941 - August 1941
- Ludwig Crüwell: August 1941 - May 1942. Crüwell landed near British troops on 29 May and was taken prisoner
- Walther Nehring: May 1942 - September 1942
- Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma: September 1942 - November 1942
- Unknown: November 1942 - May 1943
Treatment of local inhabitants and the Italian colonial government
The Afrika Korps gained a reputation by the Allies and by many historians as being magnanimous with Allied prisoners of war; since then many historians have used the term "War without hate" to describe the North African campaign as a whole.[9] However, Jewish people suffered during the fascist regime laws, and the local administration took part in the Holocaust deporting some thousands of Jews to Italy, under the supervision of Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, Wehrmacht commander of the Axis in the Mediterranean theater. Others suffered from forced labour and ill treatment at the hands of the Italian administration, including a Schutzstaffel and SD detachment. Robert Satloff described in his book Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands that as the German and Italian forces retreated across Libya towards Tunisia, the Jewish population became victims upon which they released their anger and frustration. According to Satloff, Afrika Korps soldiers plundered Jewish property all along the Libyan coast. This violence and persecution only came to an end with the arrival of General Montgomery in Tripoli on 23 January 1943.[10] According to Maurice Remy, although there were antisemitic individuals in the Afrika Korps, actual cases of abuse are not known, even against the Jewish soldiers of the Eighth Army. Remy quotes Isaac Levy, the Senior Jewish Chaplain of the Eighth Army, as saying that he had never seen "any sign or hint that the soldiers [of the Afrika Korps] are antisemitic."[11] The Telegraph comments: "Accounts suggest that it was not Field Marshal Erwin Rommel but the ruthless SS colonel Walter Rauff who stripped Tunisian Jews of their wealth."[12]
Giordana Terracina writes that: "On April 3, the Italians recaptured Benghazi and a few months later the Afrika Korps led by Rommel was sent to Libya and began the deportation of the Jews of Cyrenaica in the concentration camp of Giado and other smaller towns in Tripolitania. This measure was accompanied by shooting, also in Benghazi, of some Jews guilty of having welcomed the British troops, on their arrival, treating them as liberators."[13] Gershom states that Italian authorities were responsible for bringing Jews into their concentration camps, which were "not built to exterminate its inmates", yet as the water and food supply was meager, were not built to keep humans alive either. Also according to Gershom, the German consul in Tripoli knew about the process and trucks used to transport supply to Rommel were sometimes used to transport Jews, despite all problems the German forces were having.[14] The Jerusalem Post's review of Gershom Gorenberg's War of shadows writes that: "The Italians were far more brutal with civilians, including Libyan Jews, than Rommel’s Afrika Korps, which by all accounts abided by the laws of war. But nobody worried that the Italians who sent Jews to concentration camps in Libya, would invade British-held Egypt, let alone Mandatory Palestine."[15]
According to Maurice Roumani, "Libyan Jews noted that in daily matters, the Germans largely acted out of pragmatic economic interest rather than adopting the political and ideological practices known elsewhere. The German authorities found Libyan Jews well equipped with goods they needed for their military activities. The Jews complied with their demands, some out of fear and others out of strict economic interest. By the end of their time in Libya, this strategic economic arrangement led the Germans to perceive the Jews as similar to the native Muslims and they therefore regarded the Jews to be less threatening than their brethren in Europe."[16]
Re-forming of units
Certain divisions were re-formed in Europe after the cessation of fighting in Tunisia:
- 15th Panzer Division (as 15th Panzergrenadier Division in Sicily, Italy and Western Front)
- 21st Panzer Division (in France)
- Hermann Göring Panzer Division(in Sicily and Italy)
- 90th Light Division (as 90th Panzergrenadier Divisionin Italy)
See also
- Fliegerführer Afrika
- Ramcke Parachute Brigade
- Western Desert Campaign
- László Almásy
- Operation Salaam
References
- ^ Pier Paolo Battistelli. Rommel's Afrika Korps: Tobruk to El Alamein. Osprey Publishing, 2006, p. 82.
- ISBN 978-0-670-88703-3.
- ISBN 978-1-4728-0081-7.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-996-6.
- ^ Beasley 2010, p. 262.
- ^ Lewin 1968, p. 54.
- ^ Toppe 1952, p. 14.
- ISBN 978-1-5267-1380-3.
- ISBN 978-0-14-200394-7p. 23
- ^ Satloff, Robert (2006), Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands, p. 44
- ISBN 3-471-78572-8.
- ^ Samuel, Henry (18 July 2007). "Search Results Web results Rommel's sunken gold 'found' by British expert". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022.
- ^ Terracina, Giordana (2016). "Hidden responsibilities. The deportation of Libyan Jews in the concentration camp of Civitella del Tronto and the confinement town of Camerino". Trauma and Memory. 4 (3): 9–31.
- ISBN 978-1-61039-628-8. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
- ^ Immanuel, Jon (2021). "Book review: Gorenberg demythologizes the 'Desert Fox'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-80207-141-2. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
Sources
- Beasley, Jimmy Lee (2010). I Was There When It Happened. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-4535-4457-0.
- Cooper, Matthew (1990). The German Army 1933–1945. Chelsea, MI, USA: Scarborough House. ISBN 0-8128-8519-8.
- Lewin, Ronald (1998) [1968]. Rommel As Military Commander. New York: B&N Books. ISBN 978-0-7607-0861-3– via archive.org.
- Toppe, Generalmajor Alfred (7 November 1990) [1952], German Experiences in Desert Warfare During World War II (PDF), vol. II, Washington: Department of the Navy, Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication 12-96-II, retrieved 15 October 2013 – via theblackvault.com
Further reading
- Macksey, Kenneth (1968). Afrika Korps. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-35602-544-6.