Post by Werner von Maybach on Feb 15, 2009 12:24:19 GMT
The War in North Africa 1940 - 1943
On the 13th of September 1940, three months after the Italian declaration of war against France and the United Kingdom, Marshall Rudolfo Graziani started his first attack from Libya against the Egyptian border. It turned out quickly, that the unmotorised Italian divisions were not equipped for successful offensive operations in the desert. The Italian advance came to a sudden stop and ended in a British counter attack, throwing the Italians back around 800 kilometres into the area of Tripoli. They now faced the danger of loosing their complete colonial possessions in North Africa.
The German government now realised, that the help of the German Wehrmacht was immediately needed. On the 24th of January 1941, the German army high-command gave the orders for the deployment of German troops in Libya. It was called "Operation Sonnenblume" (sunflower). The first parts of the "Deutsches Afrika Korps" arrived in Tripoli on the 14th of February. The commander of this unit was a man, mainly unknown to the public by now, Generalmajor Erwin Rommel. Later on he should get famous worldwide under the name "Wüstenfuchs" (desert fox).
In the beginning of March ‘41, the German troops were starting to intervene into the war in North Africa. Although he received strict orders from Berlin to behave passive, Rommel started an offensive and quickly captured the cities of Agedabia, Bengasi, Derna and Sollum. The German Wehrmacht encircled the fortress of Tobruk and besieged it for almost half a year. Several German attacks were rejected bloody by the Commonwealth defenders.
At this time the German forces in Africa were still small and the supply situation changed dramatically. The Italian convoys between Sicily and the North African coast suffered heavy casualties because of the Royal Air Force and the British naval forces. The worst problem for the Axis was the small island Malta, which was used as an unsinkable aircraft- carrier by the RAF. The German advance along the coast slowed down and finally stopped.
On the 18th of November 1941, the British 8th army started "Operation Crusader", the counter attack against the German and Italian forces in North Africa. The circle around Tobruk got opened and Sollum, Bardia and El Gazala got recaptured by the "desert rats". The Germans retreated to prepared defensive positions in the area of El Agheila.
But the British success wasn't supposed to continue. After refreshing and supplying his troops, Rommel broke out of his positions and launched his second major attack against the Commonwealth troops in January 1942. The British troops retreated under heavy losses to defensive positions at El Gazala. The German supply situation improved daily and Malta suffered under heavy German bombardments. In May ‘42, the Germans continued their offensive against the British positions at Gazala and Bir Hacheim and captured them after heavy fighting’s. The German Panzer tanks took heavy casualties because of the new British M3 Grant tanks, but finally the luck was on the side of the Axis soldiers.
Once in movement, the German tanks took Tobruk on the 21st of June. Rommel got promoted to "Generalfeldmarschall" because of this victory. The defeated rest of the 8th army retreated to the east and there was nearly nothing left to stop Rommel’s advance towards Cairo. But also the German supply lines got thinner, as longer the distance to Tripoli grew. When the German forces arrived at El Alamein, they had only 70 tanks and armoured cars left. Knowing, that their forces wouldn't be strong enough for continuing the advance, the Germans stopped and prepared themselves for defence. The desert war got especially famous for the excessive usage of mines through both sides.
After a last German try to break through the British lines, the Commonwealth forces took over the initiative completely. In the evening of the 23rd of October 1942, the carefully prepared British "Operation Lightfoot", the attack at El Alamein began. Under the massive pressure of the 8th army, Rommel ordered his troops finally to retreat, acting against a direct order from Hitler. The Axis troops were pushed all the way back to Libya. The German situation even got worse, when Allied troops under the command of General Eisenhower landed in Morocco in the November of 1942. Quickly, German reserve troops were sent to Tunis to build up a front in the west against the advancing American forces. Also Rommel managed to take back his troops and built up a new defensive position, the so called Mareth- position.
Now the supply lines for the German and Italian troops became their biggest problem. Tripoli, the biggest harbour, was captured by the Allies end of January 1943. The Royal Navy and the RAF also managed to nearly cut off the thin supply lines. The end of the war in North Africa was easily foreseeable. The British tanks broke through the Mareth- line in February 1943.
The rest of the German forces got pressed into a small bridgehead around Tunis. Hitler ordered his troops to defend Africa under all circumstances and so every retreat to Sicily was impossible. 130 000 German and 180 000 Italian soldiers got captured. The last German soldiers surrendered on 13th May 1943. Generfeldmarschall Rommel was in a rehabilitation clinic in Germany at this time, because he suffered several health problems. The "soft belly" of Europe now was open for Allied landing.
