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28-603: When the Afrikakorps was formed on 11 January 1941 it was subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa. In the middle of 1941 the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, Armed Forces High Command) created a larger command structure in Africa, forming a new headquarters, Panzer Group Africa ( Panzergruppe Afrika , Gruppo Corazzato Africa ). On 15 August 1941, Panzer Group Africa

56-535: A number of Italian units, including four infantry divisions. Two Italian armoured 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

84-662: The Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria ( Operation Torch ), the OKW once more upgraded the presence in Africa by adding first the XC Army Corps , under Walter Nehring , in Tunisia on 19 November 1942, then an additional 5th Panzer Army on 8 December, under the command of Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim . On 23 February 1943, the original Panzer Army Africa, which had since been re-styled as

112-524: The Battle of Beda Fomm . The German blocking force, commanded by Rommel, at first consisted of a force based only on Panzer Regiment 5, which was put together from 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,

140-762: The Second battle of El Alamein in November 1942 and was forced to retreat along with the rest of the Afrikakorps. After the retreat of the Axis forces to Tunisia the 15th Panzer Division was part of the battle of Kasserine Pass against inexperienced US forces in February 1943. The division eventually surrendered alongside other Axis forces in Tunisia in May 1943 and was not reestablished. Survivors of

168-510: 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 1941, the OKW increased the presence in Africa and created a new headquarters called Panzer Group Africa . On 15 August,

196-509: The Army Group on 13 May 1943, ending the Axis presence in Africa. Afrikakorps The German Africa Corps ( German : Deutsches Afrikakorps , pronounced [ˈdɔʏtʃəs ˈʔaːfʁikaˌkoːɐ̯] ; DAK ), commonly known as Afrika Korps , 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

224-742: The German defences in the Saarland during the early month of the war. It participated in the invasion of France and remained there after the French surrender as an occupation force. It returned to Germany in September 1940 to be converted to a tank division. The division was transported to Libya in April 1941, joining General Erwin Rommel 's Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) as one of two German tank divisions in North Africa at

252-525: The German-Italian Panzer Army, was now redesignated as the Italian 1st Army and put under the command of Italian general Giovanni Messe . Rommel, meanwhile, was placed in command of a new Army Group Africa, created to control both the Italian 1st Army and the 5th Panzer Army. The remnants of the Afrika Korps and surviving units of the 1st Italian Army retreated into Tunisia. Command of the Army Group

280-402: The Italian defense of its 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 Adolf Hitler 's favourite generals, Erwin Rommel , was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck

308-715: The Libyan coast. This violence and persecution only came to an end with the arrival of General Montgomery in Tripoli on 23 January 1943. 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

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336-532: 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 and Italian defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein and

364-697: The Panzer groups were renamed Panzer Armies.) Panzer Army Africa was renamed German-Italian Panzer Army' ( Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee , Armata Corazzata Italo-Tedesca ) and subordinated to the Comando Supremo and to the Oberbefehlshaber Süd in October 1942 during the long retreat after the defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign . In February 1943,

392-654: 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." Gershom states that Italian authorities were responsible for bringing Jews into their concentration camps, which were "not built to exterminate its inmates", yet as

420-605: 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. 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

448-757: 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." Certain divisions were re-formed in Europe after the cessation of fighting in Tunisia: Original units: Replacement units: Artillery: (some original units, some replacements) Outside units: 15th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) The 15th Panzer Division ( German : 15. Panzer-Division )

476-577: 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

504-602: The headquarters was expanded and called Army Group Africa ( Heeresgruppe Afrika , Gruppo d'Armate Africa ) to manage the defence of Tunisia during the final stages of the North African Campaign . Army Group Africa included the German Fifth Panzer Army ( 5. Panzerarmee ) and the Italian 1st Army . Command of the Army Group was turned over from Rommel to Hans-Jürgen von Arnim in March. He surrendered

532-641: 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." 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

560-505: The objective of relieving the besieged forces at Tobruk . The 15th Panzer Division was situated to the east of Tobruk, suffered severe losses and was forced to retreat west. The 15th Panzer Division was part of the German offensive in January 1942 that retook Benghazi. It participated in the battle of Gazala , the capture of Tobruk and the German invasion of Egypt which came to a stand-still at El Alamein . The division suffered severe loses at

588-457: The soldiers [of the Afrika Korps] are antisemitic." The Telegraph comments: "Accounts suggest that it was not Field Marshal Erwin Rommel but the ruthless SS-Standartenführer Walter Rauff who stripped Tunisian Jews of their wealth." 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

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616-501: The term "War without hate" to describe the North African campaign as a whole. 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

644-541: The time, the other having been the 21st Panzer Division . However, the Royal Navy intercepted and sank the ships carrying the division's Signal Reserve Battalion. The division took part in all major German operations in North Africa except the first, for which it arrived too late. It was part of the successful German defence against British attempts to relieve Tobruk, Operation Brevity and Operation Battleaxe . On 18 November British forces began Operation Crusader with

672-515: 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. 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

700-455: Was activated with newly promoted General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel in command. The Panzer Group controlled the Afrikakorps and other units that were sent to North Africa. Panzer Group Africa was renamed Panzer Army Africa ( Panzerarmee Afrika , Armata Corazzata Africa ) on 30 January 1942. (A German Panzer group was an army-level headquarters. As the war progressed all of

728-503: Was an armoured division in the German Army , the Wehrmacht , during World War II , established in 1940. The division, formed from the 33rd Infantry Division , fought exclusively in North Africa from 1941 to 1943, eventually ceasing to exist after surrendering in Tunisia in May 1943. The 33rd Infantry Division, forerunner of the 15th Panzer Division, was formed in April 1936 and part of

756-641: 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. The German Armed Forces High Command ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht , OKW) had decided to send a "blocking force" to Italian Libya to support the Italian army . The Italian 10th Army had been routed by the British Commonwealth Western Desert Force in Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) and captured at

784-631: 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 prisoners of war (POW) were transported to the United States and held in Camp Shelby in Mississippi, Camp Hearne in Texas and other POW camps until the end of the war. When Rommel was promoted to the newly formed Panzer Army Africa , his command included

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