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    Rommel's Desert Warriors: 1941-1942
    Rommel's Desert Warriors: 1941-1942
    Rommel's Desert Warriors: 1941-1942
    Ebook289 pages57 minutes

    Rommel's Desert Warriors: 1941-1942

    By Michael Olive, Chris Evans and Robert J Edwards

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    About this ebook

    Visual history of Rommel and his Afrika Korps in the desert of North Africa.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStackpole Books
    Release dateNov 11, 2012
    ISBN9780811745840
    Rommel's Desert Warriors: 1941-1942

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      Book preview

      Rommel's Desert Warriors - Michael Olive

      Copyright © 2012 by Stackpole Books

      Published in 2012

      by STACKPOLE BOOKS

      5067 Ritter Road

      Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

      www.stackpolebooks.com

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books.

      Cover design by Caroline M. Stover

      Printed in the United States of America

      10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Olive, Michael.

      Rommel’s desert warriors : 1941–1942 / Michael Olive and Robert J. Edwards ; with a foreword by Chris Evans. pages cm. — (Stackpole military photo series)

      Includes bibliographical references.

      ISBN 978-0-8117-1083-1

      eISBN 978-0-8117-4584-0

      1. Germany. Heer. Panzerarmeekorps Afrika. 2. Germany. Heer. Panzerarmeekorps Afrika—Pictorial works. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Campaigns—Africa, North. 4. World War, 1939–1945—Campaigns—Africa, North—Pictorial works. 5. Rommel, Erwin, 1891–1944. 6. Rommel, Erwin, 1891–1944—Pictorial works. 7. World War, 1939–1945—Regimental histories—Germany. I. Edwards, Robert J. II. Title.

      D757.55.A4O45 2012

      940.54'13430961—dc23

      2012024592

      CONTENTS

      Foreword

      Introduction

      ARRIVAL IN THE DESERT

      COMMUNICATIONS

      ARMORED VEHICLES

      SUPPLY BATTALION

      THE LUFTWAFFE AND REGIA AERONAUTICA

      ROMMEL

      ARTILLERY

      LIFE IN THE DESERT

      TRANSPORT VEHICLES

      Appendices

      Select Bibliography

      FOREWORD

      There exists a real danger that our friend Rommel is becoming a kind of magical or bogey-man to our troops. Indeed, German General Erwin Rommel earned his Desert Fox nickname by employing bold, risky tactics that saw him best much larger enemy formations while avoiding what often appeared to be certain defeat time and again. Rommel, however, was far from perfect. While his unpredictability proved a tricky thorn to the British, Rommel’s own forces often didn’t know where the wily Desert Fox was or what he was up to. This produced worrying confusion among his own headquarters staff, distrust among his Italian allies, and complaints from his superiors, who thought he was in over his head. Still, Claude Auchinleck, the British general in command of the 8th Army in North Africa—and for a time Rommel’s counterpart in the see-saw battle that raged across the desert—was having a difficult time convincing his troops that Rommel and his vaunted Afrika Korps were merely men and, more importantly, men who could be beaten.

      The Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK) began humbly enough, arriving piecemeal in Africa beginning in February 1941 to act as a small supporting force for the beleaguered Italian Army that was on the verge of being run out of Africa by the British. No one, least of all Adolf Hitler, expected the newly formed DAK to do much more than stabilize the situation. In fact, Rommel’s orders were not to attack, but to wait until more forces arrived. Rommel didn’t listen, and an Italian rout became a British one, with the Desert Fox nipping at their heels.

      In Rommel’s Desert Warriors, the stark beauty of the North African desert is revealed in original photographs taken by the German soldiers who fought there. It’s worth remembering as you look through the book that the war in the desert was fought across the vast Sahara (an Arabic word which simply means desert) in temperatures that ranged in excess of 110 degrees Fahrenheit to below freezing conditions at night. Sandstorms, known locally as simoom—poison wind—scoured the desert floor, creating blinding clouds of skin-abrading sand. Water was scarce and navigation exceptionally difficult in a landscape that changed rapidly. It was a hellish place to fight a war, yet the North African campaign became one known for its chivalry.

      New photographs of Rommel himself give additional insight into the warrior who so perplexed his allies and enemies. From panzers churning across the sand to fortified positions made of rock, the photographs capture what it was like to live and fight in one of the harshest climates on the planet. In order to survive, let alone prevail, the German Army issued specialized uniforms and weapons for the desert environment. Once again, we include an eight-page color spread depicting original items from the North African campaign. And throughout the book, German military history experts Robert Edwards and Michael Olive add context and detail to the hundreds of photos presented here.

      Rommel and the Afrika Korps hold a hallowed place in military history. They fought in an unforgiving environment against overwhelming odds, and though their ultimate fate would be defeat, they nonetheless wrote their names into the history books as one of the most daring fighting forces to ever go to war. Here, in Rommel’s Desert Warriors, you’ll see why.

      Chris Evans

      Editor

      Stackpole Books

      INTRODUCTION

      On 8 February 1942, British units of the Western Desert Force, under the command of General Sir Richard O’Connor, were on the frontier between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. The strategic port of Tripoli was under threat, and there was the possibilty that the Italians could be ejected from North Africa.

      The attempted Italian invasion of Egypt by Marshal Rodolpho Graziani’s 10th Army had ended in disaster. Forty thousand Commonwealth troops had taken over 130,00 Italian prisioners and occupied Cyrenaica.

      In order to assist their Axis partner, the Germans decided to step in. The mission was to to be strictly defensive in nature.

      According to War Directive No. 22,

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