The North African Campaign Of World War II
Erwin Rommel
Rommel With the 15th panzer Division.
Field Marshal Rommel is famous for his blitzkrieg tactics in France
and the at Gazala, whilst commanding the Afrika
Corps
where his tactical awareness
and his natural flair in mobile warfare, turned possible defeat into a
stunning victory. He has been crowned as a tactical genius by history,
and there is certainly no doubt as to his ability when his battles are
analysed, but can it be said that he was particulary talented to the
extent where it made his presence in Africa a decisive factor in the Axis
powers favour. I believe he was, but it also worth mentioning that his
presence did not effect the outcome of the Desert War because supplies and Hitlers
interference reduced his ability to defeat the Allies in North Africa.
There is no doubt in my mind that Rommel, if supplied more effectively and
not had Hitler interfering, he would have defeated the Eighth Army well
before Montgomery's arrival. Therefore Field Marshal Montgomery had the
potential to directly effect the outcome of the North African Campaign in
the Axis favour, but didn`t because of other factors that restrained him.
Erwin Rommel was born on November 15, 1891 and joined the 124th
Wurttemburg Infantry Regiment, and participated in the First World War
(Also known as the 'Great War' or 'The War To End All Wars') as a
Lieutenant. As a War College instructor after the war, Rommel began to
forge links with the Nazi Party. By 1939 Rommel was a Brigadier General
and was at Hitlers H.Q during the Polish Campaign, but in the spring of
1940 Rommel took command of the 7th panzer Division and gained much
respect for his abilities in using Blitzkrieg.
When Rommel was required to command the Afrika Korps in Northern
Africa
to aid the Italians who had been defeated by the 'Western Desert Force'
(which later became the Eighth Army), the Allies knew that holding onto
Northern Africa had just become a much harder objective to achieve. Rommel
utilised the mobility of his Panzer Divisions and the superiority of his tanks and anti-tank guns to
defeat the Allies on several occasions. Rommels finest battle in North
Africa is said to have been Gazala in May 1942,
where his
superb improvisational skills and mastery of mobile warfare, struck an
almost fatal blow to the Allies. All this time Rommel suffered from
appalling supply problems that forced him to
ration ammunition and fuel. Fuel was the main problem in a conflict
that was fought over hundreds of miles of open desert and neccessitated
mobile warfare on a grand scale.
After the battle of Alam Halfa in which Rommel was forced to attack,
because the Allies were soon to achieve
numerical superiority, the Afrika Korps days were numbered. His supply
situation grew incresingly worse and Hitler began to over-rule his
tactical decisions.
Rommel, although severely lacking supplies
and equipment, held out in Tunisia and had the chance to defeat the
Allies, but was denied by the Italian High Command over-ruling his
proposed attack. One couldn`t help feeling a little
sorry for the
man at this time. He had shown himself a brilliant fighter in the desert;
three times he had escaped Montgomery`s efforts to surround his panzer
army; he had been consistently starved of supplies and equipment.1
There is no denying that Rommel was a dynamic factor in the North
African Campaign and if it was not for the fact that he received
insufficient supplies, I believe he would have won the Desert War.
1 F.W Winterbotham, The Ultra Secret page 101
Supplies
Diverted and Committed Troops
Intelligence in North Africa
Weapons In North Africa
Commanders and their tactics
High Command Disputes And Interference
Concluding thoughts on the North African Campaign
Back to the Start
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