Rommel's Return to Afrika
November, 1945:
In complete disarray, the Allied forces beat a bloody and heartbreaking
retreat from northern Italy before the merciless onslaught of the combined Spanish/German armies. The British 8th army and the US IV Corps
under the command of General Mark Clark manage to slow and then finally stop
the axis advance at the fortified Gustav line in central Italy where they had
fought so hard to dislodge the Germans two years prior. Field Marshall Erwin
Rommel, from his command at OB West under von Rundstedt, grasped the import of
the situation and flew into action. Despite overwhelming air and naval
superiority in the Mediterranean and North Africa, the dark continent itself
would likely be held by rear echelon supply units, territorial forces, and
second string combat units. Furthermore,
Spanish successes in Morrocco were drawing what little real combat strength
that did exist in the western North
African theater. A bold strike now could
succeed and would give the German people (not to mention the Field Marshall
himself) what they needed most: a return
to the glory days of Rommel's lightning dash to Egypt and a sense that victory
just might not be just possible, but imminent. On December 1, 1945, the Field Marshall flew
to meet with German high command to lay out his plan and was given the green
light.
The glory-bedraped
21st Panzer Division was recalled from the meat grinder of the Eastern Front
where had been twice annihilated to be refitted and retrained in southern
Greece then transferred to Crete as the core of Panzerarmee Afrika or Neu DAK
as it has come to be called. The plan was simple: move fast, hit hard, and live
off the land. The vast Allied supply depots and staging grounds across North
Africa would provide plentiful resources for the initial operation of the army.
Allied naval and air superiority would seriously impede supply efforts in the
short term so this aspect of the plan was critical. Ammunition and spare parts
could be delivered under the radar via airlift, submarine, and the occasional
freighter but there was no way to guarantee the vast amount of food and fuel
the army would require. Ports and airfields were the first targets.
March 3, 1946:
Under cover of night and Luftwaffe jet fighters, armored
fighting vehicles and infantry of the Neu Deutsche Afrika Korps shipping from
Crete burst ashore at Tobruk and Gazala, overwhelming light, unprepared
resistance. Not waiting to consolidate his gains or wishing just yet for a 3rd
Alamein, Rommel pushed west with lightning speed to take Derna, then Benghazi,
then El Agheila, sewing up Cyrenaica. As
men and materiel continued to flow into Tobruk, 21 Panzer streaked west across
the Libyan desert to overrun Tripoli on April 1. The Allies frantically attempted
to rebuild the Mareth line but their
forces were too few and too late. The schwerpunkt of the 21st punched through at Gabes and pressed
west for Kasserine and north for Tunis.
Allied forces, in complete disarray fell back to Algeria.
The world was
stunned.
