Prequel

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.