Das Afrika Korps

Action-packed history of the Germans in Africa in World War II. One of the most famous military units of all time under one of the best commanders. The early campaigns in the Western Desert, Tobruk, El Alamein, and more.

The Afrika Korps in action at Hill 208, southwest of Fort Capuzzo --Book Jacket.

Well adapted to its environment and with its passionate sense of self-identity, the Afrika Korps was a smooth-functioning and military-efficient fighting force. Since it had the social characteristics of a well-ordered family, Ronald Lewin has written this book as a biography. The author's grasp of his subject and his great skill in describing it make a gripping narrative.

Traces the life and career of the successful German officer from his childhood in Southern Germany to his victories in North Africa in 1941

In 1940 a British offensive in the Western Desert provoked a major Italian military disaster. By early February 1941 the whole of Cyrenaica had been lost, and German help became necessary to avoid the loss of all of Libya. On 14 February 1941 the first echelons of German troops hurriedly arrived at the port of Tripoli, starting the 27-month German engagement in Northern Africa. This book covers the complex and oft-changing organisation and structure of German forces in North Africa from their first deployment through to the conclusion of the battle of El Alamein, an engagement that irrevocably changed the strategic situation in the Western Desert.

Describes the Desert Fox's preparation for military greatness, his rise to prominence, and his early campaigns in AfricaRecounts the first battles of Germany's notorious Afrika KorpsGen. Erwin Rommel arrived in Africa's Western Desert in February 1941 to head the elite German Afrika Korps in its efforts to bolster its battered Italian allies. Disobeying orders to remain on the defensive, Rommel attacked, nearly pushed the numerically superior British out of Libya, and besieged the critical port of Tobruk. Unable to capture it, Rommel's forces defeated two British attempts to relieve the garrison before being forced to withdraw at the end of 1941. Seasoned by months of desert warfare, Rommel stood ready to achieve his greatest successes in 1942, a story told in Rommel's Desert War (978-0-8117-3413-4).