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Panzer Army Africa

German-Italian field army in North Africa during WWII

Summary

German-Italian field army in North Africa during WWII

Field	Value
unit_name	Panzer Army Africa
native_name

dates	15 August 1941 – 13 May 1943
country	Nazi Germany
Kingdom of Italy
branch	[[File:Heer - decal for helmet 1942.svg	16px]] Heer ([[File:Balkenkreuz.svg	16px]] Wehrmacht)

type	Infantry
Panzer
size	Field army
battles
command_structure	Comando Supremo
Oberbefehlshaber Süd
notable_commanders	Erwin Rommel
Georg Stumme
Giovanni Messe
Hans-Jürgen von Arnim

Kingdom of Italy

Panzer

North African campaign
- Western Desert campaign
- Tunisian campaign Oberbefehlshaber Süd Georg Stumme Giovanni Messe Hans-Jürgen von Arnim}} The Panzer Army Africa (German: Panzerarmee Afrika; Italian: Gruppo Corazzato Africa) was a joint German-Italian field army that fought in the North African campaign during World War II. It consisted of one German corps and three Italian corps. In 1943, during the Tunisian campaign, the Panzerarmee Afrika 's name was changed to Army Group Africa, and its composition became the newly-formed German 5th Army plus the Italian 1st Army. During the campaigns in North Africa, the Panzerarmee Afrika was subordinate to the Italian command and to German command headquarters in the Mediterranean.

History

Panzer Group Africa

When the Afrikakorps was formed on 11 January 1941 it was subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa. In the middle of 1941 the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, Armed Forces High Command) created a larger command structure in Africa, forming a new headquarters, Panzer Group Africa (Panzergruppe Afrika, Gruppo Corazzato Africa). On 15 August 1941, Panzer Group Africa was activated with newly promoted General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel in command. The Panzer Group controlled the Afrikakorps and other units that were sent to North Africa.

Panzer Army Africa

Panzer Group Africa was renamed Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika, Armata Corazzata Africa) on 30 January 1942. (A German Panzer group was an army-level headquarters. As the war progressed all of the Panzer groups were renamed Panzer Armies.)

German-Italian Panzer Army

Panzer Army Africa was renamed German-Italian Panzer Army (Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee, Armata Corazzata Italo-Tedesca) and subordinated to the Comando Supremo and to the Oberbefehlshaber Süd in October 1942 during the long retreat after the defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign.

Army Group Africa

In February 1943, the headquarters was expanded and called Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika, Gruppo d'Armate Africa) to manage the defence of Tunisia during the final stages of the North African Campaign. Army Group Africa included the German Fifth Panzer Army (5. Panzerarmee) under General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim and the Italian 1st Army under General Giovanni Messe. Command of the Army Group was turned over from Rommel to General von Arnim in March. Both General von Arnim and Messe surrendered on May 1943, and the Army Group Africa was disbanded. Thus, ending the Axis presence in Africa.

Order of battle

Panzer Group Africa

During the Western Desert Campaign (in 1941):
- Deutsches Afrika Korps
- Italian XX Army Corps
- Italian XXI Army Corps

Panzer Army Africa

During the Western Desert Campaign (in 1942):
- Deutsches Afrika Korps
- Italian XX Army Corps
- Italian XXI Army Corps
- Italian X Army Corps

Army Group Africa

During the Tunisian Campaign (in 1943):
- German Fifth Army
- Italian First Army

Commanders

| {{Officeholder table

Footnotes

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

north-african-campaign western-desert-campaign german-units-in-africa field-armies-of-italy-in-world-war-ii panzer-armies-of-germany-in-world-war-ii military-units-and-formations-established-in-1941 military-units-and-formations-disestablished-in-1943 army-groups-of-the-german-army-in-world-war-ii

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