The early battles were fought using some very humble machines. The North African desert campaign was, in many respects, the ideal battlefield for tanks. But the desert was to prove a harsh mistress offering the tantalising promise of success only to withdraw its promise just at the point where victory seemed within reach. In turn, the Italians, then the British and Germans, and finally the Americans, would each experience the thrill of conquest followed by an unexpected defeat. The first to experience the roller-coaster ride of the ebbs and flows of tank warfare in the desert were the Italians.
Italian tanks were no match for the British tanks and tactics, and in consequence the British Army enjoyed great success against the Italians. In particular, the Italian light tanks were so ineffective as to prove almost comical. But even the British medium tanks had their limitations.
In contrast to the Italian tanks, the British Matilda tank was very slow, but effective. It was the Matilda’s ability to absorb punishment that earned it the nickname ‘Queen of the battlefield’. The unmistakable squat shape of the Matilda fought throughout the desert campaign. Many captured Matildas were even used by the Germans against their former owners.
While the Matilda took on the job of supporting the infantry, the armoured punch of the British tank brigade was provided by the Crusader tanks. It was their job to engage enemy tanks.
By February 1941 O’Connor was eagerly preparing to advance on Tripoli to eliminate Axis forces in Africa completely, but Churchill decided that O’Connor’s battle-hardened divisions should be dispatched urgently to Greece.
The British success was so swift and comprehensive that the campaign was nearly over when Hitler at last decided to help his Italian Allies. German forces entered the campaign in February 1941 and their tactics, leadership and superior weaponry immediately changed the status quo in the desert.
The Afrika Korps typified all that was innovative in the German war machine. In its brief history, of just two years and three months, the Afrika Korps stung the allied forces into a massive war of attrition and won for itself an honourable mention in the annals of military history.
The deadly ‘88’ in action during the early stages of the North African campaign. These guns were to prove the most feared anti-tank weapons of the war.
In 1940 the Wehrmacht was singularly ill-equipped for battle beneath the relentless sun of North Africa. German military formations were created for European conditions. They did not possess even one unit specifically trained for fighting in desert conditions. By contrast the British had years of desert experience dating back to before the First World War. In fact, the British had been active in North Africa since the days of Napoleon and maintained a permanent presence in Egypt.
Desperate to keep his Axis partner in the war, in January 1941 Hitler signed Führer Directive Number 22, code-named Operation Sonnenblume, or sunflower. It authorised the transport of a small German force to Tripoli to assist the Italians in blocking further British advances.
On February 14th units of Germany’s newly created Afrika Korps began to land in Tripoli. These new arrivals were already seasoned warriors and they brought with them impressive modern weaponry. They were commanded by one of Germany’s most able and imaginative practitioners of tank warfare. General Erwin Rommel. Rommel was an aggressive commander who exploited any weaknesses in his enemy to the full. With a series of brilliantly executed battle plans Rommel earned the title ‘The Desert Fox’. He was held in awe by his enemies.
The Matilda and the obsolete A9 Cruiser tanks now had to face German machines with better armaments, better armour and better speed and range. The British now had to contend with the Panzer II, Ill and IV.
The Afrika Korps was, as its name suggested, only a corps in size, but it was a relatively small corps with only two Panzer Divisions. The second ‘Panzer Division’ did not even arrive until May 1941. In reality the first unit was a light division, (the 5th light division).
The Desert War has often been described as the last example of a chivalrous war; nevertheless, it was a hard-fought affair.
By a series of lightning armoured reconnaissance probes, Rommel quickly established that the strength of the allied forces ranged against him had been overestimated. He was faced by the Second Army division, newly arrived from Britain, and not yet acclimatised to desert conditions. The second British armoured division consisted of one weakened armoured brigade already short of transport and with worn-out tanks. They were supported by a similarly weakened 9th Australian Division. A third British formation was held in reserve in Tobruk. These forces were under the command of General Wavell.
Wavell had been siphoning off forces for Crete and then Greece since January 1941, so when the Afrika Korps finally struck in March 1941 there was a very, very thin screen facing Rommel and his new force.
The British who had swept the Italians back were now at the end of an enormously long logistical chain; essentially, they could not support, from Egypt, the number of troops who were now in the far western desert.
The Germans had trained and developed the ideas of mobile and manoeuvrable warfare to a fine pitch during the Polish and French Campaigns which meant that the Afrika Korps was a well balanced armed force, able to traverse almost any terrain and fight almost any opponent.
As Rommel began his attacks in Cyrenaica it became abundantly clear he possessed an advantage in the quality of his weaponry. Against the British total of 22 cruiser and 25 light tanks, the 5th Panzer Regiment fielded 150 tanks - and nearly half of those were the superior Mark III and IVs. In addition, Rommel already possessed a few 88mm anti-aircraft guns, which he would use to such devastating effect as his principal anti-tank gun.
Where the British tended to use their tanks independently of their other arms, the Germans developed a very close coordination between their tanks and tank artillery and infantry. This made them a much tougher proposition in the desert battles.
Vital to Rommel’s tactical success was his continued use of the bait technique, where his tanks would first attempt the allied tanks with a frontal probe. When the allied tanks then charged towards the Panzers, the German tanks would fall back behind their screen of 88mm guns which, with a greater range, could then open up with decisive killing shots on the advancing armour. This was a technique he used again and again, and it was something the British never seemed to be able to counter.