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Chapter 1
German Intervention in North Africa
Britain’s naval bases at Gibraltar and Egypt had long rankled the Italians as maritime manacles ‘imprisoning’ them within the confines of the Mediterranean. Rome yearned for the ancient ideal – mare nostrum (our sea) – rather than an ‘Italian lake' constricted by small British-controlled outlets at either end.Thus, in order to gain ‘free access to the oceans’, Mussolini planned to conquer Egypt – part of a grander vision for a new Roman Empire stretching from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. Foreshadowing his expansion across the Middle East, during a visit to Libya in March 1937 Mussolini declared himself the ‘Protector of Islam’. For many Arabs, however, Italy merely represented another hungry imperialist power rather than a path to independence.
During his March 1937 visit to Libya, an Italian colony since 1911, Mussolini inaugurated a new coastal road: the Litoranea Balbo, later dubbed the Via Balbia, which stretched some 1,300 miles (2,090km) between the Tunisia and Egyptian frontiers.
The strategic carriageway was vital for the growth of his North African colony and the future movement of troops in times of war.
Marshal Rodolfo Graziani’s invasion of Egypt on 13 September 1940 paused after three days, having advanced a mere 65 miles across worthless desert to Sidi Barrani, some 300 miles (480km) short of Cairo. Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor’s counter-offensive, Operation Compass, was launched three months later on 9 December 1940. Unfolding into a brilliant campaign that decimated the Italian Tenth Army, O’Connor advanced 650 miles (1,050km) and captured 130,000 Italian troops. ‘I think this may be termed a complete victory as none of the enemy escaped,’ he later noted.Yet the opportunity to push on to Tripoli and rout the Italian threat slipped through Britain’s fingers as Churchill withdrew forces to fight the Germans in Greece. O’Connor later blamed himself, declaring that ‘it was quite inexcusable’.
Wehrmacht materiel bound for Libya was transported by train through the Brenner Pass to southern Italian ports for passage across the Mediterranean to Tripoli. Inter-service conflict arose over the transport of vehicles and men – Germany’s Heer (army) wanted to jointly load vessels together to ensure units were ready to move out upon disembarkation; the Kriegsmarine argued that more men would be lost if slower vessels carrying vehicles were sunk. As it eventuated, vehicles and equipment were separated after the loss of several transports.
Loading a Mittlerer Zugkraftwagen 8-ton (Sd. Kfz. 7) halftrack.Although fully motorised, the first German vehicles rushed to Africa were designed to operate under European conditions. Lacking the appropriate air filters and lubricants, many vehicles succumbed to the brutal desert conditions. Due to their hasty departure, the first vehicles unloaded in Tripoli retained their Dunkelgrau RAL 7021 colour scheme. Curiously, a British intelligence report later noted German tanks ‘painted black, evidently to aid their anti-tank gunners in quick daytime identifications while also serving as night camouflage’.
En route to Africa aboard a fast passenger liner. Note the Spica class torpedo boats at anchor. Of the thirty vessels of this class built for the Regia Marina (Royal [Italian] Navy), twenty-three were lost in the war. Despite a chronic fuel oil shortage, the Regia Marina made a substantial contribution to the maintenance of Rommel’s maritime supply lines.
Pensive passengers.The Mediterranean crossing grew increasingly hazardous for Axis convoys ferrying troops and materiel to Libya.Two Italian liners turned troopships (MS Oceania and Neptunia), for example, were sunk in a heavily armed convoy by the British submarine Upholder on 18 September 1941, some 60 miles (97km) off Tripoli. British submarines sunk forty-nine Axis troop/supply ships in the period from June to September 1941 alone.
On the lookout for enemy aircraft with Maschinengewehr 34, or MG 34 machine gun on a tripod anti-aircraft mount. British aircraft and submarines operating out of Malta Axis convoys took an increasing toll.Whereas 16 per cent of Axis cargo was lost between June to October 1941, in November 1941 this figure jumped to 62 per cent, further compounding Rommel’s chronic supply shortage. Plans for an Axis invasion of Malta, dubbed Operation Hercules, were abandoned after Rommel’s 1942 conquest of Tobruk.
Siegfried Westphal:‘Unloading in the harbour at Tripoli was continuous throughout the sunny days of February, not only by day, but also, despite the danger of air attack, by the light of searchlights at night.’
A Sd.Kfz. 265 kleiner Panzerbefehlswagen from the 5th Panzer Regiment, 5th Light Division, is lowered onto the Tripoli docks in March 1941. Note the symbol of the 3rd Panzer Division still visible on the superstructure.
Leutnant Joachim Schorm’s (5th Panzer Regiment) diary entry for 12 March 1941: ‘1400 hours.We move to the town and take up our position in the parade … At 1800 hours, the panzers rumble through the port along the Via Balbia towards the east.All night long we are greeted by soldiers, settlers and natives ...’
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