Rommel checking a map with Tripoli Harbour in the background. Given the size of the map, it would appear he was already thinking of an advance towards Egypt! (HITM)
In 1940-41 no one fighting in the North African desert had any experience of mechanized warfare in the theatre. The Italian commander in Libya, Maresciallo Graziani, took inspiration for his advance into Egypt from Kitchener's campaign in the Sudan, while the British general O'Connor started his own offensive, which led to the destruction of Graziani's army and the conquest of the whole of Cyrenaica, as a limited counterattack intended to relieve the Italian pressure against Egypt. In early January 1941 Hitler, facing the threat of an Italian collapse in the region, decided to send a German blocking formation to help them, and this Germans force was the least experienced of any of the combattants. Their knowledge of the desert was limited to an inspection tour of a few days by the inspector of armoured troops, General von Thoma, in October 1940 and to the
Knowledge of General Kirchheim, who served in the German central Africa colonies during World War I. Rommel, who was eventually chosen by
Hitler to lead the Afrikakorps, possessed few of the qualifications required for the job. Though successful, his term of command in charge of a Panzer division had been short, while he had fought the Italians during World War I.1 He had also not done much to win sympathy among the German officer community. Instead his methods of command had come in
It is worth noting that many of the traditions of the Afrikakorps were derived from the German Alpenkorps of World War I. Rommel did not inform the Italians of this.
World History
