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Afrika Korps
Sign in to saveAlso known as German Africa Corps, DAK, Afrikakorps, Deutsches Afrikakorps
German expeditionary force in Africa during World War II
The Afrika Korps was a German military force sent to North Africa during World War II to support Italy's failing campaign against British forces in the region. It matters as a significant theater of the war where German general Erwin Rommel earned his reputation as a skilled commander, though ultimately the Axis forces were defeated and pushed out of Africa by 1943.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Active
- 21 February 1941 – 13 May 1943
- Country
- Nazi Germany
- Branch
- German Army
- Type
- Expeditionary forces
- Role
- Desert warfare , Expeditionary warfare
- Size
- Corps , June 1941 :, 33,500 men in total
- Garrison hq
- Tripoli , Italian Libya
- Notable commanders
- Erwin Rommel , Ludwig Crüwell , Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma , Walther Nehring
via Wikipedia infobox
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The German Africa Corps (German: Deutsches Afrikakorps, pronounced [ˈdɔʏtʃəs ˈʔaːfʁikaˌkoːɐ̯] ; DAK), commonly known as Afrika Korps, was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, whose reputation as one of the ablest tank commanders of the war earned him the nickname "the Desert Fox" (der Wüstenfuchs).
History
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Afrika Korps” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.