Showing posts with label In Libya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label In Libya. Show all posts

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Rommel with Artillerie-Regiment 33


German armored personnel carriers parked in the North African desert in June 1942, near Tobruk. The first halftrack on the right is a communication vehicle (leichter Funkpanzerwagen) Sd.Kfz. 250/3 "Greif" (WH number 937035), which served as a light command headquarters of Generaloberst Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Panzerarmee "Afrika"). "Greif" is equipped with two radio stations: he large antenna belongs to a FuG 7 radio station with a range of up to 50 km. The smaller antenna is FuG 5 radio stations with a range of up to 5 km, which serves for communication between the machines within the unit. To the left of Rommel's command vehicle is an armored personnel carrier Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf.B. On the sides of the vehicle there is a design resembling a makeshift loop-type antenna and a large antenna, which suggests that this is also a communications vehicle (mittlerer Funkpanzerwagen) Sd. Kfz. 251/3 Ausf.B (possibly a field conversion of the usual Sd. Kfz. 251/1 into Sd. Kfz. 251/3). The last armored personnel carrier on the left is Sd. Kfz. 251/1 Ausf.S. The officer holding the map who chats with Rommel is Oberst Eduard Crasemann (Kommandeur Artillerie-Regiment 33 [motorisiert]). The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Albrecht Heinrich Otto of PK (Propaganda-Kompanie) "Afrika".

Source :
https://en.topwar.ru/135723-rommel-v-afrike.html
https://waralbum.ru/217895/

Sunday, October 23, 2022

Rommel Interviewed After the Capture of Tobruk


Generaloberst Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Panzerarmee "Afrika") chattered away while being interviewed by Kriegsberichter Lutz Koch, who held a Beyer M 19b microphone close to his mouth, while the bildberichter behind them was busy recording moving images with an Arriflex 35mm camera. Behind Rommel can be seen a radio operator busy working using the AEG magnetophone "Tonschreiber d (Dora)" - which is the world's first portable magnetophone (magnetic recorder) - in a Horch Typ 40 mittlerer geländegängiger Personenkraftwagen (m.gl.Pkw) Kfz 15 vehicle. This photo was taken on June 22, 1942 when German troops had just captured Tobruk from the Allies. This coastal city in Libya has a very strategic role in the battles of North Africa, and its control makes the German people lulled in euphoria: the occupation of Egypt is only a matter of time, and after that is the unification of German troops from Russia and Africa in the Caucasus! This interview was broadcast live to Germany, and was heard by many, including Adolf Hitler and his associates. That same day the Führer - overwhelmed with joy - decided to give his favorite general an extraordinary promotion, from Generaloberst (Colonel-General) to Generalfeldmarschall (Fieldmarshal), a five-star rank with no official retirement!



Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2015/05/foto-wawancara-tokoh-third-reich-dengan.html

Rommel Flanked with Two Italian Officers in Tripoili


Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel (Kommandierender General Deutsches Afrikakorps) in Tripoli soon after his arrival in northern Africa. Before being appointed as Afrikakorps commander, he had commanded the 7. Panzer-Division. In 1940 he crossed the fortifications in southern Belgium across the Ardennes and then he fought in France.

Source :
NARA - 242-EAPC
"Deutsche Afrikakorps (1941-1943)" by Ricardo Recio Cardona

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Rommel's Visit to Italian Pavia Division


The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Ernst Alexander Zwilling (Propaganda-Kompanie Luftwaffe 7) on 12 February 1942, and it shows Generaloberst Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Panzerarmee "Afrika") with German and Italian officers, during his visit to the headquarters of Italian 17° Divisione Autotrasportabile "Pavia" (17th Motorised Division "Pavia") in El Agheila. In this occasion Rommel took the opportunity to talk to his Italian allies about the upcoming operational plans. This picture is also available in the book "Rommel's Italian Generals in North Africa" by Dr. Libro Di Zinno and Rudy D'Angelo, page 26. There the authors identify the individual as Generale di Brigata Michelangelo Nicolini, commander of the army artillery. He was in several pictures with Rommel. Unfortunately, Nicolini is one general the authors have noted in several other pictures as mis-identified. This greater focus on Nicolini could imply a better level of research, but that is only speculation. Most possible ID is Generale di Brigata Antonio Franceschini, commander of Pavia Division. On the photo it says Falzoni, it could have been a garbled version of Falconi and the officer Enzo Falconi. Only problem is that he was a colonel at the time and commander of the artillery regiment in the Ariete division. It is the only name and rank that comes close with the writing. For the German officers identification (apart from Rommel): fourth from right is Major Friedrich-Wilhelm von Mellenthin (Ic im Generalstab Panzerarmee "Afrika"). On his right is Oberleutnant Diekmann, Rommel's aide.






Source :
"Rommel's Italian Generals in North Africa 1941-1943" by Dr. Libro Di Zinno and Rudy D'Angelo
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1982-0927-503,_Bei_El_Agheila,_Rommel_bei_italienischer_Division.jpg
https://www.ebay.de/itm/165715607163?hash=item26956b7e7b:g:EcEAAOSwroZjQX9O&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAkKGWZ%2FV0JYl6oJJMZZHEYs4HVsIW4FUrvDC0b1A%2Fq451cb593QTvf%2BRp6xl1luCrxyITWryw3J6r8QiaGIIb5pee4uv62X00WEvwfUIG%2BmySmXhV9oEWqLA%2Ff8%2Fh%2BdFAUgYmztz3Jp806dFikqbBiKkcnXSuAhU7sweiWDNEidOzU44PrZ5MHxmQJ7fTO7nsnA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9b7tpv7YA
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=2435229#p2435229

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Rommel Visiting the Sollum Front

 

 
Together with his staff officers, on 2 July 1941 General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel (left, Kommandierender General Deutsches Afrikakorps) made a visit to the headquarters of I.Bataillon / Schützen-Regiment 104 / 15.Panzer-Division in the Sollum front, which is on the border Libya-Egypt. During this visit, in particular "Der Wüstenfuchs" (The Desert Fox) congratulated the commander of the battalion, Hauptmann der Reserve Wilhelm Bech (walking at the forefront with Rommel), who in the battle a month earlier managed to withstand the British tank forces who were trying to break through the Halfaya Pass in order to free their comrades who were besieged in Tobruk, in a mass attack codenamed Operation Battleaxe (15-17 June 1941). For three full days Bach and his men endured wave after wave of enemy tank attacks, with only a platoon of Flak 88 cannons as their main weapon. Although Rommel himself had ordered the Bataillonskommandeur to retreat to a more adequate defensive location "if possible", Bach interpreted his commander's last words in the opposite direction: a counterattack that succeeded in repelling the British troops! For this phenomenal achievement, Bach - who is a former priest (!) - was awarded the prestigious Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on July 9, 1941, just a week after this photo was taken. The Flak 88 itself was originally an anti-aircraft gun, but it can be just as good when it comes to hitting tank targets on the ground. BTW, in April 1941 - which was only one month after Rommel arrived in North Africa - German forces managed to defeat the invading British army and driven it out of Libya, except for one stubborn ANZAC garrison which remained in the port city of Tobruk (despite being besieged by a combined force of Italian and German Afrikakorps). Over the next year, the re-capture of Tobruk became Rommel's biggest obsession, because without it all German efforts to conquer Egypt would be vulnerable. When the port city was finally occupied in June 1942, a grateful Hitler rewarded Rommel with an extraordinary promotion to Generalfeldmarschall.




Source :
https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en/search?filter_group=all&filter_region=GBR&filter_text=Erwin%20Rommel

Rommel and Erwin Menny

General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel (Kommandierender General Deutsches Afrikakorps) directs the movements of his force with Oberst Erwin...