Operation_Crusader_order_of_battle

Operation Crusader orders of battle

Operation Crusader orders of battle

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This is the order of battle for the ground forces involved in Operation Crusader, a World War II battle between the British Commonwealth and the European Axis Powers of Germany and Italy in North Africa between 18 November – 30 December 1941.

British and Commonwealth Forces

Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command: General Claude Auchinleck

Senior British commanders during Operation Crusader
General Claude Auchinleck, theatre commander
Lt-General Alan Cunningham, commander Eight Army
Acting Lt-General Neil Ritchie, commander Eighth Army (seen in Europe in 1944)

British Eighth Army

Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham, succeeded on 26 November by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie when Auchinleck removed Cunningham from command of Eighth Army

XXX Corps

Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie

XIII Corps

Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen
Messervy giving orders, December 1941

Tobruk Fortress

Major-General Ronald Scobie

Oasis Force

Brigadier Denys Reid

Army Reserve

German and Italian forces

Ettore Bastico, Governor-General of Italian Libya and commander-in-chief of all Axis forces in North Africa. (seen in August 1942)

Supreme Commander North Africa: General Ettore Bastico

Italian XX Corps (Corpo d'Armata di Manovra - Mobile Corps)

Lieutenant-General Gastone Gambara

Panzer Group Africa

Panzer Group Africa commanded by General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel

German Afrika Korps (commanded by Generalleutnant Ludwig Crüwell)

  • 15th Panzer Division (Generalmajor Walter Neumann-Silkow until 6 December (killed in action), then Generalmajor Gustav von Vaerst)
    • 8th Panzer Regiment (2 bns)
    • 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment
    • 2nd Machine Gun Battalion
    • 3rd Engineers Battalion
    • 33rd Recon Battalion
    • 33rd Anti-tank Battalion
    • 33rd Artillery Regiment
  • 21st Panzer Division (Generalmajor Johann von Ravenstein until 29 November (prisoner of war), then Generalmajor Karl Böttcher)
    • 5th Panzer Regiment (2 bns)
    • 104th Infantry Regiment (2 bns)
    • 15th Motorcycle Battalion
    • 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion
    • 200th Engineers Battalion
    • 39th Anti-Tank Battalion
    • 605th Anti-Tank Battalion
    • 155th Artillery Regiment
  • Special Purpose Division Afrika (Renamed 90th Light Africa Division from 28 November 1941) (Generalmajor Max Sümmermann until 10 December (killed in action), then Generalmajor Richard Veith)
    • 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment
    • 155th Infantry Regiment (3 bns)
    • 3rd Battalion, 255th Infantry Regiment
    • 3rd Battalion, 347th Infantry Regiment
    • 361st Infantry Regiment (2 bns)
    • 900th Engineers Battalion
    • 580th Recon Battalion
    • Elements from the 300th "Oasis" Battalion
    • 2nd Battalion, 115th Motor Artillery Regiment
    • 2nd Motor Artillery Regiment (Italian)
  • 55th Infantry Division "Savona" (General Fedele de Giorgis)
    • 15th Infantry Regiment
    • 16th Infantry Regiment
    • "Genova Cavalleria" Machine Gun Battalion
    • 155th Machine Gun Battalion
    • Elements, from the 300th "Oasis" Battalion (German)
    • 12th Artillery Regiment[lower-alpha 8]

Italian XXI Corps

Italian XXI Corps commanded by Lieutenant-General Enea Navarini

Notes

  1. the "2" prefix indicated the unit was part of Second Australian Imperial Force and separate from similar named militia unit in Australia
  2. Naval Blackshirts crews
  3. Two 75L28 battalions
  4. One 75L28 battalion
  5. One Cannone da 105/28 battalion
  6. Two motorcycle and one armoured cars companies
  7. Two battalions with Cannone da 65/17 modello 13, one battery with Obice da 100/17 and one battery with 20 mm Breda 35 light AA/AT
  8. Two 75L28 and one 100L17 battalions
  9. One Obice da 100/17 and two 75L27 battalions
  10. Three Cannone da 105/28 battalions
  11. One Cannone da 149/28, one 149L40 and one 152L37 battalions
  12. Four Cannone da 149/35 A battalions
  13. Four 75L28 battalions
  14. One 75L28 and one Obice da 100/17 battalions
  15. Two 75L28 and one Obice da 100/17 battalions
  16. Two 75L28 battalions
  17. Two 75L28 and one Obice da 100/17 battalions

Footnotes

  1. [1]
    Farndale, pp. 165–8.
  2. [2]
    Playfair, p. 158.
  3. [3]
    Routledge, pp. 130–3, Table XX, p. 141
  4. [4]
    "Order of Battle at Rats of Tobruk Tribute site". Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Hinsley, Harry; Thomas, E. E.; Ransom, C. F. G.; Knight, R. C. (1981). British Intelligence in the Second World War: Its Influence on Strategy and Operations. History of the Second World War. Vol. II. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-24290-5.
  • Maughan, Barton (1966). Tobruk and El Alamein (PDF). Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Series 1 – Army. Vol. III (1st (online scan) ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 186193977.
  • McKinney, J. B. (1952). Medical Units of 2 NZEF in Middle East and Italy. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. Wellington: Historical Publications Branch (War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs). OCLC 35251107 – via New Zealand Electronic Text Collection.
  • Murphy, W. E. (1961). Fairbrother, Monty C. (ed.). The Relief of Tobruk. The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 (1st (online scan) ed.). Wellington, NZ: War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs. OCLC 563872639 – via New Zealand Electronic Text Collection.
  • Playfair, I. S. O.; Flynn, F. C.; Molony, C. J. C.; Gleave, T. P. (2004) [1960]. Butler, J. R. M. (ed.). The Mediterranean and Middle East: British Fortunes Reach their Lowest Ebb (September 1941 to September 1942). History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Vol. III (pbk. facs. repr. Naval & Military Press, Uckfield ed.). London: HMSO. ISBN 1-84574-067-X.
  • Schreiber, G.; Stegemann, B.; Vogel, D. (2015) [1995]. Falla, P. S. (ed.). The Mediterranean, South-East Europe and North Africa, 1939–1941: From Italy's Declaration of non-Belligerence to the Entry of the United States into the War. Germany and the Second World War. Vol. III. Translated by McMurry, D. S.; Osers, E.; Willmot, L. (2nd pbk. trans. Oxford University Press, Oxford ed.). Freiburg im Breisgau: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt. ISBN 978-0-19-873832-9.
  • Shores, C. F.; Massimello, G.; Guest, R. (2012). A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940–1945: North Africa June 1940 – January 1942. Vol. I. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-908117-07-6.
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