Operation Crusader orders of battle

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 Army Corps

Italian XX Army Corps also known as Maneuver Army Corps (Corpo d'Armata di Manovra) commanded by 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)

Italian XXI Army Corps

Italian XXI Army 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 motorcycle and one armoured car companies
  4. ↑ 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
  5. ↑ One Cannone da 149/28, one 149L40 and one 152L37 groups
  6. ↑ Three Cannone da 105/28 groups
  7. ↑ Four Cannone da 149/35 A groups

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Farndale, pp. 165–8.
  2. ↑ Playfair, p. 158.
  3. ↑ Routledge, pp. 130–3, Table XX, p. 141
  4. ↑ "Order of Battle at Rats of Tobruk Tribute site". Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Montanari, Mario (1993). Le Operazioni in Africa Settentrionale Vol. II Tobruk - Parte Prima. Rome: Ufficio Storico, Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito. p. 321. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  6. ↑ F. dell'Uomo, R. di Rosa (1998). L'Esercito Italiano verso il 2000 - Vol. Secondo - Tomo II. Rome: SME - Ufficio Storico. p. 86.
  7. ↑ Bollettino dell'Archivio dell'Ufficio Storico N.II-3 e 4 2002. Rome: Ministero della Difesa - Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito - Ufficio Storico. 2002. p. 239. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  8. ↑ F. dell'Uomo, R. di Rosa (2001). L'Esercito Italiano verso il 2000 - Vol. Secondo - Tomo II. Rome: SME - Ufficio Storico. p. 204.

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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