Introduction
Afrikakorps at War 1941–43 from Casemate Publishers is part of their series Casemate Illustrated Special. Authored by the late George Forty - former RAC Tank Museum at Bovington curator - and son Simon Forty, this 8 x 10 inch hardcover book offers 256 glossy pages and 350 photographs. It is catalogued as ISBN 9781636246352 and retails at $45. It was released on May 1st.
Modelers should find a wealth of source material for research and inspiration for their next model. Like the "chicken or the egg" causality dilemma, the photographic content inspires me to model scenes and objects from this book, plus read more about what is covered in the content.
Legend and mystique surround Afrikakorps and the North African war. Much of the fame is due to the legendary Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, with whom the Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) is indelibly linked. While his generalship has been examined and critiqued, deconstructed and revived over the decades, one cannot gloss over his impact on the Allied psyche as revealed by the thoughts of Winston Churchill when he stated, “Rommel, Rommel, Rommel, Rommel, what else matters but beating him?”
Casemate writes of this work:
Richly illustrated, this completely revised edition of George Forty’s classic work provides an eyewitness account of what it was like to fight and survive in the desert, examines the importance of intelligence and codebreaking, and reassesses Rommel’s reputation as a battlefield commander.
Casemate's description of their Illustrated Special series is:
These editions provide an expanded look at important tanks, ships, aircraft and weapons with stunning visuals and detailed graphics.
I have never seen Mr. Forty's original edition although I possess other books about the DAK, including a couple of "in color" titles. Claims of "rare photos" I did not notice in this book or advertisements. That description sometimes engenders controversy and I will let you subject matter experts fight it out as to the validity of any such claim, although considering Mr. Forty's credentials, I give the bona fides the benefit of the doubt.
This book is a good primer for those who are new to the history of DAK, or looking to build upon their previous study of the legendary fighting force. Read along and decide for yourself.
Content
Afrikakorps at War 1941-43 is told through 256 pages divided into 12 chapters, excluding front and back material.
Foreword
Timeline
Introduction
The Jerries are Coming
Organisation, Equipment and Tactics
The Desert Fox
Rommel Strikes
Desert Living
Duels in the Sun
Rommel Strikes Back
Supply
Wings Over the Desert
The Tide Turns
The End in Africa
The Dead and the Living
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index
As seen above, this publication covers variety of subjects. There are titles focusing on specific DAK subjects, some comprehensive. A quick internet search states that books about the Afrika Korps average 250-300 pages, including mainly text block publications. (I have a few.) Being an Illustrated Special the subjects and topics are condensed and concise. Regardless, I find them interesting and very informative. Several subjects are also new to me, or barely discussed in my experience.
A page of useful abbreviations and glossary terms proceeds the Forward. Timeline is smartly paired with maps customized for the specific epoch. One aspect of this book I appreciate is the use of first-person narratives. I did not count the pages or paragraphs and yet probably a quarter to a third of the content are narratives, i.e., most of the six pages of The Desert Battlefield in the Introduction feature first-person narratives, including a Luftwaffe war reporter's account of flying through a ghibili (sandstorm), and conditions on the ground. Two pages present an account A Parachute Action by Hans Teske, a member of the Ramcke Parachute Brigade; this action includes the event in which Oberstleutnant Koch personally intervened to stop a Gestapo colonel from executing British paratrooper POWs of a Lt. Buchanan.
Many callouts support the text, to name a few:
- The Arab World and Nazism
- Opposing armor at El Alamein (numbers of each type of tank)
- Food in the Desert
- Report From An Escaped British Officer
- Marching Songs
- Food in the Desert
- Feldpost (mail)
- Tins of "Alter Mann", German field ration cans
- Lilli Marene
- Repair and Maintenance
- Reinforcements.
Organisation, Equipment and Tactics presents a 42-page overview which begins with clarifying just who, and what, the Afrikakorps was, as the DAK was a small part of Rommel's command. A selection of topics in this chapter include:
- Commanders of the Deutsches Afrikakorps
- Symbols (vehicular)
- Insignia
- Panzer Divisions
- Panzer Availability (tables)
- Weapons Ranges (table)
- Marder
- Minefields (drawings and text from U.S. War Department Information Bulletin No. 124 German Minefields at Alamein)
- Tactics
- Clothing
- Comparison of British/German Armour and Anti-Armour Capabilities (table)
- Guns versus tanks (table)
With such a multitude of sections, subjects and topics I only offer those examples, as it would be difficult to address every interesting part without asking you to spend an hour reading this review. One part I find remarkable is the short chapter Wings Over the Desert. There are numerous books about the Luftwaffe over North Africa, and many DAK books mention air support, yet integrating these stories are unusual in my experience, and create a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.
Photographs, Artwork and Graphics
Modelers rejoice! Despite being and illustrated special there are a couple of pages without images. No worry, the rest of the book is full of images. These include photographs, reproductions of artwork by DAK soldiers, obviously photographs - both color (probably Agfacolor) and black-and-white - data and informational tables, and maps. Photo quality spans the gamut from studio quality to amateur "grab shots", and some images appear to be reproduced from magazines and news reels. Whether any of the photos are "rare" I can't say but I will state that I have not seen most of them before. None appear to be from reenactors or reproductions. Each image is accompanied with a caption of varying detail, some being expositional paragraphs in their own right. You will see what I mean in the images, below. One of the most remarkable color photos shows a camouflaged command car in scrub at the division of a soil horizon - the dirt to the left is bright light colored sand with little vegetation, while the ground to the right is reddish brown and overgrown. Some other photos I find particularly interesting are:
Matlida panzerturm bunker.
Loading a motorcycle and sidecar into a Ju 52.
Added camouflage to captured British command vehicle (color).
Panzer tracks in firm soil, the tread shape creating a waffle pattern effect.
Filling Jeerrycans from a bowser, showing rust and other weathering (color).
Bright fresh wooden boxes unloaded from a Ju 52.
Using rafts and makeshift platform to unload a huge Bohlm & Voss BV 222.
Tent/dugout bivouac with Pzr II.
Pzr IV sandbagged emplacement.
Halftrack camouflaged with brush in desert sand.
Unbelievably overladen sidecar.
Kettenkrad pulling several trailers.
PzKpfw III, the background desert horizon just above the hull, cloudy sky above, showing almost perfect desert camouflage paint (color).
An 88, panzer, Kubelwagen and SdKfz 7 staging.
Line of Marders (color).
SdKfz 10s with FlaK 30s driving at speed.
Lager of AFVs behind wire.
Color photo of three shiny new Ford G398TSs in three distinct unique camouflage colors and patterns, on a dock, with several DAK soldiers in a variety of uniforms. This image shows to excellent effect the variety of colors on DAK vehicles.
Trio of DAK soldiers cooking amongst palms, revealing uniform and skin tone colors, and ground scatter (color).
Color photo of a funeral showing three dozen DAK soldiers and the riot of different uniform colors.
I noted a caption typo identifying PzKpfw IIs as PzKpfw IIIs.
Illustrations
Rommel's System of Field Fortifications: 3-page callout showing 10 examples, including six illustrations.
Tables and Graphs
1. Commanders of the Deutsches Afrikakorps: nine COs, nine dates, nine reasons for change.
2. Gun verses armor tables - you have no doubt seen dozens of them. On page 53 we find bar graphs illustrating the armor penetration performance of six Axis and seven Allied guns (by ammo type and tanks so equipped) common in the desert, depicted as a projectile poking into a slab of armor, by:
- Armor thickness
- Ranges 500, 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 yards.
3. Guns verses tanks. This is a complex chart illustrating which weapon could threaten the listed tanks, at 100-yard range increments from 0-2,500 yards and 3,000 yards. Illustrated are (only with a Tiger, Sherman, and PaK 38 profiles) the ranges by a particular tank that the front and side of the following could be penetrated, the targets being:
- Pzr III
- Pzr III Special
- Pzr IV and IV Special
- M3 Grant
- M4 Sherman
- Crusader II/III.
The shooting tanks and anti-tank guns are:
- Crusader II-III
- Churchill IV
- Sherman
- Stuarts
- Grant
- Vaklentine I-IX
- 2pdr
- 6pdr I-IV
- 25pdr
- 37mm PaK
- 50mm PaK
- 75mm PaK
- 88
- 76.2mm Russian
- Pzr III and Pzr III Special
- Pzr IV and Pzr IV Special
- Tiger
4. Panzer Availability: different tank types on particular days for:
- Panzerregiment 5
- Panzerregiment 8
- Panzerregiment 5 Operational Panzers
5. Claims and Losses May-June 1942
6. Tank kills claimed by the DAK
7. Weapons Ranges: thousands of yards for 13 British, 11 German and 7 Italian mortars, guns and howitzers, and rockets.
8. Italian Supply Traffic to Africa: shipped; unloaded; sunk.
9. German-Italian Tank Strength during El Alamein (The Rommel Papers)
Maps
1. Four color maps paired with the timelines:
a. Italy declaring war on Britain & France through Halfaya Pass.
b. Operation battleaxe - German surrender of Sollum and Halfaya.
c. Rommel's second offensive - General Montgomery takes command of Eight Army.
d. DAK final offensive towards Egypt - Axis surrender in Africa,
2. Battle of Mechili.
3. German tank attacks on Tobruk.
4. Operation Battleaxe.
5. Battle of Gazala.
6. Second Battle of Gazala.
7. Axis pursuit of the routed British after Gazala.
8. Rommel's intended attack towards the Suez Canal.
9. Battle of Alam Halfa.
10. 10./Panzergrenadier-Regiment 104 movements, August-October 1942.
11. Second Battle of El Alamein.
12. Reach of the Desert Air Force.
13. Operation Torch
14. Tiger operations by sPzAbt 501 and 504 in Tunisia, 1942-43.
15. Operations Fruhlingswind and Morgenluft.
Whether you model what you study, or study what you model, I think this book offers an excellent visual component.
Conclusion
When Casemate announced Afrikakorps at War 1941–43 I pre-ordered it immediately, and consider it as a remarkable product for modelers and enthusiasts of Afrikakorps, the desert war in general. The visual component is excellent. I appreciate maps for orientation. The breadth of subjects amazes me, as does the level of detail in the narrative. Primary sources - personal recollections, reports, diaries - adds credibility to the author's text. The couple of typos I spotted are disappointing but should not confuse readers with a basic knowledge of the subjects.
You probably know what is coming - a hardy recommendation for this book.
Thanks to Casemate for sending a copy of this book for review. Please remember to mention to Casemate and retailers that you saw this product here - on Armorama.