As the number of German armed forces committed to the North Africa Campaign of World War II grew from the initial commitment of a small corps the Germans developed a more elaborate command structure and placed the now larger Afrika Korps, with Italian units under this new German command structure, a succession of different German commands were created to manage the Axis assets in Africa:
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When the Afrika Korps was formed on 11 January 1941 it was officially subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa. In the middle of 1941 the German Armed Forces High Command (German acronym OKW) created a larger command structure in Africa, forming a new headquarters called Panzer Group Africa (Panzergruppe Afrika). On 15 August 1941, Panzer Group Africa was activated with newly promoted Lieutenant-General (General der Panzertruppe) Erwin Rommel in command. The Panzer Group controlled the Afrika Korps plus some additional units that were sent to Africa (notably the 90th Light Infantry Division), as well as two Italian corps, X and XX.
Panzer Group Africa was redesignated as Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika) on 30 January 1942.[1]
Panzer Army Africa was redesignated as German-Italian Panzer Army (Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee) in October 1942 during the long retreat after the defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign.
In February 1943, the headquarters was upgraded to Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika) to manage the defense of Tunisia during the final stages of the North African Campaign, its combat units—including the Afrika Korps—were turned over to the Italian 1st Army. Command of the Army Group was turned over to Hans-Jürgen von Arnim in March. Army Group Africa included the German Fifth Panzer Army (5. Panzerarmee) in addition to the Italian 1st Army. von Arnim surrendered the Army Group on 13 May 1943, ending the Axis presence in Africa.
Throughout its existence, this headquarters controlled the well-known Afrika Korps, and for most of its life it controlled a number of other German and Italian units as well.[2] The following overview of its assets is taken from lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de, with dates corrected (see references).
Panzer Group Africa (Rommel)
Panzer Army Africa (Rommel)
German-Italian Panzer Army (Rommel)
From February 1943:
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