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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

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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

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

XXX Corps

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Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie

XIII Corps

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

Tobruk Fortress

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Major-General Ronald Scobie

Oasis Force

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Brigadier Denys Reid

Army Reserve

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German and Italian forces

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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)

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Lieutenant-General Gastone Gambara

Panzer Group Africa

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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[h]

Italian XXI Corps

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Italian XXI Corps commanded by Lieutenant-General Enea Navarini

Notes

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  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

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  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.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • 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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