Alamein: German Options
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
February 2014

Italian and German troops captured the fortress of Tobruk from its South African defenders on 21 July 1942. German dictator Adolf Hitler celebrated by promoting his commander in North Africa, Erwin Rommel, to field marshal. “I would rather he had given me one more division,” the Desert Fox supposedly remarked on hearing the news.

Rommel did get another division after the fall of Tobruk, but probably not the sort of reinforcement he had in mind. The 164th Infantry Division had been sent to the island of Crete in January 1942 and re-named Fortress Division Crete. The division's newly appointed commander, Lt. Gen. Carl-Hans Lungershausen, gathered the garrison's more combat-fit elements and began transport to Africa, leaving others behind to form Fortress Brigade Crete. Rommel also eventually received a regiment of the 22nd Air-Landing Division, also part of the Greek garrison.

Neither of these reinforcements was likely to smash their way into Cairo and Alexandria. When Rommel made his plaint, he more than likely hoped for a third first-line division: another panzer division or at least a motorized unit. While the newly rechristened 164th Light Africa Division officially was listed as a motorized division, it had not trained for that role nor did it have enough transport to live up to its title. Its troops had seen little combat during the campaigns in France and the Balkans. This was a garrison outfit.

Most of the German Army's strength was deployed on the Eastern Front for the massive operation known as Case Blue. The offensive had opened on 28 June and met with great success, drawing German, Italian, Romanian and Hungarian forces ever deeper into southern Ukraine and the Caucasus region. Even so, Germany did have a handful of divisions suitable for deployment in North Africa that had not been committed to the grand offensive.

The 22nd Air-Landing Division took part in the storming of Sevastopol, suffering heavy casualties in the process. That fortress fell two and a half weeks before Tobruk, and the division was pulled out and ordered to Greece for rest and re-equipment. Its 47th Infantry Regiment and one artillery battalion went to Athens, with the remainder taking up quarters west of Salonika. It received a new commander, Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller (later to be known as the "Butcher of Crete") and a new designation as a "motorized-tropical air-landing division."

The 47th and its attached artillery did join Rommel, but in October the division lost its "Air Landing" status and the rest of its troops went to Crete to replace the 164th on garrison duty. There they built fortifications and murdered civilians until August 1944, taking part in operations against British and Italian troops on Leros and other islands in 1943. Müller would be shot by a Greek firing squad in 1947 for his war crimes.

Sevastopol took a lot out of the division, which was not fit to take up its intended "motorized-tropical" role alongside the Afrika Korps. But its presence in Greece allowed it to be shipped across the short sea lane to Tobruk, avoiding the long trek to southern Italy, across to Tripoli and then along the badly maintained Libyan road net to the front — a journey of weeks if not months. Personnel could be flown across from Athens and Crete. And not least in the eyes of turf-guarding German bureaucrats, this route was out of the hands of their Italian allies.

A fully motorized 22nd Air-Landing, fully re-equipped and furnished with replacements for its combat losses to join its veteran core, would have been a formidable addition to Rommel's order of battle — but still probably not what he really meant in his legendary whine. A third panzer division would greatly increase Axis striking power; whether it would have been enough to put Rommel in Alexandria is a question best settled on the game map.

The 10th Panzer Division had been pulled out of the front line in April 1942, and after a short rest behind the front line its personnel boarded trains for France. They left their battered equipment and weapons behind to reinforce other Fourth Panzer Army formations remaining at the front. In France, the 7th Panzer Regiment's two battalions were fully re-equipped with factory-fresh PzIIIJ and PzIVF2 tanks, all armed with the long-barreled 50mm and 75mm guns. In June the regiment added a third battalion, transferred from 14th Panzer Division.

What could Rommel have accomplished with a third panzer division on hand? Probably nothing much. The tanks would still need fuel, the weapons would need ammunition, and the men would need food. All of that would have to come across the Mediterranean in the face of hostile Allied forces, and despite the bravery of the Royal Italian Navy, Rommel barely had enough for the troops already on hand. If anything, the transport of more men and weapons would reduce the lift capacity available for supplies.

But we're not limited by harsh reality in the world of wargames; we can test out these questions and see if the risk would have been worth it.

Variant One: Downsized Divisions

German motorized divisions had six battalions rather than the nine of a foot-powered unit, and the 90th Light Division was no exception though it fielded three regiments of two battalions each rather than two regiments each with three battalions as was common outside the North African theater. In all scenarios, remove the 3rd Battalion of the 155th, 200th and 361st Regiments from play. In addition, in Scenario One replace the 3/361 Battalion with 2/361, and reduce the number of steps removed from the 90th Light Division to 20. In Scenario Two, replace the 3/361 Battalion with 2/361, and reduce the number of steps removed from the 90th Light Division to 18. In Scenario Three, reduce the number of steps removed from the 90th Light Division to six.

In game terms, the 164th Light Division is over-rated with a 5 morale and 7-8-6 full-strength ratings for its infantry battalions. The division arrived in North Africa with three regiments of three battalions each, none of them up to strength — many of its personnel had been judged unfit for combat (or had convinced their officers of this) and been left with Fortress Brigade Crete. And while its "motorized" designation never went past a mere formality, the intent appears to have been to eventually fully motorize the division, which would entail reducing the infantry from nine to six battalions. And so in September 1942 each of its three regiments disbanded its 3rd Battalion.

First, replace its infantry with the lower-strength/lower-morale pieces provided with this variant. Leave the division's order of battle intact for Scenario One, but double the number of step removals (to 10 total). In all other scenarios, remove the 3rd Battalion of the 125th, 382nd and 433rd Regiments from play, but don't alter the number of step removals. Don't put them in the Eliminated Units box. Next, remove the 3/220 artillery from all scenarios. The 164th only brought two artillery battalions to North Africa, one of them equipped only with 75mm mountain guns. Don't put it in the Eliminated Units box, either.

This one really shouldn't be optional. If you want to play with these two divisions at their actual capability, you should make the changes outlined above.

Variant Two: A Poor, But Motorized, Division

The hastily re-organized 164th Light Africa Division was supposed to be motorized just like 90th Light Division, but the need to get reinforcements across to Africa quickly meant it was limited to resources available in Greece. Those did not include vehicles in any quantity, and only some of the support units had a full array of motor transport.

Fully motorizing the 164th would have required about another 2,000 vehicles plus about 1,600 more to haul the division's supplies (especially fuel) forward from one of the Libyan ports — probably Tripoli, 1,400 miles away. While the Axis captured somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 trucks with the fall of Tobruk, those went to replace losses among German and Italian divisions already in North Africa or joined the supply columns — and those captured trucks did not come with drivers and mechanics.

Germany possessed roughly 330,000 trucks at the time per U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey estimates, and probably could have come up with 3,600 of them for the 164th Light Africa Division. But then they would have to be transported across the Mediterranean. While the shipping might have been made available along with Italian naval escorts, fuel oil for those operations was in short supply. Once across the sea, all those trucks would need to be unloaded in small and poorly equipped ports and then driven across hundreds of miles of bad or non-existent roads to the front.

So fully motorizing this second-rate unit would have been difficult but within German capabilities, but was not a high enough priority to actually occur. To try it out in game terms, replace the 164th's infantry and artillery battalions and engineer companies with their motorized equivalents. Note that the artillery support markers remain the same, and that the motorized regiments have no 3rd battalion; these are removed from play in Scenario One and not replaced. The recon battalion appears stacked with or adjacent to any unit of the 164th Light Africa Division OR stacked with or adjacent to any other German recon unit.

Variant Three: Extra Panzers

During the summer of 1942, a number of German motorized infantry divisions began to receive their own tank (sometimes assault gun) battalions. Ninetieth Light Division was also slated for this reinforcement, and the 190th Panzer Battalion began formation in August 1942 from four companies of the 100th Panzer Brigade, an outfit equipped with captured French tanks. The new unit was to receive new German-made tanks and join the 90th Light Division in North Africa when it was declared combat-ready. The battalion did not reach North Africa until after the Alamein battles, and was re-assigned to the 21st Panzer Division to help make good losses suffered in the retreat across Libya. The new unit appears in all scenarios stacked with or adjacent to any unit of the 90th Light Division except the recon battalion.

No tank battalion appears to have been organized for the hapless 164th Light Africa Division, but if it had been motorized it surely would have been slated to receive one eventually. This unit likely would have come from the same source as the 190th, and at least initially would have been equipped with French tanks. The tank battalion appears stacked with or adjacent to any unit of the 164th Light Africa Division except the recon battalion.

Variant Four:
A Motorized-Tropical Air-Landing Division

The "motorized" 164th Light Africa Division went to North Africa because the 22nd Motorized-Tropical Air-Landing Division could not be brought up to full strength quickly. This veteran division carried a very good fighting reputation, performing well in Holland in 1940 and again in Ukraine in the summer of 1941. But it suffered heavy losses breaking through the "Tatar Ditch" into the Crimea that fall, and in the subsequent operations against Sevastopol that lasted into the summer of 1942. A unit often takes its character from its commander, and the division seems to have never been the same after losing its commander Hans Graf von Sponeck in October 1941, who was wounded and went to command the 46th Infantry Division on his return. Sponeck fell afoul of Hermann Goering before the war, and would be sacked for retreating without orders in late 1941 and eventually executed. (The Sponeck piece in the Alamein game represents his brother Theodor, commander of the 90th Light Division.)

Had the 22nd somehow retained its efficiency and regained its combat strength in the summer of 1942, it would have been a very formidable addition to Rommel's panzer army. The problems of obtaining and shipping sufficient trucks outlined above apply to the 22nd as well, though the resources would have been much better invested in this unit than in the scrapings of the Cretan garrison.

Replace the 164th Light Africa Division in all scenarios with the 22nd: a headquarters with leader Müller, six motorized infantry battalions, three motorized artillery battalions, one recon battalion and three each of motorized engineer, anti-aircraft and anti-tank companies. Like the 90th Light Division, a tank battalion (the 223rd) began formation for this new motorized division, but was diverted to become part of the new 100th Panzer Regiment, eventually used to re-form the 21st Panzer Division in France. When formed the two-company battalion was equipped with formerly French S35 tanks; maintenance requirements would have been formidable had they been taken to North Africa.

Since the division would have lost one regiment in its re-organization, the Reinforced 47th Air Landing Regiment remains in play as an independent unit (three glider infantry battalions and the 2/22 artillery battalion). In Scenario Four these four units set up stacked with or adjacent to any unit(s) of the 21st Panzer Division. In the Campaign Game, they arrive on the 15 October PM turn at hex 4267. The three glider battalions are present in the game; their artillery battalion is found with the variant counters. Like Variant One, the addition of these four battalions (Battle Group Buhse) really shouldn't be optional and you should make this change in all your games.

Variant Five: Another Panzer Division

As discussed in Part One, a veteran panzer division could have been made available, but getting it to the front would be a completely different story than bringing across the pitiful 164th Light Africa Division or even the burned-out 22nd MTAL Division. The Italians sent their much smaller 133rd "Littorio" Armored Division to Tripoli in March 1942, and it did not enter the front lines until July. Vehicles had to be made desert-capable, with air filters and other gear, while the troops themselves had to acclimate. And then there was the 1,400-mile drive to Alamein and the attendant breakdowns of trucks and tanks along the way. Tenth Panzer would have taken at least as long, and it's not likely that the smaller ports closer to the front lines could have off-loaded the heavy vehicles.

Tenth Panzer Division arrives as a reinforcement on the 1 October PM turn at hex 4267 with its headquarters and leader Fischer, three tank battalions, four motorized infantry battalions, one recon battalion, three motorized artillery battalions and three each of motorized engineer, anti-aircraft and anti-tank companies. Note that its tank battalions have six steps rather than the four of other German tank battalions, and are much more powerful: they are fully equipped with the newest tanks, while the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions have only some of these vehicles and the bulk of their tanks are older models. Plus the 10th Panzer has three tank battalions against only two in the "African" divisions, and four motorized infantry battalions where the other divisions have only three. It is a big and very powerful unit, but don't overlook that the Axis players gets not one extra bit of supply to move and attack with it.

Variant Six: All-German Effort

In variants two through five, the Axis player receives additional German formations but no more supplies to keep them operating. The number of troops the Axis could maintain at the Alamein front — 300 miles from the nearest port at Tobruk, and 1,400 miles from their major supply base at Tripoli — was extremely limited. As the game shows, Rommel probably had more troops at Alamein than the Axis really could keep there for long.

Would those supplies have been better expended if none of the Italian units were present? In political terms, this was never a possibility: Libya was an Italian colony, Italy had the primary Axis interest in the region, and as a result at least half if not more of the troops involved had to be Italian. Benito Mussolini needed to portray the German contingent as simply rendering assistance, no matter how transparent the cover story. Even dictators have to pay at least some attention to public opinion.

Had the Germans somehow found a way to paint a fully-German offensive in politically acceptable terms, and found the will to mount a German invasion of Egypt, could they have taken Alexandria? They would have been able to funnel all available supplies to their own formations, but would have been without the aid of some excellent Italian units like the 132nd "Ariete" Armored Division and 185th "Folgore" Parachute Division.

This variant applies only to the Campaign Game. Remove all Italian ground units from play; the Regia Aeronautica remains in the skies overhead. Place the 22nd Motorized-Tropical Air-Landing Division in the set up zone currently assigned to the 102nd "Trento" Infantry Division. All units of the 164th Light Africa Motorized Division arrive as reinforcements on the June 27 PM turn. All units of the 10th Panzer Division arrive as reinforcements on the 1 August PM turn. All other German reinforcements arrive as scheduled. All Italian supply points and artillery ammunition is converted to German supplies and ammunition of the same type. Up to half of the Italian Type 1 ammunition (13) may be taken as German Type 2 ammunition if the Axis player wishes.