Greentree, David/Noon, Steve (Illustr.) Desert Rat vs Afrikakorps Soldier

Operation Crusader 1941

This richly illustrated study examines the role of British and German infantry units within the armies that participated in Operation Crusader in late 1941. During the Desert War (19401943), both sides regarded the tank arm as the decisive branch of service, as the North African terrain did not restrict armored mobility. Following their victory over the Italians in 1940, the British held the view that their infantry did not need to cooperate with tanks, that enemy tanks did not need to be engaged offensively by anti-tank guns, and that tanks and artillery could be dispersed. However, the arrival of Rommels *Deutsches Afrikakorps* brought a rude awakening. If infantry units lost the support of their own tanks, they faced the threat of devastating losses from enemy armor. The British tended to keep their tank units close to the infantry to counter German tanks; consequently, these tanks were not available to the same extent as their German counterparts to exploit battlefield successes. In this book, David Greentree examines the effectiveness of the motorized infantry on both sides during Operation Crusaderthe Allied attempt to relieve the besieged port of Tobruk in late 1941. He focuses on three phases of the fighting: the British attack on November 21, the German counterattack on November 22, and the battle for Belhamed on December 1 and 2. Supplemented by specially commissioned illustrations and maps, as well as carefully selected archival photographs, the book details the employment of infantry by both sides during the campaign of late 1941.