Deutsches Afrika-Korps

[genstab]

I discovered that there is a gap in commanders of the Afrika Korps, at least as far as my records go. Gustav Fehn was wounded and in hospital from 15-1-43 but the next known commander I can find is Heinz Ziegler from 20-2-43. Is there a card on the Afrika-Korps or does anyone know who filled in during this time period?

Best,
Bill in Cleveland

[JC]

von Liebenstein then Bülowius on 17.2.

JC

[askropp]

Is this correct?

16.11.1942 – 15.01.1943 General der Panzertruppe Gustav Fehn
16.01.1943 – 17.02.1943 Oberst Kurt Freiherr von Liebenstein (mdstvFb)
17.02.1943 – 20.02.1943 Generalmajor Karl Bülowius (mdFb)
20.02.1943 – 05.03.1943 Generalleutnant Heinz Ziegler
05.03.1943 – 12.05.1943 Generalleutnant (01.05.1943 General der Panzertruppe) Hans Cramer

[genstab]

Thank you very much for the help. I could not find any confirmation on Liebenstein and didn't have Bülowius' name at all.

Best,
Bill in Cleveland

[JC]

Askropp,

Yes that appears to be accurate, except I have Ziegler as being mdstvFb also.

JC

[histan]

The source for von Liebenstein is FMS Study D-124 The Drive via Gafsa Against Kasserine Pass. He is the author and writes:

"The author commanded the German Africa Corps (DAK) from 16 January 1943 until 17 February 1943 in the absence of the Commanding General who was wounded."
and
"As a result of being wounded by a mine the author had to turn over command of the Kampfgruppe of the German Africa Corps at 1100 hours 17 February to General der Flieger Alfred Bülowius"

He clearly has the wrong man because Alfred Bülowius was on the Eastern Front at that time. He must have meant Karl Bülowius as shown by Askropp.

Fehn remained the "official" commander of DAK until has transfer to the FR 4.2.1943. Hans Cramer was appointed mFb DAK 13.2.1943. So I think all commanders until the arrival of Cramer on 5.3.1943 would be mstFb.

Regards

John

[genstab]

Thanks very much, John. I have a lot of books about Rommel and the African war but most are vague about exact command dates. I appreciate your help.

Best,
Bill

[askropp]

The interesting thing is that of all the men who commanded the DAK, Fehn was the only one who already held the appropriate rank when he was nominated (although even he had been promoted only two weeks earlier). Bayerlein and Liebenstein being only Obersten, they were three ranks below nominal corps command.

[genstab]

They were desperate times- casualties and no generals available. We can't imagine a situation like that- at least I can't. Though I was in the US military I never served in combat and with our Army the generals were tripping over each other by the time Vietnam happened.