Regiment "Brandenburg" in North Africa

[General]

Many thanks. So this company had nothing to do with the Brandenburger company in SV288 then?

What action was it on 22 January?

Involved in offensive of Panzer Group Africa to Egyptian border. They were under command of Oblt. Bisping. Nothing is known of their actions.

Another commando group of 100 men under Oblt. von Leipzig set out from Libyan village Tarabulus to British garrison city of Murzuk. About von Leipzigs "adventures" are 2 pages spend in Kurowski's book.

[Brad Hunter]

The 1./288. was the 13./Brandenburg z.b.V. 800.

[D Haimerl]

Don't know if this will help anyone, plus I don't have my sources with me, but the 11./Lehr-Rgt. Brandenburg was the company assigned to SonderVerband 288 as that unit's 1.(Sonder-) Kompanie [I have the Feldpost number for the 11th company which shows it becoming 1. (sonder)/Sonderverband 288 somewhere]. Now when SV288 was reformed into a Panzergrenadier unit I have yet to figure out if it remained with the unit or was detached. It appears the few Brandendurgers in SV 287 were from a mixture of companies [actually in May 41 the small number of Brandenburgers were 1st assigned to General Felmy's Sonderstab F (or whatever it was initially named) and appears 4 went to Iraq/Syria. Believe they continued serving in Sonderstab F/SV 287 as instructors for the Arab contigents]. In fall 1942 it was decided to enlarge the 13./LRB under HPTM von Koenen into a battalion size unit. The Abteilung von Koenen had 5 companies. I know the 9./LRB was shipped to Africa along with the 1st Zug of the Küstenjäger-Kompanie. The latter became the 5th company. Now I can't be positive but I believe the 2 half companies of the 9./LRB were each used to form a full company in the new Abteilung. That leaves 2 companies unaccounted for-so either the 2 half companies of 13./LRB were each used to form a company or the old 11./LRB, serving in SV 288, was detached and the 11. & 13./LRB became the other 2 companies of Abteilung von Koenen. [After the 11./LRB under Olt. Fendt had been assigned to SV 288, several months later a new 11./LRB was formed from primarily remnants of 16./LRB which had seen action in Baltic on Moon islands].

The proposed amphib operation in May 42 appears to have involved elements of 13./LRB-same for the recon operation under Leutnant Konrad von Leipzig. All this information I have gleaned from the standard works on the Brandenburgers such as Spaeter, Lefevre, Kriegsheim and Kurowski (to an earlier poster-after reading the German 'Die Brandenburgers' by Helmut Spaeter and then reading Kurowski's Brandenburg Commandos one gets deja vu-on Kurowski's portions dealing with Iraq & Afghanistan it's deja vu with Brockerdorf's(?) book). None of the primary source material I've seen on the Brandenburgers cover their North African operations, but I haven't been able to find the money & time to go to College Park, MD and go through rolls of microfilm at NARA.

Hope this helps.

[Urmel]

Thanks all! Much appreciated.

[Urmel]

I now have an indication that 13./LRB Brandenburg that was requested in Africa, and that von Koehnen could have belonged to it. Most of the company remained outside Africa in 1941, with only his detachment in Benghazi. My indication is that they were to be used in the attack on Tobruk planned for November 41.

Strength would have been:
von Koehnen Detachment 1 Off, ? NCO, 31 OR
Remainder 3 Off, 31 NCO, 159 OR, 17 trucks, 8 cars, 3 tractors

There is also an indication that a reinforced half-company was flown to North Africa on 14/15 Nov from Catania, and 1 Off, 11 NCO, 70 OR were transported on by road. I am not sure how this relates to von Koehnen, since the strength of his detachment seems low for a reinforced half company, but there is another detachment in Agedabia, called DOEHRING, maybe this had the other half of the half company?

[pax1980]

Does anyone have know how to find any pictures of the Brandenburgers for an news article?

I am looking for pictures of the Brandenburgers that we can buy out and reprint in a article about them, and if anyone could help me out, or point me in the right direction I would be very happy.