The Deutsches Afrikakorps (DAK) was a German expeditionary force of the Wehrmacht deployed to North Africa during the Second World War, initially arriving in Libya in February 1941 to support Italian forces that had suffered major defeats against the British Commonwealth armies. Commanded by Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel, who quickly earned the nickname “Wüstenfuchs” (Desert Fox), the DAK became the spearhead of Germany’s campaign in the Western Desert and gained a reputation for aggressive maneuver warfare, rapid armored thrusts, and remarkable operational mobility across the harsh desert environment. Originally consisting of the 5. leichte Division and the 15. Panzer-Division, the corps later formed the core of the larger Panzerarmee Afrika, participating in major engagements such as the sieges of Tobruk, the battles of Gazala, and the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. Despite repeated tactical successes and the capture of thousands of Allied prisoners, the DAK faced chronic shortages of fuel, ammunition, replacement vehicles, and air support due to the long and vulnerable supply routes across the Mediterranean. Many of its soldiers and officers received prestigious German decorations, including the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, Eichenlaub, Schwerter, and in rare cases Brillanten, reflecting the high regard in which their combat achievements were held by the German military leadership. Following the Allied landings in French North Africa during Operation Torch in November 1942 and the subsequent strategic encirclement of Axis forces, the DAK and other German formations were gradually driven back into Tunisia. After months of intense fighting against superior Allied resources and manpower, the remaining forces surrendered in May 1943, marking the end of the North African campaign. Although the Deutsches Afrikakorps existed for only a relatively short period, it became one of the most famous German formations of the war, remembered for its desert operations, armored warfare, and significant role in shaping the military history of the North African theater.
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BRILLANTENTRÄGER
Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 27 May 1940 as commander of the 7. Panzer-Division during the campaign in France, where his bold leadership, rapid advances, and successful exploitation of armored warfare tactics earned him widespread recognition. Following his continued military successes, particularly in North Africa as commander of the Deutsches Afrikakorps and later Panzergruppe Afrika, Rommel was awarded the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 March 1941. His victories against British forces during the desert campaign led to the award of the Schwerter zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 January 1942, and after the capture of Tobruk in June 1942, one of Germany’s most celebrated battlefield successes, he became the first soldier of the Heer to receive the Brillanten zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 11 March 1943. These successive decorations reflected Rommel’s reputation as one of the most prominent German field commanders of the Second World War.
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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER
1941
Generalmajor Heinrich Voigtsberger (1903-1959) was born on 10 February 1903 in Untermhaus near Gera and entered the Reichswehr on 1 October 1922 as Fahnenjunker in the II. Bataillon of Infanterie-Regiment 15, receiving promotion to Leutnant on 1 December 1926, Oberleutnant in 1930 and Hauptmann in 1935 when he became Kompaniechef of the 1. Kompanie in MG-Bataillon 2; he assumed command of MG-Bataillon 2 on 20 December 1939, led it through the Westfeldzug and was promoted to Major on 1 August 1940 before the unit’s transfer to North Africa in early 1941. During the first siege of Tobruk in April 1941, as Kommandeur of MG-Bataillon 2 under the Deutsches Afrikakorps, he directed the successful penetration of the outer fortifications, capturing the vital height of Ras el Madauuar (Hill 209) and establishing a deep salient in the Allied defensive ring that remained a persistent threat to the garrison, actions for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 9 July 1941 while also receiving the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse in April of that year; he was severely wounded in the Cyrenaica later that summer. After recovery he took command of Grenadier-Regiment 60 (mot.) on 14 May 1942, was promoted to Oberstleutnant on 1 October 1942 and to Oberst on 1 August 1943, and led the regiment with distinction on the Eastern Front through the fighting around Orel, Gomel and the Dnepr, particularly during the heavy engagements of late 1943 in which his unit destroyed 147 Soviet tanks on 24 August, executed a decisive flank counterattack that annihilated a breakthrough armoured force, and on 14 October held the central sector of the Saporoshje bridgehead covering the asphalt road from the steelworks to the dam, enabling the orderly withdrawal of German forces across the Dnepr before the bridges were demolished, achievements that earned him the 351st Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz on 9 December 1943. Redesignated Panzergrenadier-Regiment 60, the unit served with the 116. Panzer-Division in the Normandy campaign from June 1944; Voigtsberger briefly commanded the division in mid-September before returning to the Führerreserve, attended divisional command courses and on 1 February 1945 assumed leadership of the newly formed 309. Infanterie-Division (also known as Infanterie-Division Berlin), receiving promotion to Generalmajor on 1 April 1945 and commanding it in the Oder and Halbe pocket battles until the formation was destroyed; he surrendered to British forces in May 1945 and was released in 1947, dying on 17 March 1959 in Wittlich.
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1943
Generalmajor Fritz Fullriede (1895-1969), born on 4 January 1895 in Bremen, entered military service as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in August 1914 with the Jäger-Bataillon 10 and later the Infanterie-Regiment 75, fighting on multiple fronts in the First World War where he was wounded three times and promoted to Leutnant der Reserve near its end; after Freikorps service and a period in the Schutzpolizei, he farmed in South-West Africa from 1924 to 1936 before rejoining the Wehrmacht in 1937 as Hauptmann, participating in the Polish and French campaigns, suffering severe wounds on the Eastern Front in 1941 near Pleskau that earned him the Verwundetenabzeichen in Gold, and receiving the Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz as well as the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse; transferred to Tunisia in early 1943 as Oberstleutnant commanding the Grenadier-Regiments-Stab z.b.V. 165 within the 5. Panzer-Armee of Heeresgruppe Afrika, he led Kampfgruppe Fullriede in a decisive action on 9 April 1943 near Kairouan and Fonduk, where with a weak force he personally directed operations at critical points to halt a breakthrough by the British 6th Armoured Division supported by American elements, rounded up stragglers of the Deutsches Afrikakorps for a successful counterattack that threw back penetrations, and destroyed sixty enemy tanks in a single day, thereby securing the retreat of major Axis forces and preventing further advances toward Kairouan, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 11 April 1943; after further service in Sicily forming Grenadier-Regiment Sizilien 3 that became Panzergrenadier-Regiment 129, in Italy, near Warsaw, and in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden, he was appointed Kampfkommandant of Festung Kolberg on 1 March 1945 as Oberst, succeeding the incapacitated Generalmajor Paul Hermann, and organized a determined defense of the encircled Pomeranian port against superior Soviet and Polish forces from 4 to 18 March, focusing on holding the coastal sector and harbor to enable evacuation rather than rigid outer belts, rejecting surrender demands twice, conducting counterattacks that destroyed multiple enemy tanks including five of eight in one engagement, and overseeing the sea evacuation of approximately seventy thousand civilians and forty thousand military personnel by fishing boats, merchant vessels, and naval ships including the destroyer Z 43 on which he departed at 0630 on 18 March as one of the last combatants, actions for which he received the 803rd Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 23 March 1945; subsequently commanding the 610. Infanterie-Division z.b.V. from 18 April and then the 3. Marine-Infanterie-Division until the war’s end, he was promoted to Generalmajor on 20 April 1945, his final rank, after earlier advancements including Oberstleutnant in 1942 and Oberst by 1945, and among his other awards were the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse from 1917, Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz, and Hanseatenkreuz Bremen; he died on 3 November 1969 in Bad Oldesloe.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika_Korps
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