War Park 2024-05-22 12:08
Truthfully, Germany was originally not interested in Africa. This pose as a questionable objective for Germany with respect to the ports. The German border does not have any access to any Mediterranean defense line, and the German navy could not break through the British-controlled Straits of Gibraltar, even if it wanted to access any ports along the southern coastline of France. No matter how powerful the German armored forces were, it was impossible for the fleet to cross the Mediterranean and control the sea corridor to Africa, Germany was basically indifferent to North Africa.
However, with the failure of the Italian invasion of North Africa in late 1940 and early 1941, and the heavy losses from the British counterattack, Germany had to focus on the Mediterranean and North Africa. If Italy was completely defeated in North Africa and driven into the sea by the British, the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet would have freed up its resources, and the British forces in North Africa could now enter southern Europe. This was in consideration that Italy had already been defeated in Greece at the same time, and the British Expeditionary Forces had already entered Greece. Germany had to send troops to the Balkans and even to North Africa to help stabilize the situation for the Italians.
As a result, the German Afrika Korps was established on 12 February 1941 under the command of Field Marshal Rommel, initially consisting of only the 5th Panzer Regiment and many smaller units. These units formed the 5th Light Armoured Division when they arrived in Africa in February. The XV Light Panzer Division joined the V Light Panzer Division in the spring, even though they arrived only during Rommel's counterattack that recaptured most of Cyrenaica, and turned to defense. At this time the Afrika Korps consisted of two divisions and several support units attached to Italy's original 21st Panzer Division, the 5th Light Division, and a small number of 15th Panzer Division troops, totaling about 10,000 men. Later, it was supplemented, and for a longer period of time, the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions were organized as the "Afrika Korps," and the 90th Light Division and the "Afrika Korps" and the Italian forces were organized as the German Afrika Korps, with a total number of 30,000 to 40,000.
This month War Park brings a new series - the German Afrika Korps series: Panzer III + Tank Commander
At present, there are only two tank crew but there will be other product releases in the future.
Original Chinese text on weibo below:
战争公园五月新品--德军非洲军团
事实上，德国对于非洲是不感兴趣的。这是一个摆在德国面前的客观问题所决定的——港口。德国的国境线并不存在位于地中海防线的出海口，就算想要使用法国南部海岸线的港口，以德国海军的实力也不可能突破英军控制下的直布罗陀海峡。德军装甲部队再是如何强横，总不可能让舰队横渡地中海，从海底开向非洲，所以德国对于北非也就基本是无所谓态度了。
但随着意大利在1940年末至1941年初进攻北非英军失败，并在英军的反攻下损失惨重，德国不得不重视起地中海和北非来。一旦意大利在北非落个全面战败，被英国人赶下大海，那么英国皇家海军的地中海舰队就将腾出手来，北非的英军也会进入南欧地区作战。考虑到意大利同期还在希腊被击败，英国远征军已然进入希腊，德国也不得不抽调兵力至巴尔干地区作战，甚至必须派出一支部队去北非帮助意大利人稳定局势。
因此，德意志非洲军团于1941年2月12日建立，由隆美尔元帅指挥，最初只包括第五装甲团以及许多小部队。这些部队在2月抵达非洲时组成了第五轻装甲师。第十五轻装甲师在春天加入了第五轻装甲师，即使他们在隆美尔反攻并重夺昔兰尼加的大部份区域后转为防守时才到达。此时非洲军团由两个师和好几个支援部队，并隶属于意大利于最初只有第21装甲师的前身——第5轻装师，以及少量的第15装甲师部队，总人数大约在1万人左右。后来又有补充，较长时间的编制为：第15装甲师和第21装甲师编为“非洲军”，第90轻装师和“非洲军”以及意大利部队一起编为德国非洲军，总人数维持在3-4万之间。
本月战争公园带来了新系列-德意志非洲军团系列：三号坦克+坦克车长
目前仅先出两个车长，后续还会有其他产品。