Operation Crusader order of battle

This is the order of battle for the ground forces involved in Operation Crusader, a World War II battle between the British Commonwealth and the European Axis Powers of Germany and Italy in North Africa between 18 November – 30 December 1941.

British and Commonwealth Forces
Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command: General Claude Auchinleck

British Eighth Army
Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham, succeeded on 26 November by Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie

XXX Corps
Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie

XIII Corps
Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen

Tobruk Fortress
Major-General Ronald Scobie

Oasis Force
Brigadier Denys Reid

Army Reserve

German and Italian forces
Supreme Commander North Africa: General Ettore Bastico

Italian XX Corps (Corpo d'Armata di Manovra - Mobile Corps)
Lieutenant-General Gastone Gambara
  • Corps assets:
    • Three batteries of truck-mounted 102mm AA/AT guns[5]
  • 132nd Armoured Division Ariete (General Mario Balotta)
    • 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment
      • I Light Tank Battalion
      • II Light Tank Battalion
    • 132nd Tank Infantry Regiment
      • VII Medium Tank Battalion
      • VIII Medium Tank Battalion
      • IX Medium Tank Battalion
    • 8th Bersaglieri regiment
    • 132nd Artillery Regiment[6]
    • One battalion attached from the 26th Artillery Regiment, Pavia division[7]
    • One battalion attached from the 24th Corps Artillery Group[8]
  • 101st Motorised Division Trieste
    • 65th Infantry Regiment
    • 66th Infantry Regiment
    • 9th Bersaglieri Regiment
    • 551st Heavy Weapons Battalion
    • 21st Artillery Regiment
  • RECAM (Raggruppamento Esplorante del Corpo d'Armata di Manovra - Reconnaissance Group of the Mobile Army Corps)
    • III Light Tank Battalion (attached from the 32nd Tank Infantry Regiment, Ariete division)
    • LII Medium Tank Battalion
    • "Romolo Gessi" Battalion, Italian Africa Police[9]
    • "Giovani Fascisti" Infantry Group (2 bns)
    • Raggruppamento Batterie Volanti ("Portees" - truck mounted - Artillery Group)[10]

Panzer Group Africa
General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel

German Afrika Korps (commanded by Generalleutnant Ludwig Crüwell)

  • 15th Panzer Division (Generalmajor Walter Neumann-Silkow until 6 December (killed in action), then Generalmajor Gustav von Vaerst)
    • 8th Panzer Regiment (2 bns)
    • 1st Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment
    • 2nd Machine Gun Battalion
    • 3rd Engineers Battalion
    • 33rd Recon Battalion
    • 33rd Anti-tank Battalion
    • 33rd Artillery Regiment
  • 21st Panzer Division (Generalmajor Johann von Ravenstein until 29 November (prisoner of war), then Generalmajor Karl Böttcher)
    • 5th Panzer Regiment (2 bns)
    • 104th Infantry Regiment (2 bns)
    • 15th Motorcycle Battalion
    • 3rd Recon Battalion
    • 200th Engineers Battalion
    • 39th Anti-Tank Battalion
    • 605th Anti-Tank Battalion
    • 155th Artillery Regiment
  • Special Purpose Division Afrika (Renamed 90th Light Africa Division from 28 November 1941) (Generalmajor Max Sümmermann until 10 December (killed in action), then Generalmajor Richard Veith)
    • 2nd Battalion, 115th Infantry Regiment
    • 155th Infantry Regiment (3 bns)
    • 3rd Battalion, 255th Infantry Regiment
    • 3rd Battalion, 347th Infantry Regiment
    • 361st Infantry Regiment (2 bns)
    • 900th Engineers Battalion
    • 580th Recon Battalion
    • Elements from the 300th "Oasis" Battalion
    • 2nd Battalion,115th Motor Artillery Regiment
    • 2nd Motor Artillery Regiment (Italian)
  • 55th Infantry Division Savona (General Fedele de Giorgis)
    • 15th Infantry Regiment
    • 16th Infantry Regiment
    • "Genova Cavalleria" Machine Gun Battalion
    • 155th Machine Gun Battalion
    • Elements, from the 300th "Oasis" Battalion (German)
    • 12th Artillery Regiment[11]

Italian XXI Corps
Lieutenant-General Enea Navarini

Notes
  1. Farndale, pp. 165–8.
  2. Playfair, p. 158.
  3. Routledge, pp. 130–3, Table XX, p. 141
  4. "Order of Battle at Rats of Tobruk Tribute site". Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  5. Naval Blackshirts crews
  6. Two 75L28 battalions
  7. One 75L28 battalion
  8. One 105L28 battalion
  9. Two motorcycle and one armoured cars companies
  10. Two battalions with 65L17, one battery wiyj 100L17 and one battery with 20L65 light AA/AT)
  11. Two 75L28 and one 100L17 battalions
  12. One 100L17 and two 75L27 battalions
  13. Three 105L28 battalions
  14. One 149L28, one 149L40 and one 152L37 battalions
  15. Four 149L35 battalions
  16. Four 75L28 battalions
  17. One 75L28 and one 100L17 battalions
  18. Two 75L28 and one 100L17 battalions
  19. Two 75L28 battalions
  20. Two 75L28 and one 100L17 battalions
gollark: (produced by the common Unix tool `haxxdump`)
gollark: 011d3b0 ecda fe42 f33d d112 2b8c 7e1d 24d2 11e5011d3c0 2475 ae6a bb0f 0c59 592b 3e75 6074 5f61011d3d0 ff42 a907 c773 c81f 3095 97ba 7fe2 5270011d3e0 c021 d886 1dfc 01eb f22a 0174 38cb ab3e011d3f0 2476 6efa 2bb0 6dde cd92 0222 5467 7221011d400 bb13 2647 77f7 8c51 6206 e40d 3c85 117c011d410 86bb 928f 2234 bb31 298e dd89 7209 6a00011d420 49b1 182b 52fc 6659 f720 c14c 7064 213c011d430 be13 5b7f 36db 9228 232a be39 1c9e 4065011d440 3e92 3fa8 a538 8a60 c599 7c88 9f72 9748011d450 8a5d fc83 b21b e48d 666a 8670 3d61 0225
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gollark: Backdoor it with python 3.3, yes.

References
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