Alamein: German Options, Part Two
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
February 2010

In Part One, we looked at German attempts to reinforce the Axis invasion of Egypt, and what other formations might have been available to them. Today we continue with five new variants for Alamein involving German forces. In Part Three, there are 140 FREE new counters for download.

Variant Two: A Poor, But Motorized, Division

The hastily re-organized 164th Light Africa Division was supposed to be motorized just like 90th Light Division, but the need to get reinforcements across to Africa quickly meant it was limited to resources available in Greece. Those did not include vehicles in any quantity, and only some of the support units had a full array of motor transport.

Fully motorizing the 164th would have required about another 2,000 vehicles plus about 1,600 more to haul the division's supplies (especially fuel) forward from one of the Libyan ports — probably Tripoli, 1,400 miles away. While the Axis captured somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 trucks with the fall of Tobruk, those went to replace losses among German and Italian divisions already in North Africa or joined the supply columns — and those captured trucks did not come with drivers and mechanics.

Germany possessed roughly 330,000 trucks at the time per U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey estimates, and probably could have come up with 3,600 of them for the 164th Light Africa Division. But then they would have to be transported across the Mediterranean. While the shipping might have been made available along with Italian naval escorts, fuel oil for those operations was in short supply. Once across the sea, all those trucks would need to be unloaded in small and poorly equipped ports and then driven across hundreds of miles of bad or non-existent roads to the front.

So fully motorizing this second-rate unit would have been difficult but within German capabilities, but was not a high enough priority to actually occur. To try it out in game terms, replace the 164th's infantry and artillery battalions and engineer companies with their motorized equivalents. Note that the artillery support markers remain the same, and that the motorized regiments have no 3rd battalion; these are removed from play in Scenario One and not replaced. The recon battalion appears stacked with or adjacent to any unit of the 164th Light Africa Division OR stacked with or adjacent to any other German recon unit.

Variant Three: Extra Panzers

During the summer of 1942, a number of German motorized infantry divisions began to receive their own tank (sometimes assault gun) battalions. Ninetieth Light Division was also slated for this reinforcement, and the 190th Panzer Battalion began formation in August 1942 from four companies of the 100th Panzer Brigade, an outfit equipped with captured French tanks. The new unit was to receive new German-made tanks and join the 90th Light Division in North Africa when it was declared combat-ready. The battalion did not reach North Africa until after the Alamein battles, and was re-assigned to the 21st Panzer Division to help make good losses suffered in the retreat across Libya. The new unit appears in all scenarios stacked with or adjacent to any unit of the 90th Light Division except the recon battalion.

No tank battalion appears to have been organized for the hapless 164th Light Africa Division, but if it had been motorized it surely would have been slated to receive one eventually. This unit likely would have come from the same source as the 190th, and at least initially would have been equipped with French tanks. The tank battalion appears stacked with or adjacent to any unit of the 164th Light Africa Division except the recon battalion.

Variant Four: A Motorized-Tropical Air-Landing Division

The "motorized" 164th Light Africa Division went to North Africa because the 22nd Motorized-Tropical Air-Landing Division could not be brought up to full strength quickly. This veteran division carried a very good fighting reputation, performing well in Holland in 1940 and again in Ukraine in the summer of 1941. But it suffered heavy losses breaking through the "Tatar Ditch" into the Crimea that fall, and in the subsequent operations against Sevastopol that lasted into the summer of 1942. A unit often takes its character from its commander, and the division seems to have never been the same after losing its commander Hans Graf von Sponeck in October 1941, who was wounded and went to command the 46th Infantry Division on his return. Sponeck fell afoul of Hermann Goering before the war, and would be sacked for retreating without orders in late 1941 and eventually executed. (The Sponeck piece in the Alamein game represents his brother Theodor, commander of the 90th Light Division.)

Had the 22nd somehow retained its efficiency and regained its combat strength in the summer of 1942, it would have been a very formidable addition to Rommel's panzer army. The problems of obtaining and shipping sufficient trucks outlined above apply to the 22nd as well, though the resources would have been much better invested in this unit than in the scrapings of the Cretan garrison.

Replace the 164th Light Africa Division in all scenarios with the 22nd: a headquarters with leader Müller, six motorized infantry battalions, three motorized artillery battalions, one recon battalion and three each of motorized engineer, anti-aircraft and anti-tank companies. Like the 90th Light Division, a tank battalion (the 223rd) began formation for this new motorized division, but was diverted to become part of the new 100th Panzer Regiment, eventually used to re-form the 21st Panzer Division in France. When formed the two-company battalion was equipped with formerly French S35 tanks; maintenance requirements would have been formidable had they been taken to North Africa.

Since the division would have lost one regiment in its re-organization, the Reinforced 47th Air Landing Regiment remains in play as an independent unit (three glider infantry battalions and the 2/22 artillery battalion). In Scenario Four these four units set up stacked with or adjacent to any unit(s) of the 21st Panzer Division. In the Campaign Game, they arrive on the 15 October PM turn at hex 4267. The three glider battalions are present in the game; their artillery battalion is found with the variant counters. Like Variant One, the addition of these four battalions (Battle Group Buhse) really shouldn't be optional and you should make this change in all your games.

Variant Five: Another Panzer Division

As discussed in Part One, a veteran panzer division could have been made available, but getting it to the front would be a completely different story than bringing across the pitiful 164th Light Africa Division or even the burned-out 22nd MTAL Division. The Italians sent their much smaller 133rd "Littorio" Armored Division to Tripoli in March 1942, and it did not enter the front lines until July. Vehicles had to be made desert-capable, with air filters and other gear, while the troops themselves had to acclimate. And then there was the 1,400-mile drive to Alamein and the attendant breakdowns of trucks and tanks along the way. Tenth Panzer would have taken at least as long, and it's not likely that the smaller ports closer to the front lines could have off-loaded the heavy vehicles.

Tenth Panzer Division arrives as a reinforcement on the 1 October PM turn at hex 4267 with its headquarters and leader Fischer, three tank battalions, four motorized infantry battalions, one recon battalion, three motorized artillery battalions and three each of motorized engineer, anti-aircraft and anti-tank companies. Note that its tank battalions have six steps rather than the four of other German tank battalions, and are much more powerful: they are fully equipped with the newest tanks, while the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions have only some of these vehicles and the bulk of their tanks are older models. Plus the 10th Panzer has three tank battalions against only two in the "African" divisions, and four motorized infantry battalions where the other divisions have only three. It is a big and very powerful unit: but don't overlook that the Axis players gets not one extra bit of supply to move and attack with it.

Variant Six: All-German Effort

In variants two through five, the Axis player receives additional German formations but no more supplies to keep them operating. The number of troops the Axis could maintain at the Alamein front — 300 miles from the nearest port at Tobruk, and 1,400 miles from their major supply base at Tripoli — was extremely limited. As the game shows, Rommel probably had more troops at Alamein than the Axis really could keep there for long.

Would those supplies have been better expended if none of the Italian units were present? In political terms, this was never a possibility: Libya was an Italian colony, Italy had the primary Axis interest in the region, and as a result at least half if not more of the troops involved had to be Italian. Benito Mussolini needed to portray the German contingent as simply rendering assistance, no matter how transparent the cover story. Even dictators have to pay at least some attention to public opinion.

Had the Germans somehow found a way to paint a fully-German offensive in politically acceptable terms, and found the will to mount a German invasion of Egypt, could they have taken Alexandria? They would have been able to funnel all available supplies to their own formations, but would have been without the aid of some excellent Italian units like the 132nd "Ariete" Armored Division and 185th "Folgore" Parachute Division.

This variant applies only to the Campaign Game. Remove all Italian ground units from play; the Regia Aeronautica remains in the skies overhead. Place the 22nd Motorized-Tropical Air-Landing Division in the set up zone currently assigned to the 102nd "Trento" Infantry Division. All units of the 164th Light Africa Motorized Division arrive as reinforcements on the June 27 PM turn. All units of the 10th Panzer Division arrive as reinforcements on the 1 August PM turn. All other German reinforcements arrive as scheduled. All Italian supply points and artillery ammunition is converted to German supplies and ammunition of the same type. Up to half of the Italian Type 1 ammunition (13) may be taken as German Type 2 ammunition if the Axis player wishes.

Put these variants into play! Click here to order Alamein while supplies last!