Hi guys,i have a question,why did Germany invaded North Africa?
Thanks

Because they are german.

Oh also, because there were Italians. #:-)

Actually :-)

Germany didn't invade Africa... they took over the battle to help out their Italian allies.

Hitler sent the 10th 15th and 21st Panzer divisions to Afica to help Mussolini save some face. The British were pushing the Italians across the desert, and Hitler tried to put a stop to it.....

Once committed - they were stuck there...

HTH-
Nelson

good answer for SS 74

Help Italian Allies, Suez Canal and access to Mesopotamia and the OIL FIELDS... and probably Hitler's desire to tweak the British Lion's tail.

Neill

JrNelson is right, they did not invaded North Frica. They went there to help their Italian allied. Unfortunately I have to say that there was no strategy at all in what we Italians did in Africa during the war. For sure the only one thing we were interested in, on top of what we had at the beginning of the war, was Egypt. I think I can exclude that we had any ambiton on Middle East...
Ciao

I always thought Mussolini invaded Nth Africa as he wanted an empire like that of Britan and France, He invaded what is now Ethiopia in '37 i think but was beaten by a rag tag army trained by British advisors at this time the Ethiopain airforce had I think 1 or 2 planes and that was it. Also I think they used chemical weapons against the locals you can see a program about this from time to time on the history channel

An interesting question, but shouldn't this be in the 'History' section?...Jim

Helping the Italians was just an excuse for Hitler's strategy. He wanted the oil fields. Therefore he invaded Russia and Africa. When both armies reached the oil fields, one from the north one from the west he would have got all the oil he needed for his army. And if he succeded the war would have given a very different outcome i guess.

AFAIK, the plan was to deny the use of the Suez from the Allies and then rush up towards Palestine and into Iraq with its oil. Or at least that was what the Allies feared Nazi Germany would do had the Afrikan Korps' advanced not halted.

The germans also had insurgents trained to whip up a revolt against the British in Iraq,
and I think they also had Indian ex-pows and exiles trained ready to go and cause bother in india. it would have been interesting had he got the oil fields in the middle east before the summer of 1942 how the battle for Russia would have went as there would have been no real reason for the germans to push towards the soviet oil fields and continue the offensives that were under way before Hilter ordered the push to the south east

The germans also had insurgents trained to whip up a revolt against the British in Iraq,
and I think they also had Indian ex-pows and exiles trained ready to go and cause bother in india. it would have been interesting had he got the oil fields in the middle east before the summer of 1942 how the battle for Russia would have went as there would have been no real reason for the germans to push towards the soviet oil fields and continue the offensives that were under way before Hilter ordered the push to the south east

I'm in complete agreement with you there. Whenever Germany invades a certain country, there are certain interests it wants to satisfy (like Lebensraum). But in the case of North Africa, he did it to help Mussolini.

Mussolini, like Hitler tried (in vain) to rebuild the Roman Empire. Trouble is his blustery speeches do not match the quality of the Italian forces in this campaign (plus that failed attempt to invade Greece). Hitler, apparently, playing "big brother" to Mussolini had to intervene and bail his freund out.