The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (Deutsches Afrikakorps, DAK) was the German Expeditionary Force in the North African Campaign during World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943 in Tunisia. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, also known as "the Desert Fox".
Karl Fairburne first encountered the Afrikakorps in their Siege of Tobruk. One of its generals, General Franz Vahlen, was responsible for the mysterious Nazi project, Project Seuche, the main plot in Sniper Elite III.
Equipment[]
Grunts hanging out together.
Weaponry[]
Vehicles[]
Land[]
Air[]
Deployment[]
A Tiger division of the Afrikakorps at the Kasserine Pass.
The Afrika Korps was deployed throughout North Africa. They were a powerful mechanized force and had multiple cities and bases under their control. Having troops stationed in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. When Rommel was promoted to the newly formed Panzer Army Africa, his command included a number of Italian units, including four infantry divisions. Two Italian armoured divisions, Ariete and Trieste, initially remained under Italian control as the Italian XX Motorized Corps under the command of General Gastone Gambara.
The Afrika Korps was restructured and renamed in August 1941. "Afrikakorps" was the official name of the force for less than six months but the officers and men used it for the duration. The Afrikakorps was the major German component of Panzerarmee Afrika (Armoured Army Africa), which was later renamed the Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee (German-Italian Armoured Army) and finally renamed Heeresgruppe Afrika (Army Group Africa) during the 27 months of the Desert campaign.
Although they focus on their African campaign on fighting against the British Armed Forces alongside their Italian allies, some portions of it are lead by General Franz Vahlen to focus on creating the Ratte tank and defending Project Seuche's plans and resources. They are severely hampered by the sniper Karl Fairburne who is sabotaging the project and many died in the process. So feared he became, that Afrikakorps soldiers nicknamed him "Wüstengeist" - The Desert Ghost.
"As usual, the Allies nip at our heels from the deep desert, but there is a new rumour, one of an allied sniper. Men say he's like the desert sand - he gets everywhere. Wüstengeist, they call him, the Desert Ghost. Some fear him more than they fear General Vahlen, myself among them." - A German account found in Siwa.
General Vahlen planned to overthrow Hitler after defeating the Allies, so a number of Afrikakorps officers, known as The Three Musketeers, planned to warn the Führer of this betrayal, but they were intercepted and kille by Karl. The Allied sniper then proceeds to destroy the Ratte, its factory and kill Vahlen. The Afrikakorps would fight on until the surrender of Tunis, in May 1943.
Sniper Elite III[]
The Afrika Korps are the main enemy in Sniper Elite III, behaving the same as the Wehrmacht from the previous Sniper Elite games. The Afrika Korps appears in every level of the game, first appearing in the Siege of Tobruk. The Afrikakorps is shown working alongside the Italian Royal Army for the first time in Mission 2: Gaberoun, where Italian officers carry important documents regarding Project Seuche. The last time the Italians work with Project Seuche is in Mission 5: Siwa Oasis. The Afrikakorps works again with the Italians during Raubveugel's plot to kill Winston Churchill, also at the Siwa Oasis.
Grunts[]
Grunts are the most common soldier encountered; they are encountered in almost every level.
Grunts have a variety of looks including tan uniforms or short sleeve tan shirts, with either long pants and shoes, tan pants and boots or shorts. For headgear they have field caps, helmets and uniquely, brown pith helmets.
They use either Gewehr 43 rifles or MP40 SMGS, they commonly use vehicular transport such as Sd.Kfz. 250 halftracks and Opel Blitz trucks.
The Grunts also have 3 Sub Types:
- Nebelwerfer crew: encountered only in Siege of Tobruk, theses soldiers are part of the “Nebelwerfer Corps” and have bright yellow helmets.
- Artillery crew: these soldiers are seen crewing the Wehrmacht's heavy artillery, crewing Flak 88 at guns and Flak 38 AA guns, they wear headphones, always are dressed in loose uniforms soaked with sweat and carry MP40s. in Halfaya pass they are seen acting as radio operators.
- Engineer: the engineers tasked with the creation of the Ratte supertank, they wear light tan uniforms and carry luger pistols. They are only encountered in Ratte factory
The Grunts appear in every mission except Mission 7: Pont Du Fahs Airfield. There is a single Grunt sniper with a pith helmet at the Kasserine Pass.
Officers[]
The Officers of the Afrika Korps are one of the highest ranking soldier to be in the Afrika Korps. All Officers wear insignia of an Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant). They are almost always seen wearing tan uniforms, grey officer caps, sometimes with googles and also a few highly decorated awards such as the Iron Cross Second Class, Iron Cross First Class and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
Officers have keener sight than regular infantry, they also boost their squads detection range, Officers are also seen commanding Tiger Tanks. Officers usually carry Luger pistols but are less commonly seen using MP40s.
Second officer variant exists, wearing black tanker leather jacket instead of normal tan uniform and greenish pants, always paired with hat with googles. This variant is not seen in-game, yet it can be assumed that this model was intended for tank commanders.
Elites[]
German Elites are Fallschirmjager (paratroopers) from the Luftwaffe. They are better trained and see further, shoot more accurately and have more health than ordinary grunts.
In apparence, they can be easly distingushied from Infantry, as they wear camo paratrooper jacket paired with paratrooper helmet painted in tan / khaki color with luftwaffe eagle at sides. Around necks they wear ammo puches. Quite rarely Elites can spawn without helmets.
Elites are later deployed around Vahlen's office in the ruins at the Kasserine Pass defending Oberst Johan, and respond for the whole garrison in the Pont Du Fahs Airfield. They use the G43 rifles and MP40 submachine guns, with a few men carrying Panzerschrecks, especially in the raid of the LRDG in the Pont Du Fahs Airfield.
Snipers[]
Snipers of the Afrikakorps first appear with the same appearance as Elites and later in ghillie suits. They are serious threats and must be dealt with immediatly.
Regular snipers dress in their standard Fallschirmjäger gear, with camouflaged jump smocks and ghillied snipers using yellow ghillie suits with grass and leaves tied into them, becoming almost invisible in the desert landscape.
There is one sniper dressed simply as a grunt with pith helmet on the tower at the Kasserine Pass.
All snipers are armed with scoped G43 rifles, with Luger pistols as their sidearm. Raubvogel's snipers do not use scopes on their rifles.
Panzerjäger[]
Panzerjägers are Rocketeers, deadly enemies armed with Panzerschreck rocket launchers. They appear at certain points in the game, especially during the LRDG raid on Pont Dus Fahs Airfield, trying to blow up the LRDG vehicle. There is one Italian panzerjäger on top of a tower overlooking the northern 88mm cannon over a chasm, with a German one at the gun emplacement itself, at the Kasserine Pass. Another rocketeer is on a balcony inside the main courtyard of the fort of Siwa Oasis, close the external and internal AA guns shooting at the RAF planes.
They share apparence with grunts, but wear patrol caps more often than normal grunts.
Like snipers, they use Luger pistols as sidearms for combat in close range.
Trivia[]
- Many soldier encoutered in later games (SE4, SE5) are Afrika Korps veterans, some of them even survived battles that Karl took part in.
- Some uniforms are inaccurate, but in Afrika Korps it wasn't uncommon for soldiers to wear uniforms not meeting regulations.
- Some Italian officers wear Afrika Krops armbands, despite that those bands were only issued to german troops.
- When passive many soldiers complain about heat, even in nightime. Its strange since in the desert you can freeze to death in nightime due to temperature drop.
- In game Afrika Krops dont use Kar98 rifle, despite it being standard-issue for most of german troops.
- Helmets worn by Nebelwerfer crews didnt exist in real life. They are made just for game in order to identify their crewes.
- Officers are wearing their iron crosses in way not stated in regulations. However it was common practice among them.
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