Heeresgruppe Afrika was formed on 22 February 1943 from the Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee and Organisationsstab Tunesien. It surrendered in Tunisia on 13 May 1943.

Commanders

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (22 Feb 1943 - 9 Mar 1943)
Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim (9 Mar 1943 - 12 May 1943) (POW) (1)

Chiefs of Staff

Oberst Fritz Bayerlein (22 Feb 1943 - 1 Mar 1943)
Generalleutnant Alfred Gause (1 Mar 1943 - 7 May 1943)

Operations Officers (Ia)

Oberstleutnant Bogislav von Bonin (22 Feb 1943 - 1 Mar 1943)
Oberst Heinz Pomtow (1 Mar 1943 - May 1943)

Order of battle (Feb 1943 - May 1943)

5. Panzer-Armee
1. italienische Armee

Notable members

Erwin Rommel ("The Desert Fox", forced to commit suicide to avoid trial for involvement in the resistance against Hitler, the Bundeswehr barracks Generalfeldmarschall Rommel-Kaserne in Augustdorf was named in his honour 1961 and the Rommel-Kaserne in Dornstadt/Ulm in 1965)

In fiction

For easy reference the appearance of the German "African" Corps or higher units in fictional works are collected on the Deutsches Afrikakorps page.

General der Panzertruppe Gustav von Vaerst and Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim in May 1943

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Footnotes

1. Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen von Arnim was the second highest ranking German to be taken prisoner until the surrender in 1945.

Sources used

Research by Shawn Bohannon
Georg Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht 1933-1945

Reference material on this unit

For easy reference all known reference books on the German "African" Corps or higher units are collected on the Deutsches Afrikakorps page.