Engines of the Wehrmacht in WW2

Rommel's Command Cars in the Desert

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Adler Diplomat G3 Cabriolet
Bartoletti GU Tipo 4 Caravan
FIAT 635 RN Civilian Bus
Wehrmacht-Omnibus, Opel-Blitz, 2.5-ton, 4x2, Typ 3.6-47
AEC 4x4 ACV "Dorchester"
m.gl.Einh.PKW Horch 901 Typ 40 Kfz.15
Opel "Admiral" Command Car
Alfa Romeo 2500 Coloniale Command Car
Sd.Kfz.250/3[Z] Radio Command Car "Greif"
m.gl.Einh.PKW Horch 901 Typ 40 Kfz.21 Command Car
"Begleitkommando Rommel"

Adler Diplomat G3 Cabriolet

Rommel's very first staff car on African soil
during the famous D.A.K. parade, Tripoli/Libya, Feb 15, 1941

Export version of the Diplomat with cannister instead of sparewheel

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Bartoletti GU Tipo 4 Caravan

Bartoletti GU Tipo 4 Caravan based on the Viberti chassis

Yesterday I reviewed the Italian troops recently arrived from the homeland. After that, the Commander gave me a gift of a magnificent field-dwelling wagon. I am very happy about this, because it will be very useful to me in the coming weeks.

Erwin Rommel, Libya, March 2,1941

Inspection of the Italian gift

Towed by a Sd.Kfz.251/3 Ausf.B halftrack

...I am very glad that your husband [Rommel] has an Italian caravan, which at least offers him some comfort and quiet, and protection against the cold nights. The Italians are real masters at such amenities; others we will provide for ourselves in Cairo [sik!]...

Major Schraepler, Rommefs Adjutant, letter to Mrs.Rommel

Slightly camouflaged SdKfz.251/3 Ausf.B Radio APC with canvas over crew compartment

Somewhere in the endless Libyan desert...

Digging out after a sandstorm...

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FIAT 635 RN Civilian Bus

Italian FIAT 635 RN civilian bus, requisitioned from the Tripoli bus service
(Mille grazie to Lorenzo for IDing !)

Rommel talking to the Italian ally

"PK Afrika" preparing for an interview
Anyone able to identify the utility car ?

F.Paulus, sent to Rommel after the Tobruk disaster

Lacking the sparewheel...

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Wehrmacht-Omnibus, Opel-Blitz, 2.5-ton, 4x2, Typ 3.6-47

Italian Fiat 508CM Command Car in the foreground

Close to the captured AEC ACV "Dorchester"

Protecting the wheels against the agressive Libyan sun

Staff meeting in the dunes with (l-to-r) Rommel, "Chief-of-Staff" Gause, "Staff Ia" Westphal and "Staff Ic" v.Mellenthin

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AEC 4x4 "Dorchester" Armoured Command Vehicle later called "MAX"

O'Connor's original WD.Number "L4426425" still shining thru...

Inscription "MAX" later added

Plain "Light Stone" painted front darkened with graygreen stripes

Riding on roof top for better outlook and mine protection

An armored box as big as a bus, on giant balloon tires as big and fat as the undercarriage wheels of a Junkers plane. A spent machine gun bullet is still embedded in it. The walls are windowless and painted in blue-gray camouflage tints [sik!]. Only the driver and his co-driver have windshields, protected behind armored visors.

Fritz Lucke, "Kriegsberichterstatter" (War Reporter)

Classic Western Desert Force "Caunter" camo scheme applied

Entering a Libyan town

...At one point during the battle [Operation "Crusader", Nov-Dec 1941] , Cruewell’s Mammoth [former "White 2", called "Moritz" after capture] pushed too far forward and was surrounded by British tanks. The British, however, were not aware of the prize that was within their reach. One British soldier became curious as to who was in the Mammoth, however, so he got out of his tank and knocked on the hatch of Cruewell’s vehicle with a crowbar. Imagine his surprise when the general himself opened the hatch, and the soldier found himself staring face to face with the commander of the Afrika Korps! At that exact moment, a German 20-mm anti-aircraft gun opened up on the British soldier, who immediately ran to the cover of his own tank and disappeared. Cruewell’s vehicle sped away in the confusion. Apparently, the British tanks were out of ammunition because no one fired on the Mammoth. There were no casualties in the incident...

One reason Rommel liked the "Max" was that its high cab gave an ideal vantage point. Rommel was an inveterate cab-top rider, which gave his staff officers sleepless nights! Despite camouflage attempts, the Mammoths did have a tendency to attract inquisitive RAF aircraft like flies.

In April 1941 Max was put temporarily out of service by an RAF strafing attack which punctured a tyre and severely wounded Rommel's driver, with a bullet narrowly missing Rommel, seated in the cab.
With the tyre replaced, Rommel took over the driving for the whole night while his driver was patched up.

Source: Twitter

The roof of the Mammoth made an excellent observation tower and gave us a wide view over the whole country necessary in that dangerous corner where it would have been only too easy for a British scouting party to have picked us up.

Source: Rommel Papers

Canvas rolled out and foldable wooden desk unfolded

Another captured AEC ACV nearby

Sd.kfz.221 or 222 Armoured Car in front

We left at 5 a.m. yesterday and have been riding in the Mammoth through the endless landscape ever since, part of the time over desert tracks (sand roads worn out with driving terribly hard on the vehicles) and part on the Via Balbia. I ve come back from my trip to the front very impressed. Command is good up there and we have fresh forces standing by in case we re not left in peace. Overnight we formed a laager (five vehicles) in the desert. Even my A.D.C.s did watch, without my knowing it. You see how well I‘m guarded.

Source: Rommel Papers, Letter to his wife

Meeting the Italian ally

Side by side with the Opel Blitzbus

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m.gl.Einh.PKW Horch 901 Typ 40 Kfz.15

Embleme of the "Panzergruppe Afrika" (from August 1941), later: "Armeegruppe Afrika" (from April 1942)

WH-903944 with and w/out swastika air recognition

Entering Tobruk in the "white 4" WH-909953, June 1942

Wooden desk...

,,,typically used in radio cars

Talking to Walter Nehring

Rommel and his driver Hellmuth von Leipzig

"...Then we were quickly in action. Me at the steering wheel, and Rommel, perhaps the most insane co-driver in history, next to it. Standing, the dust coat fluttering, the orders whipping in the wind. He always said to me: 'faster from Leipzig, faster, faster, faster'. But when he noticed that I could drive fast, he stopped briefly every morning. Leipzig, he said then, I have time! ..."

Hellmuth von Leipzig, Rommel's driver