A Superb German WW2 Afrika Korps 1st Pattern Tunic Breast Eagle. From a former 'Desert Rat' Intelligence Corps General Staff Officer of the 1st Army HQ

Part of a very desirable collection of service items, of one veteran officer, from the 'Afrika Korps Vs Desert Rat' Campaign, between Rommel and Montgomery

Now a very difficult to find 1st pattern breast eagle for the Afrika Korps tunic. Bevo woven in blue on tan. As removed from a tunic. Loose threads remain. Excellent original examples, especially uniform removed are now near impossible to find.

They were a souvenir of a British Intelligence Corps General Staff officer with 1st Army HQ in the Africa Campaign against Rommels Afrika Korps. We acquired his medals, cap badge, General Staff Lt's epaulettes x 2 pairs, and his Afrika Korps uniform eagle souvenir. Sold seperately.

Despite achieving a number of tactical successes, Rommel was forced to concede Tobruk and was pushed back to El Agheila by the end of 1941. In February 1942 Rommel had regrouped his forces sufficiently to push the over-extended Eighth Army back to the Gazala line, just west of Tobruk. Both sides commenced a period of building their strength to launch new offensives but it was Rommel who took the initiative first, forcing the Eighth Army from the Gazala position.

Ritchie proved unable to halt Rommel and was replaced when Auchinleck himself took direct command of the army. The Panzer Army Afrika were eventually stopped by Auchinleck at the First Battle of El Alamein. Auchinleck, wishing to pause and regroup the Eighth Army, which had expended a lot of its strength in halting Rommel, came under intense political pressure from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to strike back immediately. However, he proved unable to build on his success at Alamein and was replaced as Commander-in-Chief Middle-East in August 1942 by General Harold Alexander and as Eighth Army commander by Lieutenant-General William Gott. Gott was killed in an air crash on his way to take up his command and so Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed in his place. Alexander and Montgomery were able to resist the pressure from Churchill, building the Army's strength and adding a pursuit formation, X Corps, to the Army's XIII and XXX Corps.

Code: 25172