Two Panzer regiments, the 5th and 8th. fought in the Western Desert under Erwin Rommel from February 1941 through December 1942. There were two tank battalions and a regimental headquarters company in each. At first, each battalion had a headquarters company (protected by a platoon of light tanks), one medium company (with four platoons totalling 22 tanks), and two light companies of 22 tanks each. Starting in August of 1941, a fourth tank company joined each battalion. On paper, a full strength armor battalion would have fielded about 100 panzers.

The Panzer regiments that fought in North Africa never achieved the theoretical paper TO&E. The strength of these units fluctuated up and down (mostly down) during their entire careers in the desert.

Upon its arrival in March 1941, the 5th Pz Rgt mustered 150 tanks: 70 light Pz Is and IIs, and 80 medium Pz IIIs and IVs. This was the tank component of the 5th Light Div that later became the 21 st Pz Div. With this meager tank force the "Desert Fox" swept the British out of Libya and to the Egyptian frontier by mid-April. However, the cost to the 5th Pz Rgt resulting from Rommel's stunning exploit was high.

By the time the Afrika Korps reached the enemy fortress of Tobruk that April of 1941, the 5th Pz Rgt had left a trail of brokendown armored vehicles across the length of Cyrenaica. Relative to combat, 5th Pz Rgt had ceased to exist when the first Germans started probing the Tobruk perimeter during the last part of the month. They recovered many of these breakdowns and put them back into fighting condition, but that took time. It caused Rommel to delay his planned assault on the British bastion until April 30. The delay allowed the English vital time in which to prepare for the German onslaught with disastrous consequences for the 5th Panzer.

On the date of the attack, 5th Pz Rgt could field only 81 runners: 9 Pz Is, 26 Pz IIs, 38 Pz IIIs, and 8 Pz IVs. The Pz Is and IIs were of little value against fortified positions and artillery because they had only a machine-gun (Pz Is) and 20mm (the Pz IIs) armament. The effective combat strength of 5th Panzer during the battle rested with its worn-out, in-need-of-repair 46 Pz IIIs and IVs.

The main battle tanks (the Pz IIIs and IVs) grouped into a single four-company battalion designated "Abteilung Hohman" and lead the attack. However, 5th Pz Rgt failed in its efforts to break into the enemy positions. This meant the collapse of the attempt to take Tobruk and more punishing losses in both men and material. By the end of the day's fighting, Abteilung Hohman had 35 tanks remaining (3 Pz Is, 12 Pz IIs, 14 Pz IIIs and 6 Pz IVs).

It was about this time (first part of May) that needed Panzer reinforcements arrived on the scene in the shape of the 8th Pz Rgt, 15th Pz Div. Only the first battalion of the new regiment deployed in mid-May ready for action. It may have had about 50 tanks, half of which were Pz IIIs. These, together with 5th Panzer's second battalion, were enough to frustrate the British counter stroke, Operation Brevity, initiated on May 15 to break the German siege of Tobruk.

After their tactical defeat of only three weeks before, the British again tried to relieve Tobruk. Launching a new effort, codenamed Battleaxe, they ran into a strengthened German tank force. Although the Afrika Korps had received no replacement panzers since March, 5th Panzer Regiment had repaired most of their disabled tanks. Although still not present in full force, the 8th Pz Rgt did have 100 tanks, half being medium Pz IIIs or IVs. Upon entering the combat, 5th Panzer had about 96 runners of which 57 were mediums.

Operation Battleaxe gained the English another defeat plus heavy losses in men and armored fighting vehicles. The Germans suffered severe tank losses but retaining the battlefield allowed them to recover and repair all but 25 of them. They also recovered a small number of British tanks and put them in fighting trim. Not long after the battle, a small company of captured and reconditioned British Crusader and Matilda tanks replaced the Pz Is of Rommel's headquarters guard. They also served as an operational reserve.

It was not until the November battles of Operation Crusader that any large scale tank actions erupted after Battleaxe. The respite gave the panzer regiments time to absorb the few replacements that arrived as well as the rest of the tanks of 8th Pz Rgt. Pz IVF1 vehicles came to Rommel in small numbers, as well as the Pz IIIHs. Both types retained the shorter L24 75mm (Pz IV) and L42 50mm (Pz III), but both also carried thicker armor than earlier models.

During this time, Rommel banished the Pz Is from the battlefield and regulated them to reconnaissance and artillery observation roles. The Pz IVs formed a fourth company and added to each panzer battalion. Afrika Korps entered the Crusader battle with the following numbers of tanks:

Vehicle	5 Pz Rgt	8 Pz Rgt	Total
Pz II	32	38	70
Pz III	64	75	139
Pz IV	15	20	35
Total	111	133	244

During this period, the regiments did not have any of the excellent long barrelled 50mm Pz IIIs or IVs called by the Allies "Panzer Specials".

Rommel barely avoided total defeat during Crusader. By December 1941, the Allies drove him back through Lybia to the area around El Agheila. Recovering, he advanced again and faced his opponent in front of their Gazala line in February 1942.

Late May saw the Germans strike the Gazala positions on the front and by the southern flank. Leading the way were the panzer regiments, each one containing the recently arrived Pz IIIJ and IVF2 Specials. (In the early actions the Pz IVF2 remained out of the righting until supplied with armor piercing ammunition.) The Afrika Korps started the operation with the following AFVs:

Vehicle	In Pz Rgts	In Reserve
PzII	50	10
PzIII	223	38
PxIIIJ	19	19
PzIV	40	1
PzIVF2	0	9

Rommel won the Gazala battles and took Tobruk by the end of June. Down to 60 tanks, he then crossed into Egypt and faced the British at El Alamein. Unable to break the thin enemy defenses there, Rommel settled in and began building his strength up. He was waiting for the inevitable British counter-offensive that finally broke over his head on 23 Oct. The German commander would meet the British with the number of tanks listed below:

Vehicle	In Pz Rgts	Under repair
PzII	31	2
PzIII	85	1
PzIIIJ	88	1
PZIV	8	2
PzIVF2	30	0

The German Panzer Regiments under Rommel's desert command were almost an all-tank unit in practice as well as in action. These units controlled their own supply and maintenance functions. The divisions handled all reconnaissance, engineering and antiaircraft responsibilities. They never possessed superiority in numbers or weaponry. It was tactical flexibility, in the form of combined arms, that made the 5th and 8th Panzer Regiments the source of the legend that came to be known as the Afrika Korps.