Though the Fallschirmjäger contribution to the war in North Africa was small, during the later part of the campaign in Tunisia paratrooper units had an influence out of all proportion to their size in staving off defeat in the face of heavy odds. When the Axis war effort in North Africa collapsed in May 1943, many paratroopers were left behind and entered captivity.

Because Hitler had lost confidence in large-scale airborne operations after the fall of Crete, Operation "Hercules", the planned assault on the island of Malta, never took place. One reason for this was that the operation would have been prepared and launched from Italy, and by 1942 the Führer had little confidence in the quality of Italian troops. In addition, he was convinced that the enemy would get to know of the operation beforehand, therefore destroying the element of surprise.

Despite the High Command's misgivings about "Hercules", the airborne arm was confident about the operation and had even organised a unit for the Malta operation. The so-called Ramcke Parachute Brigade, under the command of Generalmajor Bernhard Hermann Ramcke, consisted of Battalion Kroh (formed from the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Parachute Regiment), Battalion Hübner (formed from the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Parachute Regiment), Battalion Burckhardt (formed from a demonstration battalion), the newly raised Battalion von der Heydte, an Artillery Battalion (formed from the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Flieger Division's artillery regiment), Antitank Company, Signals Company and Pioneer Company. Training continued apace, and the paratroopers started to receive new airborne equipment. First, there was a 48mm antitank gun with a tapered bore that fired a solid projectile. However, though it was a marked improvement on the 37mm model, it proved to be ineffective against British tanks in North Africa and production was discontinued in 1943. Far more useful was the Panzerwurfmine (magnetic antitank mine), which was introduced as a special weapon for fighting tanks at close ranges, though it was soon superseded by the Panzerfaust antitank grenade launcher. For the Malta operation the firm of Siemens-Halske developed a portable radio set that could be easily carried by one man. It had a range of 288km (180 miles) and a battery life of six hours.

Deployment to North Africa

But the drop on Malta never took place, and instead in July 1942 the Ramcke Parachute Brigade was sent to bolster the Axis war effort in North Africa. At this time Field Marshal Rommel was at the height of his success, having smashed the British Eighth Army's armour at the Battle of Gazala (28 May-13 June) and taken the port of Tobruk (21 June). He had then invaded Egypt and forced the British back to the Alamein gap, but had there been held in July. And such were his logistical problems that he needed to defeat the Eighth Army decisively to prevent the collapse of his Afrika Corps.

Tobruk had been a disappointment, being able to handle only 610 tonnes (600 tons) a day. Moreover, British bombing raids in early August reduced its capacity still further, and British naval and air units intercepted and destroyed thousands of tons of Axis military cargo before they reached port. From 1-20 August, Axis forces used twice as many supplies as successfully arrived in North Africa. This meant that German units alone were understrength by 16,000 troops, 210 tanks and around 1600 other vehicles by the end of September. The men of the Ramcke Brigade were some of the 24,000 troops and 11,000 Luftwaffe personnel airlifted to North Africa in Ju 52s during July and August, but these men could not be supplied with heavy weapons, artillery, troop carriers, tanks or ammunition. In fact, they imposed a greater strain on already overstretched essential items.

For the Eighth Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, the reverse was true. During August it received 386 tanks, 446 artillery pieces, 6600 vehicles and 73,200 tonnes (72,000 tons) of supplies. Rommel was placed in an uncomfortable position: he could await the British attack with all its overwhelming superiority, or he could forestall it by striking as soon as possible (his "window of opportunity" would exist until September, when the balance of forces would be so heavily weighed against him that his chances of mounting an offensive would be gone). 

His plan was to launch a feint attack in the centre while his armour would outflank British positions to the south, after which Axis forces would wheel north and head for the sea, encircling enemy forces in the El Alamein position. An integral part of the operation involved the Ramcke Brigade, which, together with the Italian Folgore Parachute Division, was to capture the bridges over the Nile at Alexandria and Cairo.

Rommel's attempt to break through at El Alamein resulted in the Battle of Alam Halfa (31 August-7 September), where his tanks were defeated by a combination of fuel shortages and the tactics of the Eighth Army's new commander. There was no parachute drop on the Nile, and German Fallschirmjäger took no part in the action.

In late October the Ramcke Brigade was part of the Afrika Corps commanded by General Hans Stumme (Rommel, ill, had flown back to Germany), and was deployed on the Axis right to meet the coming British offensive. It came on the 23rd, when 1000 guns opened the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. Though Axis forces fought with skill and determination, Montgomery's superiority in tanks and men, plus the acute Axis shortage of fuel, began to wear down Italian and German armoured strength. By 2 November, for example, only 35 German tanks remained in action. With his fuel nearly spent and most of his tanks and artillery knocked out, Rommel, having flown back from Europe, decided to retreat. He had started the battle with 104,000 men, 500 tanks and 1200 guns. At the end of the battle he had lost 59,000 men killed, wounded or captured, almost all of his tanks and 400 guns. Ramcke's men had been involved in heavy fighting during the battle, but once the order to withdraw was given the brigade was effectively abandoned. Indeed, all those Axis infantry who had no transport were quickly overrun by the Eighth Army. The Ramcke Brigade had no organic transport, but rather than surrender its commander decided to break out to the west. The breakout cost him 450 men alone, but in the process the brigade captured a British supply column which provided it with trucks and supplies. It was an amazing piece of good luck, and enabled 600 men of the Ramcke Brigade to rejoin the Afrika Corps, though not before an arduous trip across the desert.

The Allied Operation "Torch" landings commenced on 8 November 1942, designed to seize Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia as bases for further operations against the Axis alliance. In response, Hitler began sending German troops by air into Tunisia (1000 men per day would arrive between 17 November and the end of December). Although the amount was relatively small, it was enough to check the leading troops of the Allied First Army when they reached the immediate approach to Tunis two-and-a-half weeks after the amphibious landings. The result was a five-month deadlock in the mountainous region covering Bizerta and Tunis.

A small part of these reinforcements were the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 5th Parachute Regiment under the command of Oberstleutnant Walter Koch, the hero of Eben Emael. They were flown into Tunis to protect its airfields and take up defensive positions to the west and south of the city. Koch, however, fell ill in Tunisia and had to be ferried back to a German hospital. The 5th Parachute Regiment was closely followed by the 11th Parachute Pioneer Battalion under the command of Major Rudolf Witzig. This unit was an airborne light engineering battalion composed of three field companies (each of three platoons and a machine-gun section) and a signals platoon. First raised in 1942, its strength on arrival in Africa was 716 men. It was used to bolster the Axis defences to the west of Tunis, directly in front of the Allied approach route. On 17 November, the battalion made contact with the advance guard of the Allied spearhead and a series of battles developed.

Over the next few days Witzig's men were slowly reinforced, allowing them to pull out of the line and become a reserve unit. Parts of his command then received special training and were given the job of slipping behind enemy lines to carry out reconnaissance and gather intelligence. This intelligence led to the last parachute drop to be carried out by the Fallschirmjäger in North Africa. 

The men of the 3rd Company, 11th Parachute Pioneer Battalion, were chosen for the operation and began immediate training. The objectives were airfields and bridges behind Allied lines in the Souk el Arba and Souk el Ahras areas, which were being used by the Allies to transport supplies and reinforcements to the front for an assault on Tunis itself. Though the idea of an airdrop was militarily sound, the actual operation was a disaster.

The Ju 52 aircraft took off from airfields outside Tunis in early December 1942. The night was cold and windy and there was no moon. The aircraft were manned by inexperienced and poorly trained pilots, and consequently the Fallschirmjäger were dropped well away from their targets. This meant a long walk once on the ground. In fact the paratroopers never reached their targets, for as soon as they landed they were rounded up by the many British patrols in the area. Within a few days all the pioneers had been captured, many suffering from the effects of the sun. The airborne operation to disrupt the Allied advance on Tunis had been a fiasco (following the fall of Tunisia, the 11th Pioneer Battalion was reformed around a cadre of survivors of the North African campaign, the unit being expanded to become the 21st Parachute Pioneer Regiment, which fought on the Eastern Front and in the West in 1944-45).

Another airborne failure

The failure of the parachute drop did not deter the High Command, who authorised another airborne assault a few days later. This was carried out by gliders on 26 December 1942, when men of the Parachute Company of the Brandenburg Regiment took off to destroy bridges being used as supply routes by the British. This assault also ended in disaster. Some of the gliders were shot down as they passed over enemy lines, while others were downed as they approached their targets. Most of the men were killed in the operation.

At the beginning of 1943 the Axis strategic position in Tunisia was grim. To the west were the British First Army and US II Corps, which were shadowed by Colonel-General Jürgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army. Rommel's Panzer Army Afrika had made a masterful withdrawal from Egypt and now held the fortified zone at Mareth, with its left flank on the Gulf of Gabes and its right resting on the almost impassable salt marshes of the Chott Djerid. Rommel's attack against the US II Corps at Kasserine (14-22 February) and von Arnim's assault on the First Army's positions in northern Tunisia gained some time, but at the beginning of March Rommel was repulsed before Mareth (he was then to leave Africa due to illness) and the Germans lost the subsequent Battle of Mareth (20-26 March).

Axis forces continued to fight tenaciously, and the paras especially so. There were savage actions at Medjez-el-Bab (where there is a cemetery containing the graves of many fallen Fallschirmjäger) and Tebourba, but it was now impossible to halt the Allied tide. Reinforcements were still being flown into Tunisia, among them the Barenthin Parachute Regiment. This unit was an ad hoc formation made up of three battalions and supporting elements drawn from various units. As its commander was Colonel Walter Barenthin, a senior paratrooper engineer, it seems likely that a high proportion of his men were also engineers. Once in Tunisia it was allocated to the Manteuffel Division.

The final battle for Tunisia took place in May 1943, when Allied forces pierced the Axis perimeter: II Corps north and south of Lake Bizerta and the First Army east from Medjez-el-Bab.Von Arnim had committed all his reserves and the Luftwaffe was in the process of withdrawing to Sicily, and was therefore unable to halt the Allied advance. Allied units entered Tunis on 7 May, and French and British forces surrounded the Italian First Army. Axis units began surrendering in droves, and by the end of the campaign (13 May) 275,000 prisoners had been taken. Most of what was left of the Ramcke Brigade, Barenthin Regiment and 11th Pioneer Battalion entered captivity. Ramcke himself, together with Witzig, Koch and other senior Fallschirmjäger commanders, were airlifted out of Tunisia before the surrender. In the great scheme of things the loss of a few hundred Fallschirmjäger was insignificant, for the Wehrmacht had lost an entire army group in North Africa - Germany's next great military disaster after Stalingrad. On Hitler's southern flank the fighting would now move to Sicily and Italy.