in WWII, why Hitler attacked North Africa too ?

Hitler was drawn into North Africa against his will by the Italians.

Mussolini saw Germany's successes and said 'me too'. He had a large army in Libya, and decided to invade British-occupied Egypt to move toward the Arab oil fields and take control of the Mediterranean Sea. Trouble was, his army was rubbish and even the weak British force in North Africa was able to deal him a very severe defeat in early 1941 (at this time Hitler was resting after defeating France and reaching a stalemate with Britain, and preparing for the invasion of southern Europe and then, the main game, Russia).

The British victory was so complete it threatened to eject the Italians from North Africa, but Churchill decided to not do this and send part of his army to Greece, about to be invaded by Germany after another of Mussolini's blunders.

Hitler summoned his heroic general Erwin Rommel and gave him a small force to safeguard Italian interests in Egypt. But Rommel being Rommel, he saw the British were overstretched and decided attack is the best form of defence, and with his tiny army he dealt the British a bloody nose... and thus a war lasting two years got going.

It was always characterised by small German forces supported by larger Italian forces, while the British sent what they could and saw the conflict as more important to them. Rommel was always complaining about a lack of supplies and units, and did very well/was very lucky. But in the end the British had more resources and this trumps skill and luck in the end.

In the dying months of this campaign, Hitler finally sent a large army to Tunisia, reasoning if he held the British and, by 1943, Americans there, it would keep them out of Europe. But it was too late and at the end of the campaign about 300,000 Germans were taken prisoner.

Invasion Of North Africa

Mostly everybody wanted North Africa.

1) Hitler wanted North Africa because it was like a gigantic oil field and if Hitler captures the oil field then we would probably face millions of Panzer Division.

2) For a good start to plan an invasion of the continent of Africa. (With an entire army of German and Italian Armor Division)

3) To make a trading route with the Japanese-Occupation of some Oceania and Southeast Asian Countries.

4) To clear out any Allied-Occupied areas

I think generally Hitler did not expect a war in 1939, after he invaded Poland. The war came probably 3-5 years sooner than Hitler and his commanders had planned for it. So it might very well be said invading Poland in 1939 was his biggest mistake, that Germany was only partly prepared for the war when it started. Invading the Soviet Union was certainly a major mistake. It could very well have been his biggest as it did place Germany in a major land battle when it already was engaged in what had become primarily an air and sea war. However, Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union made a very deep penetration and could possibly have succeeded. Hitler made another serious error when he declared war on the United States later the same year as he invaded Russia. This opened the door to U.S. logistical aid to the Soviet Union and that, combined with the other things, would prove Nazi Germany's undoing.

North Africa was very important to the Axis forces for three reasons.

Both Italy and Germany had problems getting sufficient oil supplies to run their war and the British in Egypt blocked their access to the oil fields of Iran and Iraq.

The second reason was that if they could get control of the Suez Canal they could control the whole of the Mediterranean and link up with the Japanese through the Indian Ocean.

Thirdly by beating the British in Egypt they could advance up through Syria and Iran and attack the Soviet Union from the south gaining more oil supplies and winning the Battle of Stalingrad.

Montgomery won the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 which led to the Axis forces being totally defeated in North Africa.

It was their first and most important defeat by the Western Allies.

Hitler did not attack Africa -- not by choice anyway.

Benito Mussolini had delusions of re-creating the Roman Empire (the Fasci symbol, from which we get the word Fascist, connects to Roman symbolism). Il Duce had fought a long war pre-WW2 to conquer Ethiopia, and now it seemed logical to Duce to throw the weakened British out of North Africa, link up with Ethiopia, and make the Mediterranean "Mare Nostrum" ("Our Sea") once again.

This threat, in a naval sense, was serious but in a military sense it was a joke. Duce's soldiers were feeble and hated war. They crept over the border into egypt and halted. Britain counterattacked. Under O'Connor, they swept through the region but stopped at El Agheila, where Rommel would make his debut. Thousands upon thousands of Italians, then called Ities ("eye-ties") surrendered and lived out the war in POW camps in Australia and Canada.

Meanwhile, the UK was fighting bitterly to defeat the Ethiopian colony and fight pro-fascist Arabs at Habbinyana. The Luftwaffe was also flying advanced forces into Syria and Mosul.

Hitler was about to attack Russia and wanted no distractions, but there was "no harm" sending a Panzer General who had led the famous Ghost Division (and was also formerly head of Hitler's own security team) to help amuse Duce in some North Africa sideshow. Later, Rommel's spectacular gains and moves would make him Hitler's propaganda hero and distract attention from Russian failures.

Churchill, meanwhile, either made two key blunders or one world-saving brilliant move -- depending on your point of view.

The first blunder was not continuing O'Connor's move in Africa and ejecting the beaten Italians. It would take 3 years to remedy this.

The second, related, error was to send forces to help Greece. This, and a pro-British coup in Yugoslavia, threatened the flank of Hitler's Russian assault, and he delayed the attack on Russia to crush Greece. Losing Greece helped Britain lose Crete and this bottled the Brit navy into a corner near Alexandria.

However, this same "mistake" SAVED Russia, because the attack started later, took longer than expected and struck winter, snow and defeat. It is hard to say whether intelligence from Ultra prompted Churchill to make this gamble.

So, you answer is this: Hitler attack North Africa for strategic and propaganda reasons, but mostly to support his feeble mate, Benito Mussolini.

The main goal was for Germany to gain control of the Suez Canal and then the Middle East oil fields.

The ultimate goal was German troops gaining control of the Russian Caucasus region, and then going south and linking up with the German troops coming north from the Middle East.

Britain had colonies in North Africa.

1To deny to the Allies the Suez Canal a vital link

2-In support of the German Axis Partner Italy

All Hitler Questions can be answered with the same answer:

HITLER was an IDIOT.

Hitler had no strategic or tactical sense all of his actions were senseless, fortunately for the Allies since one way or another Hitler would find a way to lose. Not to cr$p all over a popular Icon BUT Hitler was the Coyote, the Jerry to Tom, the dumbcluck who would also f$ck up. Africa was just another for Hitler to spread the German Army tio the breaking point.

Peace/\/]

Gee only one thumbs down, where are all the Hitler Fans, run out of Meth?