In a series of battles marked by daring raids and quick-armored thrusts against a numerically superior enemy, Erwin Rommel, the notorious Desert Fox, and his Afrika Korps waged one of World War IIs toughest campaigns in the North African desert in 1942. The Axis campaign climaxed in June with the recapture of Tobruk, a triumph that netted 33,000 prisoners and earned Rommel a field marshals baton. By fall, however, after setbacks at Alam Halfa and the 2 battles of El Alamein, the Afrika Korps teetered on the brink of defeat, which would come in Tunisia 6 months later.