After the airborne assault of Crete in 1941, where Hitler used the deployment of Fallschirmjagers in order to capture the island under the codename Operation Mercury, various remaining Fallschirmjager units were regrouped to form a brigade under the command of Oberst Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke. The newly formed brigade was planned to be involved in Operation Hercules; the invasion of Malta but plans were cancelled. The brigade named Fallschirmjager-Brigade Afrika was set to be deployed in North Afrika to support the Deutches Afrika Korps (DAK) under the command of Erwin Rommel.

In April 1942 the brigade was renamed Fallschirmjager-Brigade Ramcke taking the name of it's commander. Three months later in July 1942 the brigade arrived in North Afrika acting as a counter attack against the Special Air Service (SAS) which had previously been carrying out a successful campaign against German forces in Africa. Ramcke's brigade next took part in the DAK assault towards the Suez Canal, in this assault they fought alongside the DAK and the Italian 25th Infantry Division Bologna. The brigade fought as British troops strengthened the town El Alamein.

The brigade was then also used in the Second Battle of El Alamein, which resulted in the withdrawal of the remaining German troops, the division became cut off and trapped behind enemy lines. On November 3 1942 the division began to march west in the hope of joining up with the rest of the retreating German troops, in the process it is estimated around 450 of the brigade died due to lack of supply from the German High Command. A few days later on the night of the 6th November 1942 the brigade stumbled across a British 8th Army supply convoy, which consisted of a large number of transportation vehicles and included much needed supplies such as food, tobacco. water and fuel.  The brigade captured the convoy without firing a shot then continued heading west where they met the remainder of the axis forces, in total they had travelled over 200 miles in order to link up with them.