Seventy years were passed since that terrible summer of war. We were at the second year of battles in the African desert. General Erwin Rommel, the Italian-German Armoured Army Commander, headed the second advance in the desert rapidly. In three months he led the Axis divisions at about ten hundreds kilometers to Alexandria.
The rapid motion extended the way to the line for the supplies. Malta, that was the base of the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, was under control. Tobruk was conquered by the 31st Engineer regiment, headed by the Major Paolo Caccia Dominioni, leaving materials, vehicles, fuels and over 30.000 prisoners to the troops of Rommel. The conquest of Cairo seemed to be easy; those who hoped to stop Rommel and eliminate Malta (through the “C3 Operation”) had to argue with the susceptibility of the General. Rommel was certain to win thanks to his forces but finally he lost without the possibility to get even.
The Italian-German Armoured Army had to stop where Auckinleck, the Commander of the British sector in the Middle East, had predicted: the desert area delimited to the north by the coast (Arabs Gulf) and to the south by the valley of El-Quattara.
There the British forced the Italian-Germans to a terrible battle, with artilleries and armoured groups that launched several attacks against forces less numerous but better in quality and characteristics.
The destiny of ACIT was determined by the quantity of its men, artilleries and tanks.